Markiplier

About

Markiplier is the online handle used by American video blogger and video game commentator Mark Edward Fischbach. Since making his YouTube debut in March 2012, Markiplier has released more than 2,000 episodes of gameplay reviews with a focus on indie titles, thus establishing himself as one of the most popular figures witin the Let's Play community on the video-sharing platform.

Online History

Early Career

Mark^[1] first began his YouTube on a channel prior to his main on under the username Markiplier^[3] uploading few videos before moving over to his current. On April 7th, 2012, Mark uploaded an Amensia: The Dark Descent reaction video compliation, gaining over 1 million views (shown below, left) and reuploaded the video on his main channel on May 26th, 2012, gaining a similar amount of views. On May 29th, 2012, Mark uploaded an episode explaining the move from his old channel gaining 200,000 views (shown below, right).

Highlights

Shortly after moving channels, Markiplier continued to produce his Let's Play (LP) reviews on horror games and other games. On August 8th, 2012, Markiplier uploaded a video titled "Drunk Minecraft #1: A New Hope" which has gained 3 million views (shown below, left), in which he plays with his friends while intoxicated and has been his longest running video series on the channel. On June 17th, 2014, Markiplier released an animated episode of his Among the Sleep gameplay review, which quickly became the vlogger's most popular episode to date outside of the Five Nights at Freddy's (FNaF) fandom after gaining more than 11 million views (shown below, right). On several occassions, Markiplier has also collaborated with other well-known YouTube personalities and "Let's Play" vloggers, such as PewDiePie, the Game Grumps, jacksepticeye and ChaoticMonki, among many others.

Characters

Mark has played many recurring characters in his episodes. One of his most prominent personalities is an alter ego named Wilford Warfstache, a news reporter for AFC with his trademark pink mustache. Wilford first appears in a live action video titled "The Fall of Slender Man" in which Wilford interviews Slender Man, uploaded on November 9th, 2012 which has gained roughly 1 million views (shown below, left). Tiny Box Tim is another recurring popular character Markiplier has created who first debuted in an Amnesia custom story playthrough as a small box. The video has gained over 2 million views (shown below, right). The evil version of Mark, nicknamed Darkiplier is often used in fan games as an antagonist.

Five Nights At Freddy's

Five Nights At Freddy's is Markiplier's most viewed videos on his channel, which arguably popularized the game when he brought to attention on YouTube after his friend Yamimash told him about it. His first video was uploaded August 12th, 2014, in which he played the first game filming himself reacting to jumpscares and the video has gained over 35 million views (shown below, left). On September 28th, 2014, Markiplier uploaded an animation by LixianTV^[4] of Mark's FNaF playthrough, becoming his most watched video with over 42 million views (shown below, right).

Online Presence

As of September 2015, Markiplier is the host of the 49th most subscribed channel on YouTube, with more than nine million subscribers and three billion aggregate views. Furthermore, Markiplier is one of the select LP videobloggers affiliated with Maker Studios' online gaming network Polaris,^[2] a subsidiary of the Walt Disney Company since April 2014. In addition to his YouTube channel, Markiplier maintains an active presence and interacts with his fans on a number of other major social media platforms, including Twitter^[10], Twitch^[13], Facebook^[12], Tumblr^[11] and Vine.^[14]

Charity

On September 6th, 2012, Markiplier announced the launch of his first online charity campaign in an episode released via his YouTube channel, which took on the form of a series of livestream events on Twitch (shown below, left). On April 17th, 2015, Markiplier uploaded a video shortly after recovering from his surgery announcing that he would be donating money to charity and discussing it overall (shown below, right). As of August 2015, Markiplier has raised over $650,000 for charity overall. Markiplier has also worked with the Make-A-Wish Foundation to help an aspiring YouTuber by the name of shodleech^[5].

Fandom

Ever since rising to fame on YouTube, Markiplier has had many fanworks made for him. On DevianArt, there are over 40,000 tagged results for "Markiplier"^[6]. On March 25th, 2013, Markiplier uploaded a video of him opening and reading fanmail gaining over 1.5 million views and continuied the video series for some time. Multiple fangames of Markiplier have been made which he has subsequently played on his channel, the first being uploaded on August 2nd, 2013, and gaining 2.5 million views (shown below, right). A fan Wikia page was also created for all things Markiplier^[7].

Personal Life

Mark Edward Fischbach was born on June 28th, 1989 in O'ahu, Hawaii. He is the brother of Tom Fischbach, the author of TwoKinds. On May 4th, 2013, Mark uploaded a Draw My Life gaining over 10 million views (shown below, left). On May 22nd, 2015, Markiplier uploaded a video from the hospital announcing he had to get surgery for a blockage in his intestines. The video gained over 5 million views (shown below, right) and Mark uploaded two other update videos of him in the hospital each gaining and equal amount of views^[8][9].

Search Interest

External References