Gaming and Media

Gaming and Media

Games are well known as a primary source of entertainment. This is clear. But what has also been emerging as a branch of gaming, are gaming personalities. These personalities are online gamers who stream their content onto youtube or twitch for entertainment. In its basic form, the videos uploaded are video games played by people in entertaining or interesting ways. And I know what your thinking, why would people watch other people play video games instead of playing them themselves. Well, its because it brings a new level of entertainment into the mix. By playing the game and adding personality and a unique perspective to the game, younger audiences are encapsulated by the wacky yet fun videos.

Its a simple idea that has exploded into a wide phenomenon. Youtube has been overrun by gaming content with from a humongous library of being played and uploaded faster than any other content. This form of entertainment has only started around 5-6 years ago but now dominates the online entertainment. And I'm sure that you and most other people have notices. As of this year more than 30% of the top 100 Youtube channels are gaming related and  even the most subscribed channel with over 30 million followers, stands on top at number one. Now if you have every been on Youtube, you know who this Swedish man is. Pewdiepie. A average man, who has spread the ideology that gaming is fun and can be shown in funny ways.


However, the access to this source of entertainment has also spread the knowledge and acceptance of gaming in society. Do you know why the popular game Minecraft became a wide spread success? It's because of the wide display of its gaming features to the public. Youtube can be one of the keystones that made Minecraft famous, as entertaining content was submitted and watched. This caused an effect that sunk into the mind of the audience. Other games can also be seen having this kind of success, such as the Amnesia, Slenderman and the most recent craze, Five Nights At Freddies. Once videos of the games become viral by Youtube or Twitch personalities, it can be seen that sales for the games have a sharp increase due to its publicity. From this it can be determined that games have a link to what people buy and their perspective of gaming.

-Alex