So if you didn't
already know, who
do you think has the most
subscribers on YouTube?
Miley Sirus?
Justin Bieber?
Ray William Johnson?
Nope, it's this guy.
Felix Arvid Ulf
Kjellberg, aka PewDiePie,
is a 23-year-old Swede who is
the current king of YouTube
with more than 12
million subscribers,
and he makes "Let's
Play Videos."
Part "Mystery Science
Theater," part Ebert and Roper,
"Let's Play Videos" are
just recorded runthroughs
of people playing games.
They can be funny or
heartbreaking, long or short,
kind, of downright nasty.
He's so cute!
Aw, little bunny.
Oh, no, little bunny!
And if it was just PewDiePie,
that'd be one thing, right?
But he's not alone; "Let's
Play Videos" are huge.
Like, Super Bowl
plus World Cup huge.
Like, I shouldn't even have
to tell you how huge they
are huge, but I will.
Say it for me.
Huge!
So let's look at the numbers.
Well, there's PewDiePie, with
over 12 million subscribers
and over two billion views.
Then there's Hobie Games
and Captain Sparklez,
Syndicate Project,
[INAUDIBLE], Nerd Cube,
and the hundreds of other crazy
popular "Let's Play" creators.
Yes!
It's working!
Oh, no.
I've dropped it.
That's more subscribers
than Canada has people.
Oh, well.
I guess that's all right.
And most of these videos
aren't exactly short, either.
Most "Let's Play Videos" run 10
to 30 minutes, and lots of them
run several hours.
But wait a second,
am I really saying
that there are tens
of millions of people
watching other people play
video games for hours at a time?
Yes.
Yes, I am.
So I think it's fair to
ask-- why have "Let's Play
Videos" gotten so huge?
Well, for starters,
there's money.
Video games, they're
a pricey habit.
And spending $60 at a clip
isn't always an option.
"Let's Play Videos"
let you experience
a game in an entertaining
way for free.
You never seen a horse
ride a motorcycle before?
And of course,
there's strategy.
Turning to others for advice
is a tradition as old as games
themselves.
Back in the day, we called
Nintendo Power for help,
or we checked out IRC
channels or Game Facts.
Now, with "Let's
Play Videos," you
can watch someone struggle
through the entire game
before you have to.
And most importantly,
it's pure entertainment.
Put simply, the best
"Let's Play" creators
are just people you
want to hang out with.
I believe I can fly!
Put your hands in the air!
Put your-- what?
Yeah, but still there's
got to be something more.
YouTube is the biggest thing
in pop culture right now,
and "Let's Play Videos" are
the biggest thing on YouTube.
Why?
Here's what I think.
Gamers have been a
lost and lonely breed
for quite some time,
and now they can finally
reconnect with each other.
Think about it.
When games first came
on the scene in arcades,
it was a social experience.
It was dark.
It was dingy.
But it was an inexpensive place
to hang out with other people.
Gamers huddled around
Pac Man and Donkey Kong
every night of the week,
and by the end of the '80s
there were over 10,000 arcades
across the United States.
My local arcade even took report
cards in exchange for tokens.
Thanks, challenges!
But then consoles
came onto the scene,
and by the end of the '90s most
gaming was done in the home.
Man, I think he's
permanently attached.
With the exception of "Street
Fighter" and "Mortal Combat,"
most gamers were playing
in bedrooms and basements--
most likely alone.
This was the decade
of the lonely gamer.
Games got better, but the
gaming experience got worse.
As a brief aside, this
wasn't true in Japan.
Arcades continue to thrive.
There's a great book about
it by Brian Ashcraft.
There's a link for it
in the description.
But that didn't mean
that gamers didn't want
to connect with each other.
When broadband
became more common
in the early 2000s,
social play flourished.
And when YouTube
came on the scene,
there was an easy, inexpensive
place to enjoy games together.
"Let's Play" channels that
early arcade atmosphere
and creates a real
community for gamers.
We subscribe to our
favorite channels,
we engage in discussions
with other gamers,
and we share moments
of terror and joy
with millions of other people.
And that's why "Let's
Play" is so huge.
Gamers spent a
decade in isolation,
and "Let's Play Videos"
have reinvigorated
that sense of community.
So what do you think?
Why are "Let's Play
Videos" so huge?
Hash it out in the comments.
And if you like what you
saw, please subscribe.
I'll be here every week.
Last week we talked about
Mario, Link and Sonic.
Let's see what you had to say.
Some of you astutely
noticed that we accidentally
replaced Marcus Phoenix with Dom
and Solid Snake with Big Boss.
Our apologies.
First episode.
We're still working
out the kinks.
Theimporter points out
that Sonic, Link and Mario
are actually more like
mascots, like Mickey Mouse.
I mean, who's watched a
Mickey Mouse cartoon lately?
We may not even need to make
games with them anymore.
It's a great, great point.
So Samg2000 points out that
more recent games like Skyrim
and Journey follow the hero's
journey to a T. First of all,
those games sold well.
So, coincidence?
I don't think so.
And second of all, meet me in
100 years and we'll find out.
Iseethenights makes
a bid for Pokemon.
I think that that's a
great, great suggestion.
It might be a
generational thing though.
But yeah, again,
great suggestion.
Thanks so much for the comment.
My favorite comment
of the week comes
from KaChiKaChak who points
out that characters maybe
on the way out
are being replaced
by things like avatars, where
you customize them and make
them yourself.
It's a great, great observation.
I don't think that the
hero's journey as a concept
is going to disappear, but I
do think its expression might
change over time.
So to Spam Bot, my love,
the Tony, and thanks so much
for loving my ironical video.
PdrLaguna thinks that
Mario doesn't fit.
Bold, bold claim, my friend.
Well, Joseph Campbell didn't
say that every single story has
to fit the model myth to a T,
so there might be parts of it
that Mario doesn't
necessarily fit.
But I do think there's
a really strong case
to be made that you'll find
all those elements there.
You got to remember also that
these are video games, right?
So elements of the model myth
might be something that you do.
So you might take
on the [INAUDIBLE].
It just makes things a
little bit different.
Mike Rugnetta from Idea Channel.
Great show.
You should check it out.
Nice to meet you, Mike.
Mike writes in, he
thinks that part
of the reason that these
characters survived,
as opposed to other ones,
is the fact that video
games were targeting young
boys during that time period.
It's no big secret that video
games during its early life
targeted young boys.
And I think you're
totally right.
And in fact, that might
be part of the reason
why characters like Samus,
who do fit the hero's journey,
didn't endure the same
that those characters do.
So I think it's an
excellent point.
Obviously, demographics often
play into these decisions.
But the hope is over time that
the values of these characters
will sort of transcend
gender and be something
that everybody likes to play.
And finally, tiago
silva wants a cookie.
You got it, boss,
we're here to please.
Send a self-addressed, stamped
envelope to this address.
