Sandbox computer game Let’s Plays

During my ongoing literature review I often discover interesting facts about things I’ve never thought about. Sometimes I can connect these facts with my own observations: The result is mostly a completely new idea why things are as they are. Maybe these ideas are new to you, too. Therefore I’ll share my new science based knowledge with you!

This week: This time, I like to give a very brief overview about the entertaining combination of sandbox computer games and the creation of Let’s Play videos.

I’ve already defined Let’s play videos (LP) [1] and discussed why open world and sandbox games provide their players with unique experiences [2]. Although it’s quite an obvious step, I like to discuss the combination of both approaches.

Sandbox games allow players to express their creativity and to play around with an open world they can shape without any constraints. Creating LPs is also a creative process, because players create an additional narrative arc through their comments.
In this case, creating a LP is already an expression of the own creativity. However, the resulting LP video about a game with a linear story is mostly linear, too. The feelings and the narrative arc of the player might be different, but the main content of the LP itself is mostly the same, if different LPs about the same linear game are compared.
Naturally, each player has a different approach and thus the LPs are distinguished by the narrative arc. The expression of the own creativity remains still intact, but it’s mostly biased by the story of the game, which is being played in the LP.

In contrast to linear game LPs, a sandbox game LP gives the player the opportunity to express the own creativity in two different dimensions. The first dimension is the same as of a linear game LP: the additional narrative arc of the player.
However, due to the fact that playing a sandbox game is already an expression of the own creativity, a sandbox game LP has an additional dimension of creativity. The player has the opportunity to create a completely new and unique story out of the openess of a sandbox game.
At this point, the gameplay itself already becomes the most obvious part, which distinguishes different LPs about the same computer game. However, the narrative arc created by the player is still very important, because it adds some context to the gameplay presented in the video. Without the important narrative arc added by commentating the gameplay, the LP could be hard to follow, because sandbox computer games don’t provide an own narrative arc like linear computer games.

Finally, from the standpoint of a viewer, LPs about sandbox computer games allow a broader variety of different „channels“. A LP about a linear game is still entertaining to follow, but watching a LP about the same game from a different player won’t provide much more new and interesting events. However, sandbox game or open world LPs are different all the time, because the gameplay itself allows unlimeted different approaches. In the end, the combination of sandbox computer games and LPs has created a new trend of approaching these games: the game becomes more and more a framework to present the own creativity to others.