Abdallah Elayan of AbdallahSmash: Why Inclusive Gaming Accessibility And Culturally Diverse Representation Matter More Than Ever

As a part of my series about leaders helping to make the entertainment industry more diverse and representative, I had the distinct pleasure of interviewing Abdallah Elayan.

Abdallah is a family-friendly Content Creator on YouTube who focuses on Nintendo Gaming, video walkthroughs, tips & tricks tutorials, and live streaming. He’s a Nintendo Brand Ambassador who has been gaming since he could hold an NES Controller! You’ll find thousands of gameplay videos, spanning over 10 years, on his YouTube Channel: AbdallahSmash026!

Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series! Can you tell us a story about what brought you to this specific career path?

Thanks so much for having me! Ever since I was old enough to hold an NES Controller, I had a keen interest in video games. Before pre-school and at the babysitter’s, I would find myself watching the other kids playing the original Nintendo Entertainment System every day. After a while, I got to join in and immediately fell in love with all of the new experiences and feelings that the original Super Mario Bros gave me. Fast forward to a more recent time — I went to school with the aspirations of being a High School Teacher who would sponsor a gaming club after school. Once I started uploading gameplay onto YouTube, there was something magical about starting to build a community and making a difference in people’s lives without having to go through all of that schooling. Nintendo was always a brand that I enjoyed, ever since I was in diapers, so naturally playing those games made sense for me. The concept of making tutorials was a great way of using my natural talent of teaching in a way that could help the average viewer on another level.

Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began your career?

A few years ago, I noticed an influx of viewers wanting to send me fan mail such as fun, heartfelt letters, fan art, and even food. I opened a PO box nearby and when there was enough mail to do an unboxing, I did it LIVE in front of a YouTube audience. I would have a great time reading each letter aloud and I can only imagine the feeling of a viewer seeing me unbox their fanmail on stream. Aside from being weary of eating random people’s cookies sent to me in the mail, I received an oddly large envelope from a fan named Lucy. I opened this envelope LIVE on stream and found some cute drawings made by a younger fan. Setting the stick figure drawings of myself and Lucy aside, the next items in the envelope were ones that will stick with me forever. With a straight face, LIVE on camera, I reached my hand into the envelope and pulled out a singular yellow sock that appeared to be made for a toddler. Not only was there a random sock in the envelope, but the sock had a single paper towel taped to it! Knowing full well that Lucy and her parents were most likely watching this unfold LIVE on YouTube, I tried to keep a straight face as I held in my inner laughter and genuine curiosity as to why in the world a parent would allow their kid to send me a sock taped to a paper towel. Why send a sock? Whose sock was it? Where’s the other sock? Why wrap it in a paper towel? What is my life right now? Until this day, I still wonder if I’ll ever get closure on Lucy and her sock. Someone, please submit this case to the Unsolved Mysteries show.

Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?

Microphone mishaps happen to the best of us, including myself. The fun and attractive part about going LIVE on YouTube is the fact that it’s real, unedited, and mistakes can, and will, happen. When I first started streaming, I remember getting ready to host a very popular game for the first time. Having a huge audience build up for this game was very exciting and I didn’t want to be late for my event. Unfortunately, I looked at the time and noticed that my scheduled stream time had passed! Instead of pushing back the stream a few minutes to continue setting up, I decided to go LIVE to appease the hundreds of people waiting patiently. I started to introduce myself, the game, and began playing. I was so enthralled with the new game that I got swept up in all of the excitement and eventually noticed that I was talking into a microphone that wasn’t turned on. Had I looked at the live chat of hundreds of viewers saying, “his mic isn’t on” or “I can’t hear you,” I would have caught it immediately, but this dragged on for over 15 minutes. I received a text message on my phone from a friend that simply said, “Fix your mic. You’re muted and we can’t hear you!” I knew at that point that there was a huge mistake and had to immediately turn it on and start the game all over while laughing at myself in the mix. Lesson learned: Always check the audio and video levels of your set-up prior to going LIVE and if you need an extra few minutes to set up, don’t force yourself to comply with the schedule you made — just adjust it and people will understand.

Ok thank you for all that. Let’s now jump to the main focus of our discussion. Can you describe how you are helping to make popular culture more representative of the US population?

I don’t know if there’s anything more representative than the fact that my entire YouTube Channel is called Abdallah Smash! My name is culturally in the minority of the US population and every time someone hears it, it’s a great opportunity to introduce diversity. Growing up in Chicago, I can honestly say I was the only Abdallah throughout the entire northern suburbs and I’m used to people asking me what my name means and where it’s from, not only while growing up, but also online in the comments section. Pop culture in my field is all about gaming and more recently, gaming has been taking the US population and the entire world into consideration when deciding how accessible games are. Accessibility options in gaming is imperative, as it gives the ability for anyone to pick up and play a game.

Can you tell us a story about a particular individual who was impacted by the work you are doing?

It’s very commonplace to receive messages from parents on social media saying how much their kids enjoy my family-friendly content and how they appreciate the way I conduct myself to appeal to all ages. One special instance that comes to mind was a few years ago, when I received an email from the Make-a-Wish foundation regarding a boy who was my “biggest fan”. For those unfamiliar, the Make-a-Wish foundation is an organization that spends their non-profit funds granting wishes for thousands of kids with critical illnesses. I read the shared stories about how watching my content would keep this boy positive through his treatments at the hospital. He also loved playing along with each game that I played. His parents drove him to my house where we hosted a livestream with him in it! We streamed all sorts of games that he wanted to play LIVE on YouTube! After that, we drove to a local arcade and we ended up playing video arcade games until the early hours of the next day! Today, his health has taken a positive turn and his parents still keep me updated on him. Although there are millions of viewers watching my content across the world, there is always something special about receiving such positive feedback regarding how impactful my content is for everyone. I’m thrilled that I can give back to such a wonderful community.

As an insider, this might be obvious to you, but I think it’s instructive to articulate this for the public who might not have the same inside knowledge. Can you share three reasons with our readers about why it’s really important to have diversity represented in Entertainment and its potential effects on our culture?

1. The entertainment industry makes a strong, lasting impression on the younger generations — we grow up watching and absorbing the information presented to us, slowly building ourselves a personality from everything we see and listen to. Kids have access to all sorts of entertainment streams and making the proper example of yourself, for the younger audiences, goes a long way. Personally, I think that YouTube Content Creators, like myself, that keep the younger viewers in mind by choosing not to swear, not to discuss adult content, and provide a safe space for everyone, are making a positive and healthy impact on the future gamers of the world.

2. A diverse and strong representation can help fight and break down stereotypes that can be detrimental to individuals and society. Take women in the gaming field for example — More recently, there has been a lot of forward momentum in spotlighting female characters as protagonists as opposed to female characters that are simply objectified.

3. Diverse representation opens up new and better opportunities for industry professionals. As developers create new stories that center around non-traditional protagonists, representation in the creation room is imperative to ensure that their character’s background and identity are as true to real life experiences as possible. This then leads to a more diverse creative team, both in the talent arena and behind the scenes.

Can you recommend three things the community/society/the industry can do to help address the root of the diversity issues in the entertainment business?

1. In order to tackle the underlying complacency of the industry, it is important that creative teams start taking more risks, saying yes to innovation, and being brave enough to break out of the “easy-money-making” mold. Indie game developers are taking those risks every day by making all sorts of diverse video games for a variety of demographics. A lot of these Indie games have become very popular over the past 5 years or so.

2. Change is already happening and it’s got to keep going. Support the producers that spend their time and efforts on including the lesser represented groups, such as women or people of other nationalities.

3. Listen to diverse groups of people in order to build trust, understanding, and see sensitive issues through a variety of life lenses. Forming diversity groups and committees within the entertainment industry needs to be a priority. Having open communication between all those diversity groups will help others see what actually needs to be seen, versus what the entertainment industry thinks people want to see.

How do you define “Leadership”? Can you explain what you mean or give an example?

I define leadership in a few different ways — First, leadership is taking a strong stance while confidently moving forward towards a goal. Leadership is also all about taking action and not being silent when it comes to hard conversations or subjects. For example, there are many times where information or games get leaked online, prior to official release dates. Companies work tirelessly to ensure that their surprise announcement or game is ready in time for their deadlines and it’s really detrimental to the entire gaming community when someone leaks that information. Taking a stance on leaks by not engaging with that content or making a statement on social media is an example of a regular occurrence that I’ve had to deal with personally. Your followers will always look to you to see how you’ll respond.

What are your “5 things I wish someone told me when I first started” and why. Please share a story or example for each.

1. “Stop recording video games in the bathroom.” I first started using a point-and-shoot camera to record gameplay, but the glare of the natural lighting was making the visuals unwatchable. Where is there a room in the house with no lighting? The closet! Wait… That would have been too easy. Instead, I dragged an office chair into the half-bath and used the vanity sink as a desk. Lesson learned.

2. “Invest in the proper equipment.” When I first started recording, I didn’t have a dedicated space, nor did I have the proper lighting, microphones, or recording equipment. Spending a lot of money upfront may be intimidating, but it’s the best way to set yourself up for success

3. “Be yourself, no matter what.” In the beginning, I was searching for what kind of YouTube personality I could become. I was debating on creating a persona-based off on what was perceived as popular, different from how I acted in real life. In the end, I chose to stay true to myself and stay true to my values of being a source of entertainment that’s accessible to all ages.

4. “Stop caring about what others think.” For every hundred fans, there will be a hundred people that will not care for your content. Since it’s the internet and people can hide behind anonymity, those people can say whatever they want and get away with it. There were times where a single belligerent comment stuck with me for so long that I was became fixated on what other people were thinking. As long as you’re doing your best, try to focus on the positivity and let the haters hate.

5. “Invest in Bitcoin.” Just kidding… maybe. “You can’t please everyone.” On my YouTube channel, I focus on a variety of games from Super Mario to Zelda, Pokemon to Yo-kai Watch, and Kirby to Animal Crossing. I don’t sit around and play a single game like Minecraft or Fortnite for 100% of my content. I love the idea of playing what I want, when I want, but that concept took a while to adapt. I would constantly review comments and feedback from people who wanted me to play a specific game, but at the end of the day — that’s just a single person who was vocal. What about the 99% of the other viewers who aren’t vocal? It’s impossible to adapt my content to please everyone and I shouldn’t feel bad about it! I’ve got to do what makes me happy in order to avoid burnout!

You are a person of enormous influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. :-)

I would love to inspire a movement that makes gaming in schools more socially acceptable. For many students, gaming is a safe space that inspires competition, creativity, and teamwork. True story: when I was a Junior in High School, I started an all-inclusive gaming club that would meet after school for a few hours once a week. I loved how diverse the club was. We were open to anyone who wanted to relieve the stress of school by playing some Mario Kart, and other various games, with new friends. Ideally, this movement wouldn’t just start in high schools, but could expand to middle schools or even elementary schools too! The mere concept of video games in schools needs to evolve from a distraction from learning to a destination for learning.

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?

The expression “Every cloud has a silver lining” focuses on finding something positive in a gloomy situation. In my line of work, prioritizing having a positive outlook on life and the situations we are in is necessary. Keeping a “glass half full” mentality helps keep me going on a daily basis. I can’t continually focus on the viewers and subscribers that I don’t have, my focus needs to be on what I need to do to keep and entertain the ones that I do have — to let myself admire and appreciate the wonderful community that I worked so hard to build.

Is there a person in the world, or in the US whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? He or she might just see this, especially if we tag them. :-)

Being a fan of spicy foods, I would definitely say Sean Evans from Hot Ones. It’s a show where celebrities get invited to eat a plate of spicy hot wings while answering questions about their careers. I would love to be a guest and get absolutely destroyed by the flight of spicy hot sauces!

How can our readers follow you on social media?

You can easily find my YouTube channel by searching the name “Abdallah Smash” or visiting

youtube.com/user/AbdallahSmash026. If you’re curious or have any other questions, I host a VIP Meet & Greet every month with the Members of my channel.

Follow me @abdallahnation on Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok.

You can also pick up some brand new merch at abdallahsmash.com

This was very meaningful, thank you so much!