Video game fans say watching is as much fun as playing

Alexis Hughes live-streams playing a video game on Twitch.tv from her home in Chattanooga.

In the decade since it launched, YouTube has attracted more than 1 billion users and served as a career launch pad for a young Canadian pop singer named Justin Bieber.

But the biggest star in the video streaming platform's galaxy of content creators isn't The Bieb or any other mainstream celebrity. It's a lanky, 26-year-old Swede named Felix Kjellberg, the creator of the channel PewDiePie, which has more subscribers than Canada has people and more video views than planet Earth has human beings. Last year, Kjellberg made $12 million before taxes and raised more than $1 million for a variety of charities, according to Forbes magazine.

And all PewDiePie's legions of fans want to do is watch his profanity-filled, cartoonishly overwrought reactions to the video games he plays.

Yes, really.

Kjellberg is inarguably the biggest name in Let's Play videos, a mammothly popular online practice in which a host records himself or herself playing a game and streams it live - or edits and uploads previously recorded sessions - for the amusement of followers. During a Let's Play, the commentator's face is usually shown in an overlaid window so viewers can watch their often-volatile response to the onscreen action. Sometimes, the presenter plays it straight but, more often than not, they spice up their videos with zany antics such as wearing costumes, participating in bizarre self-imposed challenges or turning their sessions into animated shorts.

For millions, Let's Play videos have become the height of online entertainment.

"I'm funny. I'm loud. I'm pretty saucy. I try to really put a lot of entertainment into my content and be pretty rowdy and fun," says Chattanoogan Alex Hughes, the host of a Let's Play channel on video-game streaming platform Twitch.tv. He uses the name Shatter_.

The 31-year-old primarily streams her sessions in the online role-playing game "World of Warcraft," but she'll also field requests to show other games in her library. Regardless of what title is on the screen, however, Hughes says it's her raucous commentary and reactions that keep people watching.

"The game isn't the entertainment draw," she insists. "I am."

Paid to play

Game streaming has become big, both in popularity and earning potential.

Kjellberg's celebrity and paycheck place him head and shoulders above other Let's Play creators, but the videos by the nine most-popular streamers behind him have been seen more than 32 billion times, and their average audience of 10.3 million subscribers is more numerous than those of many top-ranked TV series, including "Law & Order SVU," "The Bachelor" and "Game of Thrones," according to Nielsen ratings.

Popular Let's Play presenters, such as PewDiePie, are offered the chance to earn money from their streams by becoming a site's "content partner." Once they sign up for the program, they earn a percentage of the revenue generated by advertisements that play before - and sometimes during - their videos. Many channels also offer paid monthly subscriptions and accept donations from fans.

Popular presenters on the primary Let's Play platforms can earn enough to make a living solely by producing content for their channels. The amount they are paid is difficult to pin down, however, because presenters agree not to disclose "the amount of gross payments resulting from your use of the services," according to the terms of service for Google's AdSense monetization platform.

The success of some streaming personalities, however, can be seen in the lifestyle they lead. Earlier this year, Jordan Maron, the founder of "CaptainSparklez," a channel with about 2 billion views and more than 8.9 million subscribers, paid $4.5 million for a mansion in Los Angeles using money earned from his videos.

Getting Twitchy

Although YouTube was long the go-to site for watching recorded gameplay, in June 2011 a competing platform, Twitch.tv, was created that let viewers stream video of presenters playing titles live. According to social media statistics website Socialblade, the 10 most popular Twitch accounts have more than 1 million followers each, and especially popular matches or events streaming on the platform can attract simultaneous viewers in their tens of thousands.

The exploding interest in Twitch caught the corporate eye of Amazon, which in August 2014 bought it for $970 million.

"Together with you, we've found new ways of connecting developers and publishers with their fans," wrote Twitch CEO Emmett Shear in an Aug. 25 entry to the company's blog when he was announcing the acquisition. "We've created a whole new kind of career that lets people make a living sharing their love of games. We've brought billions of hours of entertainment, laughter, joy and the occasional ragequit. I think we can all call that a pretty good start."

This summer, in response to the success of Twitch, YouTube founded YouTube Gaming, a dedicated app (iOS/Android) and website emphasizing live game streams and designed "to keep you connected to the games, players and culture that matter to you."

Although Let's Play videos have been uploaded to YouTube and other video sharing sites since 2005, interest in the term "Let's Play" began to spike in 2010, according to statistics from Google. That same year, Kjellberg founded the PewDiePie channel and posted his first video, a two-minute clip - mostly in Swedish - of him playing the game "Minecraft." To date, it has 4.3 million views.

Personalities preferred

The rampant popularity of watching another person play a video game may baffle those who see gaming as an active form of entertainment rather than a passive one, but many Let's Play fans liken streaming games to watching professional athletes or the charismatic hosts of late-night shows.

"I'm not a gymnast, but I like watching the Olympics. I enjoy watching people who excel and do well in gymnastics," says Ooltewah resident Rickie Blevins. "It's the same in video games, except you have an extra level of depth because there's a narrative and a story that's going on and you have the intermingling of their personality and how it affects the game."

Generally speaking, streaming fans say a gamer's skill isn't what makes a stream appealing. Most Let's Play fans say the personality of the presenter is what wins them over.

One of Blevins' favorites is Northernlion, a channel run by Ryan Letourneau, a barb-tongued Canadian streamer with more than 600,000 subscribers and about 310 million total views. Letourneau's videos focus on independently created titles, which are often quirky and feature randomized gameplay that is different every time.

His most popular video, the first in his playthrough of the game "The Binding of Isaac," has more than 1.3 million views. Blevins admits, chuckling, that he's probably one of only a few people who have watched all 800-plus episodes of Letourneau's assault on the game.

"[Letourneau] has that comedic edge that can keep you glued to it forever just because he's a fun person to listen to," he says. "You can hear in his voice how much he's enjoying what he's doing and how much fun he's having. That's contagious."

Chattanoogan Abby Hickey says she spends two to three hours a week watching Let's Play videos. Two of her favorites streamers are Sean McLoughlin (JackSepticEye), whom she describes as "hilarious and also very down to Earth" and Mark Fischbach (Markiplier) because "he feels like your best friend."

"For me, Let's Plays are kind of like watching a friend play a game," the 17-year-old Hickey says. "You get their instant reaction to the game that they are playing. It's the same as watching people react to a scary movie. It's entertaining."

A communal activity

Besides the virtual rapport viewers often feel for personable streamers, there's a social aspect to Let's Play that critics say is at the heart of their appeal. Gamers can start a dialog with each other via a live stream's chat window or in the comments section below a video. During a stream, the presenter often will respond in real time to questions and comments that viewers post in the chat.

In a September 2013 video posted to YouTube gamer culture channel PBS Game/Show, host Jamin Warren argues that this interactive element of Let's Play represents a return to gaming as a social activity, something it had all but lost in the '90s and early 2000s after the decline of arcades.

"Gamers have been a lost and lonely breed for some time When YouTube came on the scene, there was an easy, inexpensive place to enjoy games together," Warren says. "Let's Play channeled that early arcade atmosphere and creates a real community for gamers. We subscribe to our favorite channels. We engage in discussions with other gamers. And we share moments of terror and joy with others."

"That's why Let's Play is so huge. Gamers spent a decade in isolation, and Let's Play has reinvigorated that sense of community."

Virtually vicarious

For some streaming fans, Let's Play also offer a way to mitigate the expense of gaming. Current-generation video game consoles such as the Xbox One and Playstation 4 start at $300; a gaming PC can cost more than $1,000; and games generally sell for $50 to $60 apiece. Streamers say capturing and sharing gameplay provides an opportunity for their viewers to experience a game vicariously before making the sometimes-significant investment necessary to play it themselves.

About two months ago, Chattanoogan Matthew Sims, 28, and his Midwestern partners, Jeremy Ling and TJ Olsen, started a podcast and streaming channel on Twitch called Access RPG. The trio stream three- to four-hour sessions in the evening, capturing gameplay off the Xbox One. Many of their viewers who can't afford to purchase the console would otherwise not be able to experience the latest video games if it weren't for Let's Play streams, Sims says.

"Not everyone has the money to have the new systems," he says. "[Let's Plays] are a cost-effective substitute. For younger viewers, there are some still living at home whose parents won't buy them a new system until Christmas, but they can still see me play the new 'Batman' game."

While the costs may be lower for the viewer, starting a stream can involve some serious expense. Even when recording at home, Sims says he and his partners have spent about $1,300 to create the optimum recording setup.

"I think what people don't understand is the overhead that comes with a quality stream," he says. "If they knew the cost and what it takes to get a stream going, they might play nicer in the chat."

Living the digital dream

Despite the gold rush fever some would-be streamers felt when hearing of the financial success of PewDiePie and a handful of other top-tier Let's Players, most channel operators say the videos are by no means a get-rich-quick proposition.

British born Chattanooga Football Club goalkeeper Gregory Hartley has spent about $2,000 on the gaming rig he uses for his Twitch live streams of online first-person shooters and - naturally - soccer simulator "FIFA 16." With 300 followers, he isn't raking in money, but he has received the occasional donation and paid subscriber.

At times, the idea of getting paid even a modest amount to play video games is baffling, the 25-year-old Hartley writes in an emailed response from Atlanta, where lives and goes to school during the off season.

"I always think, 'Why would someone want to give me money?'" he says. "To me, all I am doing is playing games and doing something I love. If I can make someone's day and make them laugh through my stream, I feel like I have helped them in a way."

Even for Kjellberg, streaming isn't about a paycheck. Since word of his earnings got out, he frequently admits how tired he is talking about it. Just like topping the leaderboards in a game, however, once you're on top, everyone starts gunning for you. At times, he says, the focus on his bank account can take away from the wonder he feels for the course his life has taken.

"My job is kind of amazing, just the fact that I can play video games for a living," he told the Wall Street Journal in a June feature. "When I realized that for the first time, I was almost getting teary-eyed. My dream was coming true.

"I'd be happy not to be No. 1. I'm just a nerd who plays video games. I didn't seek the spotlight."

Contact Casey Phillips at cphillips@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6205. Follow him on Twitter at @PhillipsCTFP.