IamRaedwulf

"How’s everybody doing and welcome (my minions), I’m Raedwulf!"

- Raedwulf’s typical intro

Ralph Sweeney (born September 10, 1986) is a Canadian YouTube gaming personality who goes by RaedwulfGamer (Raed/Raedwulf for short). The name “Raedwulfgamer” is a nod to Ralph’s real name, which can be traced back to the Old English “Radulf” or “Raedwulf”. He was inspired by notable YouTube gamer theRadBrad to create his own gaming channel – “if he can do it, why can’t I?”  The first game Raedwulf ever played for his channel was Amnesia: the Dark Descent. The playthrough featured originally only commentary, but after part 25, Raedwulf added facecam footage (this combination has stayed ever since). His channel provides humorous gaming commentary on a variety of genres, but Raedwulf is most known for his indie horror playthroughs. Although they aren't published on a regular basis, Raedwulf published vlogs whenever he feels the need to address the status of the channel, the community or his personal life. In addition to his YouTube channel, Raedwulf additionally hosts livestreams on Twitch. His streaming schedule is roughly three times per week. His YouTube channel reached the 200,000 milestone on November 6, 2014 and his Twitch channel became partnered June 21, 2014. Because of this steady growth, Raedwulf and longtime Twitch moderator Avexiis created a forum for the fanbase July 30, 2014. Fans of Raedwulfgamer are called “Minions”, members of his alien army with the goal of taking over the world.

Amnesia
Out of all Raedwulf's content, Amnesia is the longest-lasting and the most important for the channel’s tone; many important jokes and memes for the channel started here. The first part of his Amnesia: The Dark Descent playthrough was uploaded March 25, 2012, his first-ever video uploaded to the channel. Since then, he has played a variety of high-rated custom stories, as well as the poorly received sequel, Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs. In February 2013, Raedwulf introduced “Amnesia Monthly” - playing a custom story (or a few, depending on their size) each month for the channel. But recently, Raedwulf has fallen away from that practice, focusing his energy on other aspects of the channel. The last Amnesia  story uploaded for Amnesia Monthly was June’s Amnesia: A Coward's Debt.

The Amnesia series has become very popular, with users constantly recommending new custom stories to play next. Raedwulf has listened to many fan’s suggestions in the past, especially with hidden gem stories that haven’t been discovered by the “big” YouTubers yet. Each custom story is divided into its own playlist on his channel.

Out of all of the custom stories that Raedwulf has played, Amnesia: The Great Work ranks among the best, along with Amnesia: Destiny Rebellion.

Slenderman's Shadow
Slender: the Eight Pages and Slenderman’s Shadow were breakthrough content for the channel. The Slenderman craze of Fall 2012 was kind to many YouTubers, but it especially brought users to Raedwulf, whose channel before only had 500+ subscribers!

Through his Slenderman videos, Raedwulf showcased an aptitude for map memorization and direction. While many of his videos weren’t completed on the first try (he admits that it can take a while to get a successful and dependable route), he was consistently among the first LPers to finish a map. He has beaten all of the original maps, and their updated remakes, except Slender: Prison (which very few have been able to complete because of the time limit) and Slender: Christmas Special, even after his attempts almost a year later for a Christmas livestream.

While the page collection and jump scare mechanics can get very repetitous, Raedwulf makes an effort to showcase most of the Slenderman-content on the web, and generally enjoys playing them. However, he isn’t afraid to shy away from critique, especially with the multiple poorer-made titles.

The Walking Dead Game
Along with Amnesia: the Dark Descent, this was one of Raedwulf’s first playthroughs. And along with Amnesia content, this is one of his longest-spanning serieses. His first TWDG video was uploaded April 30, 2012 - the early “Broslices” era that featured no face-cam footage. New playthroughs are uploaded as Telltale games continues to release new episodes.

Raedwulf highly enjoys the storytelling that TWDG provides. Unlike most of the Let’s Playing community, his identity as a father gives him a unique perspective for many games. In titles where you take care of a daughter or young girl (like in The Last of Us), Raedwulf consciously (and subconsciously) thinks of his own daughter, Lexus. When those daughter characters are endangered or abused, he reacts as if his own daughter has been put into those traumatising situations. A good example is part 9 of The Last of Us, when Ellie is slapped in the face by an attacker. Raedwulf gasps, is silent for a few seconds as his mouth continues to open in horror, then sprints full speed hissing, “You fucking son of a bitch”.

Raedwulf continues his tradition of playing TellTale games with the critically acclaimed The Wolf Among Us series.

Minecraft
While Minecraft is no longer a regular part of his streaming schedule (Raedwulf admits that he is no longer obsessed with the game), Summer 2013 was primarily Minecraft-only streams. What originally started as bi-weekly streams of average length in July and early August exploded into late August’s 8-12 hour streams, happening roughly every other day. Raedwulf would consistently stream from the early evening into the mid-morning, a sleep and work schedule that disrupted his activity on his YouTube channel. While these streams are likely never to happen again (and have been deleted from his Twitch account), they were an important growing period for users in the Twitch chat. Fans, who had never truly talked to each other before, bonded as they met consistently stream after stream, a good percentage staying until completion.

Minecraft is rarely found on Raedwulf’s YouTube channel. His highest-viewed video is Minecraft Galacticraft w/ Raedwulf Ft. Markiplier,” uploaded February 27. Galacticraft was originally going to be a series between well-known YouTuber Markiplier (who Raedwulf has collaborated with in the past), hence the (1) in the title. However Markiplier was, at the time, in transition to move. After Markiplier moved, he was called to a variety of other events and could not commit to continuing the series. It is unknown whether Galacticraft will continue between the two of them, but (according to Raedwulf in a livestream) Markiplier is open to more collabs in the future.


 * Minecraft with minions
 * Drunk Minecraft
 * Diamond fantasy
 * Galacticraft with Markiplier

Minecraft Community
Because of growing demand, in March 2014 Raedwulf and Twitch moderator Avexiis opened a Minecraft server. What was originally designed as a way to play with fans during streams quickly grew into a self-sustaining community with massive builds, mods (four trusted Minions), and mayhem. Although the server isn’t as full as it once was (especially since Raedwulf’s streams focus on non-Minecraft content), you can still find a handful of users present most times. In the past, there was an average of 20-25 users online.

In die horror and Others
Indie horror is the main genre that users associate with the channel. Raedwulf has played one-shot titles as well as a multitude of other games that don’t fall into the Amnesia or Slenderman category.

Weekly Events
Since March 2014, Raedwulf has introduced “weekly” content to his channel. After heavy requests to play Turbo Dismount and Happy Wheels, he created a new schedule: Turbo Mondays and Happy Wheels Wednesdays.

Happy Wheels Wednesdays includes videos roughly 15-20 minutes in length with humorous editing. Raedwulf commonly uses a random word (or requests one on Facebook) to search through the database. Users can also make their own levels for him to play if they include his name in  their title. And while he doesn’t always search for games with his username each week, he has  played a number of fan’s levels. Watch here



Turbo Dismount Mondays follows much of the same formula: videos roughly 15-20 minutes in length, humourous editing, and Raedwulf screaming. It was specifically created to “help with those monday blues!” Much like Happy Wheels Wednesdays, Raedwulf uses it as an interactive experience for fans. On Twitter, fans can make requests with the #turbodismountmondays hashtag. Then he takes their suggestions and implements them into next week’s video (usually for face and logo art for the title card). However, Turbo Mondays has recently been discontinued; the last video was uploaded July 21. Watch here

Monthly Compilations
Although Raedwulf has stopped making them as of late, his monthly Best Scares/Reaction compilations, as well as recap/best moment videos for Slenderman, Outlast and Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs , were very successful for the channel. Most videos surpass or approach 100k views and many have been responsible for bringing new users to the channel (as seen via user comments on YouTube, Facebook, and in the Raedwulfgamer forums).

Making these compilations is a very labor-intensive process (up to 12 hours of editing and more time for uploading) so Raedwulf enlists his “secretaries” (2 fans) to take down the times and titles of their favorite moments. This makes the videos all the more special, since they are selected by fans in hopes of adding more to the ranks of the Alien Army. They can all be found in the first featured playlist under Uploads on the channel’s homepage. Watch here

Co-op
Raedwulf has, on occasion, participated in one-on-one or group playthroughs with other notable Youtubers, primarely those who also have indie horror content. He also often streams with the channel NukedPixels on Twitch, an account belonging to friends he's familiar with on and off the screen.

Jeffrey
Jeffrey is a mouse character and staple to the channel. Mice models can be seen in the original Amnesia: The Dark Descent, but Raedwulf doesn’t name them as Jeffrey until part 10 of his Amnesia: The White Night playthrough. Since then, any mouse encountered in any Amnesia custom story (or any other game) is referred to as Jeffrey, much to his delight - “Jeffrey, you’re in every game, man!”

Jeffrey in-game is said to protect Raedwulf against monsters. Jeffrey possesses teleportation powers and follows Raedwulf throughout the game, sharing wisdom and guiding him to victory. Raedwulf has created multiple characters throughout his many Amnesia playthroughs, including Betsy, Charles, Clementine and Georgia the chairs, and Stephanie the hammer, but Jeffrey is the only character that’s still referenced regularly in his let’s plays and streams.

Famous Quotes



 * Penis
 * Chicken Sandwich


 * Let’s eat a bag of nipples!


 * No! You freakin‘ tit sandwich!


 * It’s a trap… It’s a fap!


 * I gotta drain the main vain!


 * SchnitzelMcTits!


 * I went to school for that shit


 * Hello plant!


 * It’s the shitter ghost!


 * I gotta drop one off


 * Shhh, quiet chair!


 * Goody gumdrops!Hot_read.jpg


 * Fuck a duck!
 * Easy, killer.


 * Herrooooo?


 * Wanna see my balls? :3


 * Aaaaaah! I mean, grrrrr, manly


 * Fuck my life completely!


 * It’s just a game, maaan. It’s just a game


 * I’m coming! Squirtity squirt squirt


 * You can’t do that!


 * Wasn’t me!


 * You bag of tits!


 * Hooooly shit!

The Minion Army
Before settling on the Minion (or Alien) army, Raedwulf referred to his fans as “Broslices”, first mentioned in Amnesia: The Dark Descent, part 37. This later changed to “Brominions”, but was heavily criticized in the YouTube comments for “copying” Pewdiepie’s “Bros” fan name. The first time “Minions” was mentioned on-camera was part 4 of his playthrough of Amnesia: The White Night. The name has stayed ever since.

The first Minion logo, depicting a small white alien with black eyes and a headset, was drawn by Raedwulf himself. Fanart of the Alien Army has been seen on livestreams, merchandise, and his Facebook page. Raedwulf encourages his fans to send in more fanart so the Alien Army can grow.

Life


Raedwulf currently lives in St. Catherines, Southern Ontario, Canada with his girlfriend Veronica, daughter Lexus , and their new Shih Tzu puppy named Doodle Bug. Prior to owning Doodle Bug, he owned Storm and Tulip, two cats who appeared on multiple livestreams. However, because of his cat allergies, the family had to find them another home. Before committing to YouTube full-time, Raedwulf installed carpets for a local company. While he was very good at it, and made a respectable salary, he found himself exhausted after most days, unmotivated to create any content. He ultimately decided to choose his dream and his fans over carpet-installing, and quit his job for good. Even though money gets tight for his family (he openly admits this during streams whenever users question his income), he loves what he does and wouldn’t change it for the world. He credits his girlfriend for being an incredible support system; he wouldn’t be able to live his dream without her.

Raedwulf admits to dealing with social anxiety and depression. During livestreams, vlogs, Facebook posts, or game playthroughs, he commonly addresses how his mental health has shaped his life. Although it may come as a surprise given his personality, Raedwulf struggles with talking to others and even leaving his house. His anxiety has also been an obstacle when accepting co-op offers from other YouTubers. But since starting his own channel, his confidence and social skills have grown. Looking back on his earlier content, Raedwulf feels that he was uncomfortable in front of his webcam and that his commentary was stiff.

Raedwulf was also bullied through his childhood. In order to cope with the pain of not fitting in, he turned to Rammstein, a popular German Industrial Metal band. Rammstein is still his favorite band, and the only music he listens to. When he was still young, listening to their songs inspired him to learn German. And although he isn’t entirely fluent, he has a good understanding of the language and will commonly speak German in streams - sometimes for comedic effect, and sometimes rambling in fear while playing a scary game. Raedwulf realizes that dealing with anxiety, depression, and/or bullying can be life-long struggles, and is there for anyone in the YouTube comments, Twitch chat, or Facebook wall if they need advice.



Besides listening to Rammstein and learning German, Raedwulf’s pre-Youtube years were committed to fan animation and map creation. Raedwulf was (and still is) a big Dragon Ball Z fan. To show his admiration for the show, he created Flash animations and uploaded them to the popular website Newgrounds. These clips were quite popular in their time and can still be found if you dig deep enough. He also created textures and maps and his designs were lauded by other players, and even by some of the creators themselves. Whenever he’s playing a game, Raedwulf doesn’t shy away from complimenting its graphics. He knows how hard it is to make even the simplest of levels, and has the utmost respect for indie developers who manage to create amazing works with the smallest teams.

Before he committed himself to creating playthroughs for his gaming channel, Raedwulf was an avid bodybuilder. His previous channel addresses workout and dietary tips for other bodybuilders. Although he isn’t as bulky as he once was, he still stays in shape and likes to tease fans with his muscles during livestreams.

Trivia



 * Raedwulf is afraid of heights


 * His dream job is chasing tornadoes


 * His biggest phobia, since childhood, is seeing faces in the dark


 * He hates being chased


 * He knew Taylor Swift before she was famous


 * One of his cats peed on him during a stream


 * The same cat also pooped on stream and it stunk… really bad


 * He looks good in dresses


 * He loves gummy bears


 * He's secretly a llama