Video game videos are often short, unprofessional segments of PC or console gamer experiences. Usually the videos will have heavy metal, rap, or some random song to accompany the action, as the player often PWNS. or dominate your opponents. This is mostly seen in PvP (Player vs. Player) games when people show off their talents to the masses on the big screen. So what makes watching someone else play Halo, World of Warcraft, or the countless other video games out there fun and addictive? The same reason why people watch Flava Flav, I Love New York, Rock of Love, A shot at love with Telia Tequila, Real World, etc.; the realism. These videos are raw, mostly uncensored, limited edition, and something we can all relate to as people and fellow gamers. We may not know what it feels like to be shot seven times in the head in a row and a tea bag for everyone, but we can understand how amazing that must be right now.
Segments like the popular movie King of Kong on G4TV showcased the true rivalry of Billy Mitchell and Steve Wiebe as they battled it out trying to beat each other’s scores in the classic arcade game Donkey Kong. Other videos like Leeroy Jenkins! The video showed a character by the name of Leeroy Jenkins calling out his name before training his entire raid party in World of Warcraft. A lot of people who play mmo, mmorpg games can either identify with someone who botches a raid or can empathize with the situation that made the video an iconic instant classic. Even VOIP hosting stories like Ventrilo or Teamspeak have turned the most ridiculous pitchers into YouTube celebrities. Typically, these earpiece-to-earpiece conversations include enough racial slurs, hate speech, and pornography for even the most hardened criminal to pick up on. Video games bring out the worst and the best in people; It’s a great TV! The competitive juices start to flow along with all the pent up frustration that makes audio/video incredibly painful. A great example is the Onyxia Wipe video where the raid leader is being recorded on Ventrilo without his knowledge. A guildmate ends up getting into the puppies and all hell breaks loose; the infamous cry of THAT’S MINUS 50 DKP has made many people cry with laughter as they realized just how sick that moment really was. Massive online gaming situations make the situation even more dire as real life gamers become deeply associated with their virtual characters and instances of pure joy and utter disaster are a fine line away. It’s walking the proverbial virtual tightrope with thousands of other participants and spectators.
The glory. Nothing says I’m important like beating someone in a video game. People may try to reference the clichéd phrase “It’s just a game,” but in reality the consequences carry more weight than the participants are willing to admit. Grown men and women don’t scream frantically for a well-cooked turkey dinner, or parallel parking, but our animalistic urges are exposed to their core during virtual combat. Shooting someone in a video game makes you better than the other person, even if you sweep for a living and the other person is a well-paid lawyer. The game puts them both on a level playing field and unleashes a competition that rivals any “real” big sport out there. The good thing is that video games don’t leave you physically hurt like real-life sports, but they still invoke all the masculine posturing, empty threats, swear words, and racial slurs we’ve all experienced in our headsets, whether it’s in a console or on a PC. The narcissist in all of us wants to be better at something than someone else. When you capture that moment on video, you immortalize your superiority in a very real, raw and growing medium. Amateur gaming videos have been around since the birth of Pong, with a huge explosion in PC-related video game movies thanks to programs like Fraps and other screen recording technologies that allow you to play PC games with little to no effect on your computer. the performance. As it becomes easier to record action on his TV for console gameplay, the bar for producing your own gameplay videos will be null and void. Just as everyone knows they have a webcam to express their opinion, everyone who plays video games will upload their virtual battles, mergers and feats of epic proportions, or just some random bum playing Tetris.
No Comment