Exploring Video Game Livestreaming from a Linguistic Perspective:
The Example of a Case Study on Twitch
Date: Monday 13 February
Time: 11.00 am
Location: VxLab, Bld 91, Level 1
When looking at the history of video games it is apparent that communication has always played a role in one way or another – whether it was written or spoken text, between the game and the player or among players, in the form of instructions, requests, demands, questions, and so on.
However, while up to a few years ago most communication was located within a game world itself, new technological and digital affordances led to an extension of the communicative possibilities also outside of the actual game.
Let’s Play videos on YouTube, for example, are often not only a mere recording of one or more players engaging in gameplay and some form of talk, but speech is also directed at an intended audience that will eventually watch these videos.
Even more recently, platforms such as Twitch or YouTube Gaming introduced another level to the communicative process in giving players the possibility to not only engage in interaction with their co-players, but also with an active audience in real time.