BySukant Deepak

December 16, 2021 (IANSlife) The only Indian YouTuber to be nominated twice in a row for the prestigious Streamy Awards and win it in 2021, Mithilesh Patankar aka Mythpat, smiles, “I have successfully completed all my goals for this year.”

Boasting of over over 11 million subscribers on YouTube, Mythpat, known for his entertainment, comic, and gaming videos on YouTube is one of the pioneers in transforming the gameplay scene in India. Additionally, this year, he had launched India’s first gaming and entertainment podcast – ‘The Mythpat Podcast’ on Spotify which ranked #1 in 2021.

Elated by the award, Mythpat says it is his passion for mimicking and gameplay that has helped him sail through this far. “This win is emblematic of the content I am probably creating is of good taste, and it motivates me to entertain people with the right content,” he tells IANS.

Mention how the gaming industry has witnessed a gigantic growth in the past decade, and more so in 2020 and 2021, he feels that while affordable smartphones and the Internet were the factors that penetrated gaming into the nook and corner of the country, the pandemic lockdowns accelerated its growth manifold. “If not for the pandemic, India would have taken 3-5 years to reach where we are today. It was during the lockdown when kids and young adults moved towards consuming gaming content online. In the last few years, gaming has truly evolved to be a great entertainment option for many. A decade back no one ever thought that gaming and content creation could ever be a legit career and now almost more than 65 per cent of gamers and influencers have chosen it as a full-time career. This remarkable shift in the gaming and content creator economy is historical.”

Talk to him about major gaming tournaments organised abroad, and if he foresees the same in India, and he asserts, “Certainly. Many big brands have already started hosting grand tournaments. For instance, Reliance Jio recently hosted an eSports tournament in India. I believe in the coming year many non-endemic brands will start sponsoring such tournaments, and the eSports scene will definitely be similar to that of an IPL,” says Mythpat, who also adds mimicry to his gaming videos.

“Mimicry is something that I have always been passionate about. I used to perform at my college and that kind of motivated me to create mimicry content on YouTube. While mimicry was my passion, gaming was my hobby and I wanted to merge both of these while creating content. I usually play a game first, create a storyline, and then add these characters that I mimic. Humour is just innate, I don’t have to think about it much. Even if I lose a game, I can laugh at myself and create a joke.”

Even as many psychologists and child psychiatrists point out the addictive nature of gaming and its ill effects on children, Mythpat, who has also collaborated with Netflix in the past says it is important to practice ‘responsible gaming’. “I believe it is the responsibility of creators and gamers to sensitize kids about the ill effects of gaming.”

He also feels that the fact that many games now come with a ‘daily time limit’ is an excellent move. “Look, gamers do it as a profession, but many kids just start playing for abnormally long hours and get addicted. This is something which must be avoided.”

Stressing that kids need to play responsibly, Mythpat says, “Some sort of parental guidance or advisory can help is fight many of the ill effects that gaming has on kids.”

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Sukant Deepak can be contacted at sukant.d@ians.in