#gamingcommuni

The gaming community has grown exponentially over the last few years. As highlighted in the reading “The Melbourne indie game scenes: value regimes in localized game development” there is “an overproduction of videogame making activity insofar as the number of people able and eager to create videogames has outgrown what the local industry is able to commodify and instead manifests as informal networks and communities of practice: shared spaces, friend groups, meet ups, parties, resource sharing, and game jams” (Keogh, 2021, p.212). Gaming is one of the largest forms of contemporary entertainment.

Furthermore, social gaming and live streaming have also emerged from the gaming world. Social gaming is often played amongst friends, but it may also be played with strangers online. It allows for users to not only connect and play with their friends but also with other gamers from across the world. Social gaming can lead to new friendships forming with a common interest of videogames.

Additionally, many gamers now livestream when they are playing videogames on platforms such as Twitch with a live audience that can interact with them through the chat feature. This allows other gamers the opportunity to watch their favorite gamers play a game in a live setting. However, Twitch has also evolved as a platform, as stated in the reading “Broadcasting ourselves”. Taylor explains that Twitch: “began as a platform to support digital gaming [but] has quickly expanded to accommodate people who want to produce a range of creative content for others. […] Across the platform, participants are creating new entertainment products that mix together gameplay, humor, commentary, and real-time interaction with fans and audiences” (Taylor, 2018, p.9).

I am not particularly interested in gaming as I am not a gamer; however, I follow a social media creator, Jc Caylen who has started to use Twitch for other content as well. He does gaming live streams but he also does live streams for entertainment purposes such as answering questions sent in by fans or doing a fun activity with his friends who are also social media influencers infiltrating the twitch live stream world. They are known as the camboys.

References

Keogh, B 2021, 'The Melbourne indie game scenes: value regimes in localized game development' (Chapter 13), Download 'The Melbourne indie game scenes: value regimes in localized game development' (Chapter 13),in P Ruffino (ed), Independent Videogames: Cultures, Networks, Techniques and Politics, Routledge, pp.209-222.

Taylor, TL 2018, ‘Broadcasting ourselves’ (chapter 1), in Watch Me Play: Twitch and the Rise of Game Live Streaming, Princeton University Press, pp.1-23.