Saturday, June 23, 2012

Watching Gameplay Videos

I was thinking about how more and more people like to watch gameplay videos on sites like YouTube. And it came to my mind that there are a few types of videos (along with the different reasons to watch them). So here it goes:

  • Video walkthroughs - these are the videos that people watch when they get stuck at a certain point in a game and need to find out how to move on from that point. Another reason for people watching these kind of videos is so that they will learn the best way (or simply other people's ways) to beat the game;
  • Story focused games' videos - in this category go the games that are more or less interactive movies. I'm not saying games where the gamers' intellects aren't stimulated too much, but what I'm saying is games with a captivating story - ones that are almost as fun to watch as they are to play;
  • Entertainment videos - these are gameplay videos which wouldn't necessarily be fun by themselves, but have a narrator which give the videos the "fun" factor (e.g. TobyGames on YouTube);
  • Game reviews - this one's self-explanatory, I don't think there's any need for me to say anything at all, so let's move to the next one;
  • Educational videos - these could have possibly been merged with the video walkthroughs, but I thought they might differ a bit. This category is about non-linear games that involve strategy and tactics (Counter-Strike, APB Reloaded, Skyrim and many more examples could be given);
  • Machinima - now this isn't really a gameplay video, but you could say it's the bonus item on this list. Here's where all the "movies" made in games fit in.

What do you think about this way of categorizing the gameplay videos? Did I miss anything? Let me know in the comments section below.

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