January 4, 2013: Please see this post about the status of Mark Plays.

Welcome to my Frequently Asked Questions page! This is organized with general questions first, and the questions I get about whatever I have watched, am currently watching, or will be watching in the future. If you have a question you have been burning to ask me, please leave it in the comments. If I answer it, I’ll add it to the FAQ and then delete your comment. Thanks! Please note: This is for serious questions about Mark Plays only. If you have a question that isn’t directly related to Mark Plays, please use my Ask Mark forum instead.

1) Wait, how come I can’t spoil you?

Read the Site Rules/Spoiler Policy page. The entire point of this site is to write about what it’s like to discover a fictional world without knowing anything about it.

2) But this tiny detail isn’t that bad and I need you to know it.

No, you don’t. Keep it to yourself.

3) Why does everyone seem to be speaking in gibberish? What is that?

In order to avoid spoiling me, but to continue fostering the chance for people to discuss whatever I’m writing about, we use rot13.com. It’s a site that cyphers any phrase by off-setting the letters of the alphabet by 13 letters. To use it, go to rot13.com. You can type in what you want to say, hit “Cypher,” and then paste the gibberish into your comment. Do that in reverse to decode what it is someone else said! Pretty neat, eh?

4) What time do you post your reviews?

Reviews for Mark Reads go up at 5:00am PST/PDT, Mark Plays at 10:00am PST/PDT  and reviews for Mark Watches go up at 1:00pm PST/PDT.

5) Wait, what’s Mark Watches? Mark Reads?

Those are the original sites I started in 2010 and gave birth to Mark Plays! It is generally the same concept: I chronicle my journey through books and television completely unspoiled, usually a chapter or an episode at a time. Visit them!

Mark Reads
Mark Watches 

6) How do people add photos, bolding, italics, or strikethrough to their comments?

Here’s a handy guide to the HTML you can use in your comments!

7) Wait a second, how do you comment on this site?

The best thing to do is sign up for an account on IntenseDebate. This will allow you to subscribe to your favorite commenters in the community, including me, and edit your own comments. You can also comment by registering for my WordPress site, or connecting with your Twitter account, OR you can just do it anonymously if you’re not comfortable linking any sort of that information to your comment.

8) How do you embed videos in a comment?

Above the comment box on the right side is a link that says “embed videos.”  This will let you embed a youtube (and only youtube) video in your comment.  Simply click the link, paste the URL in the resulting pop-up box, and press “embed video.” Using the embed html that youtube provides will not work; this is the only way to embed videos.

There are limitations!  You can only embed videos from youtube, you can only embed 1 video per comment (if you try to add more each video will simply be a repeat of the first video), and if you post a comment with a video enbed then edit the comment the embed usually gets screwed up and you’ll have to re-post the video to get it working again.

9) Do you even comment?

Yes, I do! This is my IntenseDebate profile. If you sign up for IntenseDebate, you can choose to “follow” me and you’ll be able to know whenever I comment. I generally wait a few hours after a post has gone up so that my moderators can weed out any spoilers first.

10) You have moderators?

Yes! Anyone who posts with a blue bar in their username is a moderator! Say hello! These brilliant human beings volunteer their time to keep the Mark Does Stuff sites free of spoilers and wankery. THANK THEM.

11) Can I be a moderator?

To be frank, probably not. All of the mods are hand-picked by myself and the current moderation staff. There is no application process. Just be awesome and wonderful!

12) Mark, you got a detail wrong about x character or y plot or z element of gameplay! Can I correct you?

Sometimes. This is a tough one to judge because sometimes, I do need to be corrected if I am flat-out wrong. You know, if I’m spelling a name wrong, or calling someone by the wrong name. But at the same time, half the appeal of this place is to watch me foolishly stumble through a fictional world. So utilize extreme caution if you are going to correct me. Are you using information from the future or from fandom meta that I won’t have at the time? Or is it a correction involving something that’s a mistake? Whatever you do, please be careful, and please accept that if my moderators delete your comment, it’s for a good reason. If all else fails, post your comment in rot13 and publicly ask a moderator if it is okay for them to pass it along to me.

13) Hey Mark! I’m playing right along with you. Can I post my own theories about what’s going on or chart my own progress?

Absolutely! However, sometimes people don’t know you are doing this, and it creates a confusing situation because other people think you’re actually saying what’s going to happen. So, if you’d like to post your own theories, you must start your own comment off with THEORIES ABOUND. All speculation in a comment MUST start off with this to avoid confusion and so others can skip your comment if they don’t want to read theories.

If you are going to share and document your own gameplay, please start your comment off with GAMEPLAY ABOUND. That makes no sense, I know, but it’s silly and I like it. Please do not include any spoilery images of your gameplay.

14) Will you consider playing ________?

Please visit my Suggestions page! You will see what games I have confirmed I will play, which ones I have denied, and the comments is where you can pitch those games that aren’t on either list. Please do not start a new thread for a game that has already been suggested. Comment in that game’s thread.

15) Can I email you?

Yes! markreadsandwatches [at] gmail [dot] com

16) Can I stalk you on the Internet? 

Here are the acceptable ways to follow me on the Internet:

Twitter: @markdoesstuff (for strictly Mark Reads/Watches updates and commentary), @panasonicyouth (for my personal account where I occasionally yell at things and upload pretty pictures)

Tumblr: http://panasonicyouth.tumblr.com

Facebook: http://facebook.com/panasonicyouth

Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/xmeltingboyx/

Instagram: @markdoesstuff

17) Why do people keep talking about nuns?

In rot13, “hahahahaha” gets turned into “ununununun” so it looks like a bunch of nuns.

18) Do I have to cypher spoilers for games that you have no plans to play? 

Generally, yes. It’s courtesy for others. I don’t want anyone else to get spoiled! So please be generous to your fellow posters, and please cypher all spoilers with warnings for what they spoil.

19) How can I support you? 

There are a few ways you can support me and help keep Mark Does Stuff running!

• Keep AdBlock turned off. The more impressions/clicks I get on ads, the better. But I do understand you may not want to see ads or you might need to avoid GIFs and flashing images, so…
• Donate to me! In the right sidebar, just below the main ad, there is a PayPal donate button. Any help is appreciated!
• Buy my digital books! All of them can be found on MarkDoesStuff.com.
• Buy my physical books! I release all of my books in paperback form on LuLu.
• Commission a video from me! I will do Mark Plays videos for any project I am currently playing or will in the future.

20) So what are you playing next?

At any time, please check the Master Schedule to see what projects I’m doing and what post is scheduled for what day. This will generally include a few future projects, but if not, that means I haven’t figured out what is next! I don’t really have an ordered list of projects. I just sort of pick based on feedback. Because Mark Plays will not have a traditional posting model (since there rarely are defined levels or chapters in modern videogames), the Master Schedule will be VERY important to know what posts are planned for the coming week!