Game live

下面为大家整理一篇优秀的paper代写范文- The game live，供大家参考学习，这篇论文讨论了游戏直播。如今   随着游戏产业的不断发展和互联网技术的不断创新，视频游戏逐渐引起了人们的极大关注。同时，随着互联网带宽的快速增长和流媒体技术的日趋成熟，以视频游戏传播为主的新媒体也经历了快速的扩张。“在线直播”一词也出现在公众视线中。根据Daniel Recktenwald（2017年，第668页）的说法，“在线直播是一种新的媒体类型，它将活动的广播与跨模式视频媒介传播结合起来  话不多说 一起来看看！

Introduction

With the increasing growth of game industry and the constant innovation of internet technology, video games gradually draw great public attention. At the same time, with the help of rapid increase of internet bandwidth and more mature streaming media technology, new medias which mainly diffuse video games have experienced fast expansion. The term “online live streaming” also appears in public’s sight. According to Daniel Recktenwald (2017, p.668), “Online live streaming is a new media genre which combines the broadcast of an activity with cross-modal video-mediated communication”. Furthermore, it enables individuals to publicly broadcast live video streams, and allows other people to watch the video via web and communicate with each other (Hu, Zhang, & Wang, 2017). Recently, playing video games and watching others play video games have become an important part of people’s recreational activities. There are millions of people spend their time in watching others play games on the internet, and platforms have to double their user base every year because of the huge number of users (Sjoblom & Hamari, 2017; Sjoblom et al., 2017).

Influenced by prosperous development in practice field, academic realm also has attached much importance to online live streaming. For example, researchers such as Max Sjoblom, Juho Hamari, Mu Hu, and Mingli Zhang conducted related researches to figure out the reason why audience choose to keep watching others play video game through the internet. However, it is important to note that a large number of researchers mainly focus on the issues with respect to technology, such as ways to improve the streaming network systems. Few researchers consider broadcasted game video from the perspective of normal users. What is more, as Facebook, twitter and snapchat also allow users to kill time and make friends online, why do a large amount of people choose to use Twitch? In this way, it is necessary to further study the reasons why broadcasted game video is so popular among people. The study not only helps individual streamers and live broadcasting platforms improve their performance to attract more users, but also help family members of users to better understand their behaviors and figure out ways to prevent users from indulging in watching others play video games through internet. Generally, with the help of Uses and Gratification theory and certain cases source, the paper mainly argues that, the reason why so many people prefer to watch others play video games is because the process satisfies their social and psychological needs.

Key Terms and Concepts

As Sjoblom and Hamari (2017, p.985) point out that, “streaming is an extremely interesting context for participatory online media”, and it refers to streaming media, a new way to transfer medium. In the form of data package, living broadcast platforms upload programs to internet through video transmission server. Users could completely watch the programs by reading the data from client-side. In other words, users could accept, watch and listen in real time while being delivered by providers. With the appearance of the technology, people no longer satisfy purely with uploading or requesting game programs from video websites such as YouTube. Live broadcasting platforms such as twitch become independent of video websites and achieve rapid development.

Broadcasted game video is an important type of all types of live broadcasting, and it means that creators of content provide game videos for audiences in real time, accompanied by audio commentary (Chu & Chou, 2015). The content of game videos could be individual streamers broadcasting themselves playing a video game or others playing a video game. At the same time, audiences could interact with individual streamers though words, chat emoticon or presents. 

Furthermore, game video platform provides a platform for game individual streamers to broadcast, and it also provides service for audiences to watch broadcasted game videos. The broadcasting of game video is a process of transmitting information, and video game platform plays a significant role in the process. As a new media, video game platform is not only a channel for transmitting information, but also integrates the resources of video game platforms and video game industry.

In addition, individual streamer of game video is the provider of broadcasted game videos, who provides personal live video streaming service for one time or many times on network platform. As mentioned before, in most cases, the creator of content (individual streamer) broadcasts himself playing a video game, along with his personal commentary with respect to broadcasted content.

Besides, the question of why people watch various mass media is one of the major areas which researchers and scholars in media and communication sciences pay attention to. Uses and Gratification theoretical perspective is the most prevalent theoretical framework and development in this vein of research (Sjoblom & Hamari, 2017). What is more, the theoretical perspective has been constantly changed and updated since it was applied in researching mass media. People find that the sense of gratification could explain why audiences have satisfaction on television news (Plamgreen & Raybourn, 1985), and intentions of audiences influence their behaviors in selecting programs (Rubin, 1981). Based on the opinion of Katz (1971), Uses and Gratification theory could analyze the reason why users use mass media, and what content of mass media could satisfy audiences. They treat users as rational actors, who actively contact media and use media on the basis of their psychological and social needs. Consequently, the behaviors of watching mass media programs are based on their own goals. Generally, different from previous media theories such as mass society theory, Uses and Gratification theory stresses that users have different purposes in using media, and it is the users who take control firmly to a large extent. The theory directs people to pay more attention to users, and regards the satisfaction of users’ need as the basic standard in evaluating the communication effect. Furthermore, Uses and Gratification theory thinks media users are aware of their own usage, and it underlines the motility of users. The theory also provides powerful theoretical foundation for people to understand the prevalence of broadcasted game video.

Reasons for the Prevalence of Broadcasted Game Video

The reason why so many people spend much time in watching others play video game is because they can get gratification from the process. According to Cantril (1942), audiences choose certain mass media of communication in order to satisfy their social demands and psychological needs. Cho et al (2003) also argue that, people’s choices on mass media appear at the time when they satisfy their social psychological needs. People tend to selectively watch mass media since their motivation of watching is closely related to their psychological needs. Similarly, the reason why people watch others play video games is also because they could satisfy their social and psychological needs from the behavior.

On one hand, watching others play video game could meet the social needs of users. Michael G. Blight (2016) notes that, streaming platforms have similar function as other online platforms. Specifically, “streaming platforms function similarly to social networking websites in terms of the social gratifications that are met online (Blight, 2006, p.16).” For example, Twitch is such a social media which describes itself as a social video platform for gamers (Foster, 2016). Similar as other social networking websites, viewers in Twitch could also send messages to other viewers or individual streamers they admire, and they could also follow other viewers’ account. As Sjoblom and Hamari (2017) point out that, it is very likely that watching others play video games could provide social gratification which people cannot get from a normal single-player experience. Mu Hu, Mingli Zhang and Yu Wang point out that (2017), people tend to classify themselves into various social categories, and they should continuously participate and communicate with the group members to maintain her favored social identities. When it comes to the viewers, similarly, they will keep watching others play video games if they make several friends through the platform. In practice, the viewers directly make friends with other viewers since they communicate with each other and exchange their opinions on the ways to better play the game for example. During the communication process, viewers become active gratifications seekers at the time when they use the platform (Jung et al., 2007). Besides, as it is very easy to get access to streaming platforms through downloading applications on computer or smartphones, users tend to be closely connected with each other in the parasocial relationships. What is more, the chat function of streaming platforms also leads to the formation of online communities where a large number of viewers get together and use technology to interact around a shared interest (Blight, 2016). As it has become a habit for a large portion of viewers to use streaming platforms, they tend to invest their time to establish stronger bonds in the community. For example, for the viewers who admire and worship a same streamer, they tend to regard themselves as a member of a common symbol system, and they have strong affectional tie with each other. Furthermore, based on Uses and Gratification theory, continued interaction within the community will satisfy users’ social needs in owning a sense of association within a group and a sense of togetherness. For many viewers, involvement in a community promote them to continually select a platform (Blight, 2016).

Many researches have proved that viewers watch others play video games in order to satisfy their social needs. For the sake of figuring out how different types of motivations such as social integrative, cognitive, personal integrative, affective and tension release factors influence the amount of hours that users spend on watching broadcasted game videos and the amount of individual streamers they choose to watch, Sjoblom and Hamari conducted an empirical study. They distributed their award questionnaires through social news sites and social media such as Twitter, Reddit and Facebook, which attract many game players. Eventually, they obtained 1091 valid responses from the respondents. There were 93.2 percent of respondents who had an account on Twitch, and 38.7 percent of respondents had acted as an individual streamer. Based on the result of these respondents, it is easy to find the close relationship between social integrative motivations and the usage of video game streaming. The respondents who have increased levels of social integrative motivation tend to take more time in using streaming platforms and watching others play video game. At the same time, their research also shows that, respondents with higher level of social integrative motivation positively follow streamers and have stronger sense of belonging with the video game streaming community. Moreover, in order to explain the reason why audiences continually watch others play video games, Hu Mu, Zhang Mingli and Wang Yu also conducted a research. They choose YY Live and Douyu TV, two popular live video game streaming platforms in China, to represent other video game streaming platforms. From 412 valid questionnaires distributed in the above two platforms, they found that, “Emerged from intragroup communications, co-experiences are co-created and shared among audiences as a necessary part of total user experiences (Hu et al., 2017, p.602).” In the meantime, the positive association between viewers’ continuous watching intention and social identification of viewers also indicates that, viewers’ sense of belonging within a community and feeling of admiring a specific streamer play a crucial role in viewers’ loyalty behavior in live video game streaming platforms.

However, some people hold a different opinion and they argue that, it cannot be denied that a part of viewers prefer not to interact with others on the streaming platforms. Nevertheless, Blight (2016) explains that, viewers who do not communicate with other viewers in streamer’s community may use preexisting relationships from offline groups or other online groups for the sake of discussing their favorite streamer. In this way, social interaction is a crucial factor for viewers’ continual watching behaviors in live video game streaming platforms.

On the other hand, watching others play video game could meet the psychological needs of users. Based on Uses and Gratification theory, media is a vehicle for individuals to satisfy their own needs. In researching people’s motivation of watching traditional television programs, Perse and Rubin (1989) list various factors, including sense of entertainment, killing time, hobby of snooping, getting information, social utility and relax or escape. These factors also apply to reality television shows. Godlewski and Perse (2010) point out that, people watch reality television shows in order to kill time, get stimulating sense of entertainment, relax, escape, pry into others, or use for social learning. In the meantime, the motivations of people who are interested in watching others play video games are similar. For example, with the help of connecting to the streamer, viewers are allowed to escape from relationships and circumstances in their real life. The research of Rubin and Perse (1987) points out that, the reason why certain people are interested in watching soap opera is because it allows themselves to imagine the life when they are the actors. During the process of watching soap opera, viewers could forget the troubles they are facing, the sadness they are suffering and the problems they have to solve. What is more, viewers could also imagine a better life they could enjoy through watching soap opera. Similarly, through watching others play video game, viewers also have the chance to imagine the scene that they could play as well as the streamer. Moreover, some viewers watch others play video game when they have nothing to do, or they may have a habit to watch it when they have lunch or dinner. It is an appropriate way for them to pass time through watching the screen and game outcomes (Blight, 2016). Furthermore, some viewers regard the content released by streamers as new and cool trend (Blight, 2016). In order to know newest information about game industry and best way to play game in the first time, some viewers think it is useful to watch professional game players play games. Besides, the professional content released by streamers will also make it become the focus that news coverage and media pay attention. Consequently, some viewers treat the performance of professional game players as a new and cool trend. In addition, information seeking is also an important motivation for certain viewers. Through watching others play video game, views could learn from their lessons and experiences. Viewers could also understand the video game more objectively from watching behavior, which is useful for their own performance. As those closely involved cannot see clearly and the onlookers see most clearly, viewers could find good enlightenment from watching others play video game. What is more, viewers tend to gain bigger happiness and gratification compared with their personal process of playing. They pay more attention to how to attack and perfectly complete the game when they play it personally, while they could feel the enjoyment provided by games from the perspective of outsider. Playing video games actually expend energy and effort, therefore, watching others’ performance could not only save time and energy, but also gain fun and enjoyment from the video game.

Based on the research of Sjoblom and Hamari, it is easy to find the close connection between affective motivations and hours watched. In other words, it is because audiences are interested in watching others play video games, they spend much time in it. They tend to spend more time in the activity if they have more affective motivations. Moreover, cognitive motivation is also an important factor which influences people’s time spent in watching broadcasted game video. Generally, through watching others play video games, audiences expect to obtain more information in regard to game strategies and game products (Sjoblom & Hamari, 2017). At the same time, Sjoblom and Hamari (2017) also find that, there is also a positive relation between steamers subscribed and personal integrative motivations. As Hu et al (2017) suggest that, a viewer of broadcasted game video tends to take personality, competence, belief and other aspects of individual streamer as reference. In other words, the audiences expect to own certain qualities of the streamer, consequently, they subscribed certain steamers they like. In addition to the empirical study of Sjoblom and Hamari, the research of Sjoblom also proves how gratifications influence users’ behaviors. In order to obtain the first-hand information about the inner thoughts of viewers, they conducted an online questionnaire study, which involves 1097 valid responses. Based on their research result, archetypal structure is a more significant factor than content topic in attracting the attention of viewers with regard to online live streaming of video games. In general, both Uses and Gratifications theory and empirical studies indicate the relation between users’ gratifications and their behaviors of watching others play video game.

Conclusion

Nowadays, with the rapid development of science and technology, the popularization of digital mobile device, and the emergence of social media, gamers have become social and video has been their language. Various game players gather together in online broadcasting platform to exchange their opinions on playing games. Twitch is such a platform which provides people the way to reach and resonate with the most influential gamers. For example, there were 6 million viewers and a total of 327 million minutes watched on Twitch during the first week of the release of Call of Duty (Foster, 2016). In this way, it is necessary to figure out why there are so many people prefer to spend much time in Twitch and watching others play video game.

With the help of Uses and Gratification theory and related studies conducted by researchers such as Sjoblom and Hamari, it is easy to find that watching others’ performance allow viewers to satisfy their social and psychological needs, which are the crucial factors for their watching behavior. On one hand, watching others play video games could provide social gratification which people cannot get from a normal single-player experience; and viewers are able to send messages to other viewers or individual streamers they admire, and they could also follow other viewers’ account. Specifically, even though some viewers do not interact with other viewers on the platform, they tend to use preexisting relationships from offline groups or other online groups for the sake of discussing their favorite streamer. On the other hand, watching others play video game could meet the psychological needs of users, including sense of entertainment, killing time, hobby of snooping, getting information, social utility and relax or escape. However, the paper also has its limitations. In the first place, it does not conduct any empirical studies to prove its argument but take other researchers’ research result for reference. What is more, it does not discuss how individual streamers are influenced under the direction of Uses and Gratification theory. Consequently, more researches have to be conducted in order to better understand the topic.

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