Media studies, Vol. 12 No. 23, 2021.
Original scientific paper
https://doi.org/10.20901/ms.12.23.3
Video gaming spectatorship: What drives gameplay watching on YouTube?
Urša Golob
orcid.org/0000-0001-7782-0996
; Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Ljubljana
Medeja Kraševec
; Luna\TBWA
Tanja Oblak Črnič
; Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Ljubljana
Abstract
This article addresses the phenomenon of gameplay video watching on YouTube. The study investigates what drives people to watch gameplay videos and what gratifications they seek in performing the activity of gameplay viewing. To this end, the authors adopted the uses and gratifications theory (UGT) and a qualitative methodology involving three online discussion groups with 100 members of international gameplay communities. While the results pinpoint the attractiveness of the player as the most important motive, other reasons, such as preview and learning aspects or substitution for the real game, also appear to be important. The qualitative approach enabled to uncover unique aspects of the motives of watching YouTube gameplay videos. In this respect, five distinctive types of gameplay viewers are identified – Spectator, Performer, Selector, Viewer, and Substitutor – where each of them seems to engage in such practices with specific motives and accompanying gratifications.
Keywords
gameplay videos; spectatorship; YouTube; gaming platform; uses and gratifications; digital games
Hrčak ID:
260890
URI
Publication date:
23.7.2021.
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