StealthGamerBR, a Gem of YouTube Gaming
by Jordan Marushak
Many of especially the younger generation have migrated to YouTube as their entertainment medium of choice. Mostly with regards to video games, the audience has increased dramatically. And with it, content creators on YouTube have risen to meet them. While StealthGamerBR is by no means the biggest gaming YouTuber, he is a fantastic example of how smaller creators try to stand out, and yet can still be at risk of getting consumed by the platform. YouTube, as a mass distribution platform on the Internet, helps bring about the rise of independent creators, though also presents the new problem of promoting and protecting them in a saturated and anonymous landscape.
The digital age has introduced YouTube as both an important form of widespread distribution, and the means for independent creators to step into the ring. Now anyone with an internet connection and a means for recording could start a channel and upload their content to it. And then anyone else with Internet can consume it in turn. Technology had become affordable enough so that young creators could start using high definition cameras to create more professional looking videos. And with the YouTube algorithms the audience could easily find their content.
Videogames were also brought about by the digital age, and so the audience would eventually find the medium. Capture cards for recording gameplay right off the played console began cropping up, and so rather quickly the most popular games were being played by people for others to watch and enjoy. This took time to grow and propagate, so many of the original creators have surviving channels today. PewDiePie is still the most subscribed to channel on YouTube, and he started out playing video games for entertainment. But then as the gaming market grew, so did the number of channels, all competing for the same precious views. YouTube essentially has a monopoly on video sharing platforms, and so creators must compete within the platform that has the lion’s share of the views. And where before the market was small and open enough for new creators to become noticed, it later became bloated and saturated with thousands of gaming channels vying for attention. Therefore overabundance, one of the leading symptoms of the digital age, is realized as a new problem.
In this environment, there are two ways to distinguish oneself from the other gaming YouTubers. First, there’s the game that oftentimes puts the YouTuber on the map, and in StealthGamerBR’s case, it was Dishonored. Dishonored at the time of its release was much loved because it adhered to the trend games had toward freedom. As videogames, and the machines that run them, have become more powerful, the aspirations to create games with more choices like reality have in turn become new selling points. Dishonored placed a player in the steampunk-inspired world as a betrayed royal guard turned vigilante, armed with a variety of weapons and a set of supernatural powers. It also provided countless ways to complete levels, lethally or otherwise. YouTubers mostly get discovered through their skill in a particular game, often one that’s just come out. This provided an opportunity for Stealth, as he knew the game inside out, and discovered new game mechanics all of the time.
But while people come for the game, they oftentimes don’t stick to the channel unless they enjoy the style of video, this being the second distinguishing factor for many channels. The trend has generally been moving towards face-cam of the player, commentary, laughing from funny moments, and other personality driven traits of successful channels. Stealth does not adhere to this, instead sporting a channel where each video is a single, unedited play-through of a Dishonored level, with no commentary. There are perhaps hundreds, if not thousands of channels playing through levels of games like Dishonored, many without commentary or editing. How, then, is this a distinguishing factor?
The answer is his skill and creativity are put to the test the same way a speed-runner’s is. In speed-running games, it’s all about efficiency, getting value out of every second, and so every moment then becomes riveting. In the case of Stealth, the reason his runs become so efficient, and even cinematic, is how many times he plays the levels the exact same way. Much like a crazy basketball shots compilation, he didn’t get the perfect run his first try. All the viewer sees on his channel is his perfect run, where he goes around corners perfectly, has no hesitation, perfect aim, perfect timing, mapped out in his head through repetition. That is, unless one watches his bloopers. There, one can see the sheer number of runs that didn’t make the cut, and how much effort goes into every five-minute video. He also pulls off hilarious stunts with the game mechanics afforded to him, making for the perfect action-comedy short. His goal playing is to truly envelope this perfect vigilante persona, using every gadget like batman, and then capturing craziness that ensues. Despite these distinguishing factors, the YouTube algorithm calls for watch-time and engagement, creating a trend away from quality short videos, including animation, and instead towards lukewarm ten-minute daily content. This quantity over quality thinking is a mistake contributing further to overabundance. It also creates a culture of viewers skipping videos if their interest is not immediately peeked in the first three seconds.
Not only that, but the anonymity in YouTube, along with the creation of free accounts, has created another problem in protecting independent creators. StealthGamerBR is trademarked now, and it started when his channel was taken down. Apparently, someone had taken many of Stealth’s videos, uploaded them to YouTube on their own account, and then copyright struck Stealth to destroy his channel. After his small, though large enough, community reached out to YouTube, he eventually had his channel reinstated and grabbed the trademark to protect it. Independent creators get hit like this all of the time, so he’s very lucky to have been listened to, with no formal way to get his channel back. This shows the consequences of putting the power of mass distribution in the hands of one monolithic company and reducing success to the dice roll of algorithms.
StealthGamerBR is by no means the mainstream of YouTube gaming culture, but he definitely embodies the aspirations of many trying to make a living playing games for the enjoyment of other people. More gems like his channel will surely crop up in the new digital landscape, though hopefully the saturated landscape will not swallow them up instead.
