Can the padawan prosumer become the Jedi Master journalist? Yes! It’s time to adventure into the deep, dark, controversial hole of the YouTube Let’s Play and see how it’s evolved journalism.
Defining journalism
I’ve mentioned a few times so far that my own definition of journalism is more loosey-goosey than most communication theorists – primarily to not overcomplicate things, but also in acknowledgement of its ever-changing nature. To me, journalism is just the act of reporting information in some way. I know that’s incredibly vague and broad, but it was a pretty arbitrary term to begin with. In fact, a lot of gaming journalists may not even consider themselves ‘journalists’ but simply ‘writers’ – but there’s definitely a nuance in the differences.
Finding a platform
Gaming journalism has always been based on the founding of new digital technologies, so finding an appropriate home for it only really became possible after the creation of YouTube and other streaming websites. The ability to watch audio-visual content, rather than adhere to the limits of paper journalism, is a big deal for gaming. Streaming moving video and audio meant that gaming could be accurately represented as it is played, with the opportunity to add live commentary. If game writing was a circle, let’s plays would be a sphere.
It could be argued that television has always been there for this sort of thing, but it’s been rare to see gaming televised fairly and accurately. Often, it’s very out-of-touch – for example, those interviews with young eSports players that the general public just can’t grasp whatsoever. YouTube has a dedicated place for gaming specifically, where you can choose what content you want to see, as opposed to the scheduled nature of television.
It’s quite contested what the first Let’s Play was, but most have determined that the first video Let’s Play came about in 2007 on Something Awful, launching the phenomena and rapidly expanding on YouTube. Now, the Let’s Play has become a staple of YouTube and makes up some of its most popular content. It’s become one of the most useful methods of checking out a game and having fun whilst doing so. Even for the developers themselves, who are far more inclined now to seek out popular YouTubers to review their games.
YouTube embraced its gaming audience, even launching the YouTube Gaming app which is, well, maybe not the best example right now. More recently, platforms like Twitch and Mixer have emerged to accommodate live-streaming, as well as YouTube’s own service.
Why should the Let’s Play be considered journalism?
Keeping my loosey-goosey definition in mind, Let’s Plays should be considered journalism because it provides a way of receiving news about games without having to play them yourself. And now that game devs are embracing YouTube, you can find them using popular YouTubers to promote the latest information about games through review copies or press releases.
Take the channel Geekism, for example. In the run-up to Planet Zoo’s release, Geekism published videos whenever new information came out – is that any different from the written articles doing the same? The Animal Crossing community is known to dial this up, but that’s news, baby! Whenever game updates or news about a game comes out, you can expect a YouTuber to either be walking you through the new content or discussing what can be expected. That’s journalism! It’s reporting on news, on new content or new information.
The future of the Let’s Play
The gaming YouTuber community is incredibly oversaturated and full of people doing the exact same thing. Games are entertainment at their core, so it’s only right that gaming journalism is an extension of this and most YouTubers think comedy is the way to set themselves apart. But in reality, when every gaming YouTuber tries to be funny, they need to employ even more strategies to stay relevant. And the ones that don’t tend to fall flat. In my spare time, I edit videos for aspiring gaming YouTuber. Whilst many of them are funny and I can imagine are great to hang out with, it no longer stands out when compared to everyone else that’s doing the same.
So what can we expect? Well, it’s only a matter of time before people start diversifying the Let’s Play even further, finding new ways to entertain audiences that have seen the same content a million times before. It can’t completely disappear anytime soon, there’s far too many people (me included) relying on them to check out games without buying them. But maybe the Let’s Play will innovate itself again and again.
In a few weeks time, I’ll be talking a little bit more about this and how Polygon masters entertainment and journalism. In the meantime, what do you think about the Let’s Play? Is it on its way out?
