The challenge of creating let’s play videos

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 think about the complexity of creating Let’s Play videos. For the purpose of creating a Let’s Play video, the content creator has to perform two simultaneous tasks of which each can fully occupy the player thus challenging a player’s multitasking ability.

Normally, creating Let’s Play videos (LPs) involves the recording of the player’s gameplay as well as gameplay commentary explaining the own thoughts and actions thus adding an additional story arc to the narrative of the game. However, performing a gameplay commentary requires some practice as playing a computer game often requires a player’s full attention which then has to be shared with the task of commentating. This, in return, can distract the player from the actual gameplay and increase the chances of making a mistake in the game. Naturally, the player can also focus on the gameplay instead, but this mostly causes a negative effect on the quality of the commentary.

In addition, the genre of the game as well as the commentary’s content have a significant impact on the complexity of creating an LP. On the one hand, just describing the own actions and thoughts is simpler than discussing or explaining topics that have no connection to the actual gameplay.

For instance, I use Minecraft for the creation of two different types of LP content. The first type is basically a regular LP in which I just play the game and commentate my actions or share my thoughts and goals. This standard type of LP is pretty straightforward as I just have to explain what I see or what I do, thus reducing the effects of sharing my brain power. However, I also utilize Minecraft for the purpose of creating some kind of video blog in which I discuss important things of my life or try to answer some questions from my viewers. This type of LP is very challenging as the commentary content and the gameplay content do not align all the time. Instead of just playing the game and commentating my actions, I have to use a portion of my brain power to explain complex topics in a clear and understandable way. As explaining complex topics is a very challenging task for our brains, I can no longer fully focus on the actual gameplay. When I like to execute a more demanding game mechanic or I get surprised by one of the many Minecraft monsters, I have to interrupt my explanation in order to free up some brain power.

On the other hand, the game’s genre plays another critical role as some games require a player’s full attention in order to be played successfully. For instance, playing realistic racing games, such as DiRT Rally and Assetto Corsa, demands the players‘ full focus to avoid making mistakes, hence playing such a challenging game leaves not much room for performing a good commentary. In contrast to those fast-paced games that constantly require the player’s attention, more slow-paced games provide good opportunities for performing the commentary. For example, turn-based strategy games like XCOM2 give the players an infinite amount of time to think about their next steps and hence content creators can easily explain their thoughts and plans as they can freely switch between both tasks without the risk of causing a negative effect on the other task’s outcomes.

In conclusion, creating LPs is a very challenging form of playing a computer game as the players have to share their attention between two simultaneous tasks of which each can, depending on the content of the commentary or the genre of the game, demand a player’s full focus. By performing both tasks simultaneously, the players have to constantly change the priority of the two tasks in order to successfully play the game and perform a good commentary. Ultimately, this can even lead to a multitasking ability training.