So one of my guilty pleasures that I have on youtube is this group of prominent, well known youtube gamers who post these videos of themselves playing different popular games, acting out skits, and doing otherwise hilarious stuff.
I say that it’s a guilty pleasure because I wouldn’t purposefully go around and taut my fan-boy like respect for these guys. While I’ve learned that fan fiction and other similar mediums are finally being accepted within the broader swath of our society, it often isn’t thought of as particularly ‘cool’ to spend the better part of your time as a college kid watching other kids and semi-adults play video games.
I’m particularly interested in this sort of video game literacy because I’ve just finally realized how astonishingly brilliant a lot of these youtube gamers are. They’re racking up subscriptions ranging in the millions of people, and every single one of their videos can register millions of likes and comments within mere hours of being posted. Not only are these gamers playing games and taping videos of them playing with their friends, but they’re also generating these incredibly scripted but hilarious gags and jokes throughout the ten minutes or so of video. Coupled along with impressive editing skills, these video game videos are actually impressive pieces of art in their own ways.
I bring this up because so many of these videos employ broader concepts of cultural and societal literacy into their discussions and play throughs. You can’t make it through these videos without hearing some reference to an internet meme or a popular song (I keep hearing them repeatedly bring up ‘Damn Daniel’).
I’ll drop a link for one of the guys that I like so that you can see what I’m talking about. Happy watching!
