Practically Geek Q&A

For those who might not know you yet, could you give us a quick introduction to Practically Geek and what your channel is all about?

Yeah of course, my name is Bryan and Practically GEEK across YouTube, Social Media and Discord is a network I share my love of aviation and flight simulation. 

My YouTube channel currently explores various aspects of Microsoft Flight Simulator, whether that’s product trailers, previews, reviews and soon will feature aviation related unboxing videos like flight sim hardware peripherals. 

What first drew you to flight simulators, and how did that passion evolve into creating YouTube videos?

I’ve always had a passion for aviation, from a very young age I’ve enjoyed going to see the planes at nearby airports so just seeing them fly above me. 

I wasn’t able to get a proper gaming PC till I was an adult and flight simulation was something I’d seen a lot of and would have loved to experience when I was younger. 

When I did finally have a PC that could run a flight sim I tried a basic but still pretty immersive one called Aerofly then quickly moved to the very popular X Plane 11 which was when the addiction started. 

A year or two later in 2020, well we know what happened there, I started creating small Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 videos which over the years has evolved into the content I produce now. 

Do you remember your very first flight sim experience, and what about it hooked you in?

Yeah so before X Plane 11 which was my first proper flight sim I really got into and did real airlines routes etc, I used to fly in a sim/game called Aerofly FS 3 I think it was at the time. I’d say it wasn’t a flight simulation but a kind of arcade game mixed with some sim elements, but that was when I got the bug. Seeing the virtual flight decks of some aircraft in front of me was incredible and it also had a pretty good Virtual Reality mode and as you know already I was into the VR space back then. 

But yeah it was experiencing the thrill of flying, something that unfortunately I won’t get to do in real life, let;s just say I’m living a childhood dream of being able to virtual fly some of the best aircraft in the world from the comfort of my office chair. 

When did you decide to launch Practically Geek, and what was your vision for the channel back then?

Practically Geek the name started well before my YouTube channel. I started to write blog articles for my own website but during that time I was working a lot within Virtual Reality for my job and also at home so the blog sadly became abandoned. Like most, during Lockdown I started to revisit Flight Simulation and when Microsoft re-entered the market with their first flight sim in a very long time, I began exploring that which led me to starting to record small videos of me flying over various landmarks and locations around the world. 

The channel started as a hobby really, I was just enjoying sharing videos of me flying about and honestly I didn’t have a clue what direction it would take until I started reviewing airport sceneries and opening up this whole other avenue of flight sim content.

Your videos range from cinematic trailers to product reviews. How do you decide what type of content to create?

Honestly at the moment it is purely how I’m feeling about each product within the simulator, because I’ve started Live Streaming every week it does help me show more off while giving me time to create pre-recorded videos which as you know takes a lot longer especially when large edits have to be made. 

Generally anything brand new I try to Live Stream within the first few days of it’s release but I’m lucky at the moment to be working with many Flight Simulator third party developers and vendors who are always keen to get their products shown before release which is great for me. 

Flight sims can be a very niche area of gaming. How has the community around your channel grown over the years?

Most definitely! As you can imagine if you are being consistent then followers/subscribers will grow, certain flight sim products will always pull in the views and new followers but I think the community growth around flight simulation has grown overall thanks to Microsoft and Asobo who came in strong with MSFS in 2020, gave it a more user friendly platform and then brought it to Xbox consoles. 

We suddenly had all these new “gamers” who wanted to fly planes, gamers who didn’t have any interest in aviation before who are now actually learning to fly for real thanks to Microsoft Flight Simulator.

Outside of flight simulation, what other games or genres do you find yourself playing?

It’s a shame but I haven’t really played anything for a few years, I jumped back into Hogwarts Legacy and Cyberpunk recently but I’ve mostly been flying fake planes and also being a father after becoming one in 2023. 

Open world exploration is my game genre of choice, Skyrim still holds a special place along with GTA 4 and 5 and yes flight sim will be taking a back seat when GTA 6 arrives next year.

Has your passion for flight sims opened doors or created opportunities that you didn’t expect when you first started?

Oh yes! Yes it has and not always in a positive way, I stopped creating and flight simming altogether for about a year. This wasn’t due to our daughter being born although I would have been out of action while this was happening of course, no this was purely down to me just hating it, everything was negative and it made me sick. 

But positives include working with Microsoft on collaborations and big name third party developers. I’ve been very lucky to have worked with so many of them and has made me really enjoy why I do this.

Are there any collaborations or projects that stand out as highlights of your content creation journey so far?

I’d say since returning to content creation and flight simming at the start of this year it has been my most memorable time for me, as mentioned I’ve collaborated with Microsoft themselves for a couple of social media posts and was actually their creator of the month in March. 

Recently I’ve created trailers for upcoming anticipated aircraft, those trailers were shown at Flight Sim Expo over in America. 

I work closely with a French developer called AzurPoly who create extremely realistic Military aircraft for the simulator and my latest video for their upcoming fighter jet was shown to the crowds at Paris Airshow.  

There have been a few stand out moments to be honest, I’m hoping there is more to come but my promise to myself after returning to content creation was also to enjoy it, don’t treat it like you used to, it is my hobby after all. 

Content creation isn’t always smooth flying. What have been some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced while running the channel?

To me about it, the reason why I took a break from everything was down to a few factors and I don’t mind sharing them here. 

Firstly, after getting into my stride with reviews, cinematics and trailers I was going full speed ahead and started to treat YouTube like a business and almost a job. I started to watch the numbers, keep my eyes on the analytics which is something that started my hate for it all. 

I started to get noticed, developers wanted me to do videos for them, I took on paid work which made my passion begin to fade. The love I once had for creating the videos was gone, the toxic side of content creation started to come through and I’m not talking negative comments, hurtful comments which honestly I never really got. No it was other creators, other creators in a community that was fairly nice and was always looking forward to my videos. 

I stopped doing my YouTube around July 2023, I decided to start again this year for many different reasons but mainly to help my mental health, yes I know it sounds strange because it was affecting my mental health a very badly but I learnt some things and came back stronger with a promise that if I do then I do it on my own terms.

On the flip side, what’s the most rewarding part of being a content creator for you personally?

The community, the people you meet along the way, the followers/subscribers who just enjoy watching and starting a conversation about the same interest you share. 

Don’t get me wrong it is rewarding to see a video or post with a load of views but for me it’s all about helping other like minded folks, I have got to meet people who love aviation like me, work with amazing companies and get some free gear along the way which I’m not going to lie is a great feeling.

How do you balance keeping content accessible for newcomers to flight sims while still appealing to the hardcore audience?

For me my bread and butter is looking at the flight simulators’ amazing scenery, the add-ons that make the airports, landmarks and points of interest look even more true to life. There are many other fantastic creators who can give you the in depth steps of starting up a multi billion dollar jet and their audience know this, generally people come to my content to see me get super excited when seeing realistic airport terminals recreated in the sim or give insights into how a developer has created certain aspects of their add-on. 

I still have some subscribers from the early days of the channel and although I don’t do as many pre-recorded reviews, I’m still showing flight sim add-ons off via 2-3 hour Live Streams every week. 

But mostly I just keep to content I’ve always loved to share and don’t try to overcomplicate things when describing them on a video or post. Although I have a good knowledge of aviation I try to not put it across, I’m fully aware that Microsoft have attracted a new and more youthful audience for MSFS so keeping things easy to understand while adding some in depth parts feels like a good mix and seems to be working. 

What advice would you give to someone who’s just starting out in content creation and streaming, especially in a niche like flight sims?

This is something I can hopefully help with as I feel I’ve been through the negative part of content creation and the positive side too.

Begin with asking yourself why you are doing it? Are you wanting this to be a full time thing? Is it to become something you want to grow and make money from? Do you have the time to commit to it? 

If so then please know it is not easy, you will face the negatives, you will watch the analytics and you will need to be consistent regardless of what content you create. 

It sounds silly but if you have a hobby you really love and want to translate into YouTube then think about it first, I decided that my hobby was more important then doing it as a paid creator, it sounds brilliant to do what you love for a living but for me it becomes a job with the negatives that a job brings. 

Flight Simming on YouTube is no different, it has its trolls, its toxic folk who like to try and bring you down but just stick to the people you know and respect, don’t let others think they are better or can bully their way through you. It is a niche genre to creator for so not all your content will be getting insane views, stick with it and most of all enjoy it whatever way you decide to go. 

Where do you see Practically Geek heading in the next few years? Any dream projects or goals you’d love to achieve?

As long as I still enjoy doing it then I will be giving it a go for as long as possible, I’d like to work closer with some developers who I’ve done videos for in the past and I certainly want to keep collaborating with Microsoft but mostly and even though I don’t watch the analytics as closely as I did, I’d love to hit 10K subs. Oddly 10K was always my little goal and like I said the numbers aren’t important as they used to be but still I’d love to see the channel I started 5 years or so back reach a nice milestone.

I’d also love to attend Flight Sim Expo or a convention, this being a little harder as they are usually US based but it is something to work up to.

And finally, if you could jump on any plane tomorrow, where would you go and why? (But you’re not allowed to pick Prague!)

Who says I go to Prague a lot, nah I get you and yes we have been to Prague many times but our dream destination would be a long haul flight over to America, mostly New York but there are loads of locations in America we’d love to go. 

Visiting family in New Zealand would be another one, so probably if we could just jump on a plane tomorrow then yeah I think New Zealand for sure.