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Brennan O’Neill is 25 and has likewise been on YouTube since 2009. Among gamers, he is well known and widely subscribed as well. He and his personal information are more indiscriminately available online. Also, he is well known for his drunken live streaming and his unfiltered, sometimes inappropriate, game commentary. His social media includes Twitter, Facebook, Twitch, and some game related sites. Brennan employs a Video Editor to assist with the creation of videos. He likewise has a cohort of friends with whom he games and creates content.

GolgGloveTV Logo

 

We are broadly familiar with YouTube. Twitch, however, is more of a niche social media and bears some further introduction. Twitch is a platform that allows computer gamers to broadcast live and real-time their game-play.  Frequently there is a social component to the gameplay, either through the game being a massive-multiplayer-online (MMO) or through a co-op element to otherwise single player games. Twitch facilitates the creation of online communities and potentially a revenue stream for successful “hosts.” Content creators can monetize their accounts by permitting advertising and promoting subscriptions. It is possible to record the Twitch stream and edit and compile it to tell various stories, stories which in turn may become YouTube content.

A particularly fruitful example is DayZ.  The game itself is in development. Customers purchase a beta version through Steam.  The premise is the world after a Zombie Apocalypse. Players are spawned hungry, thirsty, and minimally equipped, and if they are unsuccessful at avoiding Zombies, disease, hypothermia, and gathering equipment, their avatar will die fairly quickly. But beyond that are the other players who may be bandits, heroes, or just worse off and desperate for survival. Sometimes trust is developed, and players band together trying to survive, and sometimes they fight and die. The game itself is rough and buggy.  However, it is a fascinating environment for social experimentation but more for live streaming. Some players are so satisfied with their online improvisational storytelling that they have turned gameplay into full-time work.

I see this as a defining element of this kind of content creation where the content and much of the social interaction occurs exclusively online. Indeed, these content creators may attend fan meet-up events, or, participate in conferences, but the content they create is made of and refers to online, or computer-based activities. In Gold Glove’s case, like Jon B., we see that he, as well as a cohort of friends, play together in-game if the game has multi-player capacity. Or, if playing a single player game, a social component is added through streaming the play on Twitch.

Gold Glove has split his YouTube channels out in three ways, Twitch content, game playthroughs, and vlogging.

In Gold Gloves’ case he and a girlfriend also a gamer/content creator, vlogged several months, playing together and living together. Later when he bought a home, he provided tours of the interior and showed his gaming recording studio.

His Twitch content on YouTube tends to capture his exuberance, spontaneity and improvisational “what if” approach to all games, multi or single player. This YouTube channel has a wide variety of content, sometimes Twitch compilations, lasting 10 minutes or less, or multi-hour gameplay.

He is committed to an excellent product like any content creator. He employs a video editor to edit and compile his videos. This is an efficient distribution of work since folks are fans of his personality first. With Gold Glove we hear a little less about sponsorship then we do with Jon B. however, Gold Glove does receive early releases on games. Usually, these come with limits to how far he can play the game. However, it is a technique for creating hype as the game release approaches. As well this kind of channel will occasionally have equipment giveaways to enhance the social element with fans.

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Gold Glove: Home of Video Games and Lovemaking Copyright © by Robert D. Heath is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.

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