My DA for BCM215 this semester has certainly gone through its trials and changes than when I first presented it in my pitch earlier this semester. I introduced my digital artefact as a twitch channel that streams games and discusses the interaction between live streamers and characters in games – from the specific perspective of gender.
I had a few years ago set up my own Twitch channel to do some basic streaming from my PlayStation 4, however, 2 years later, I was aiming for bigger and better things… using live streaming programs, the main one being OBS Stream labs studio, so it was a slight process to teach myself how it all worked and how to stream the best way. I soon discovered it was a little rough to stream regularly as I had hoped due to some family circumstances, my laptop blue screening on my twice in the span of 2 hours, my overall slow laptop and the limited Wi-Fi because when 7 people are all on zoom and Netflix on the house Wi-Fi, it isn’t usually the best climate to be streaming, so I had resulted to streaming at around 1am in the morning sometimes, which just was not working.
Below is one of the analytics from my channel when I was able to get a good run-on streaming but had limited research done to present any of my data on researching the interaction between streamers and characters in games.
The Complete Guide to Content Curation (Clarke, T 2018) really guided me on how to make my content more original and more unique so it is actually interesting for audiences to watch. A key point of content curation is also to grow your network and look to others for inspiration on their own works. For myself, this meant involving myself in twitch ‘culture’. I found myself over the last few weeks up until my 180-degree change, I am watching streamers and involving myself in their community, which is still a good thing as I’m aware of content curation and attempting to expand my audience through interaction.
I got to the point where I was concerned that my DA was not quite working so I decided to change the game up abit. I half abandoned my Twitch channel in the hopes that over the next few weeks I will come back and tend to that wilting garden. I then began my AMC Game Types Instagram page, an account where I make posts about specific characters in games and how they have been stereotyped in the game, but then how they are treated by Let’s Play YouTube Creators.
Whilst relatively new, its had more traction that I feel my Twitch channel received, and being a graphic design minor, I have quite enjoyed making the images of the characters and exploring how they are interacted with by Let’s Players due to these limitations eg. Males may make more jokes about characters when they are sexualised. So far this has been fairly successful, I have had to remove my posts and repost them, as overall, Instagram is a very aesthetic platform and my cover photos were not working, so upon reposting them, I incorporated hashtags into my captions which saw a rise in activity on my account.
Looking critically, I need to refer to my academic research more in my posts, they are fairly surface level and there is not as much content in regard to BCM215, so in the time we have left, I will be improving on regular posting, incorporation of academic articles and just increasing activity with my audience.
I look forward to the next few weeks work and will see you at the end of the road!
Till next time,
Alex
References –
(In Video)
Sexy, Strong, and Secondary: A Content Analysis of Female Characters in Video Games across 31 Years Teresa Lynch, Jessica E. Tompkins, Irene I. van Driel, Niki Fritz
(In Blog)
Clarke, T (2018). The Complete Guide to Content Curation: Tools, Tips, Ideas, Hootsuite Blog
AMC Blogs 
Reblogged this on Game Cultures.
LikeLike
Someone who has been watching creators and playing games for as long as I can remember this project is super interesting to me. I agree that looking at how creators talk about both genders is a great way to analyze and jot down the differences that are made, it may take more time but I think you made the right decision there.
Something that i think you should be aware of is when researching and viewing this creators and what they say about these video game characters is to look at the date the video was uploaded, times have changed since some of these creators have uploaded their lets play and certain jokes, titles and thumbnails were not only accepted back then but also helped push videos to the top, which in the end is what made some of these creators.
They may not be gaming related, but if you look at Smosh’s (https://www.youtube.com/c/smosh/videos?view=0&sort=p&flow=grid ) top videos, they were uploading “comedy sketches” at the same time as Let Plays were super relevant and popular and they had to fight to get to the top with some suggestive content
Apart from that, I truly think your doing a great job here, you’ve got some awesome progress pictures and looks like you’ve got yourself a great plan, I too struggle to find game resources so don’t beat yourself up about that
Only thing I could think of was a source I have about watching content and it interactivity, its mainly about streaming so it could come in handy for that section of your project (http://gamestudies.org/1701/articles/anderson )
Keen to see what you end up with 😇
LikeLike
Hello Alex,
Can I just say I hate when you are looking forward to something and then it completely changes to something that is beyond your control, like come on streaming at 1am. I love that you have provided documentation of this process that you went through on Twitch. It is good that you also involved yourself in the streaming community especially when everything that you hoped that would happen didn’t. You still were optimistic even though you did change your DA which is okay. It shows that you were still in the development stage for you DA and many great things come out of it. I love how your new DA idea is this Instagram page for stereotyped video game characters. The graphics you made for the carousel posts are captivating and I see why you are gaining traction for this. You did document your struggle on the Instagram platform in terms of reposting content but yes hashtags are so helpful in bringing new audiences to your account. Here is a link that is about adolescents and their relationship with video games particularly with sexism https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2017.00466/full
Here is another one that is about masculinity in terms of video playing https://scholarworks.umass.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1079&context=communication_faculty_pubs
I really liked that you kept progressing and you still have something to show for it!!
Congrats and keep it up!
LikeLike
This is a great beta video as you have followed the marking criteria closely. I like that you have chosen to discuss and analyse the roles of women and men presented in video games, and how Let’s players interact with the specific gender. I think this is a fascinating way to observe the stereotypes expressed in the media and how this can create misconceptions in the way that both women and men believe is an appropriate way to act in society. The presentation demonstrates that you are passionate about this Digital Artefact. You have explained the issues you have encountered and resolved in the process of this DA.
In your blog you have also showcased your ethnographic approach detailing the struggles of using Twitch and the start-up of your Instagram page. However, I was not certain whether you are utilising three analytical frameworks to shape your perception and interpretation when watching Let’s players perform on Twitch and Let’s Play YouTube Creators. You mentioned that you have selected storytelling and RPG games to observe players’ behaviour; I believe a psychoanalysis framework would help to gain further insight into psychological aspects such as how role-playing games affect players’ interactions with the characters; whether they feel dissociated with the character due to their gender and how their own personal experiences with real offline relationships with someone of the opposite gender effects their ideology. This academic reading might be helpful to further your understanding of this topic https://www.researchgate.net/publication/331758159_Psychology_and_Role-Playing_Games
I would like to mention that the audio from the gameplays in the background is quite distracting and makes it hard to follow your narration. Otherwise great work, I am really engaged with this topic!
LikeLike