Is how we engage with entertainment important?

My brother is a very active Minecraft fan and it was a video he was watching that became my gateway paratext into the world of Minecraft. I was instantly engaged as a user by the game’s lack of restraints and it’s nostalgic ‘logo-y’ feel. However, in stark contrast I was put off by the actual Let’s Play Video, I personally found the action of watching someone boring and the performance by the presenter cheesy — but from my analysis i know these are the conventions and characteristics of the Let’s play videos.

However the biggest surprise for me was that, despite my brother investing over 12 hours a day in watching videos about Minecraft, when offered the chance to play the real game he said no. he doesn’t want to, he prefers consuming Minecraft as a Let’s Play video, my best explanation for this is that we are looking for different needs to be fulfilled with Minecraft, personally I wanted escapism, however my brother wanted comedy.

One aspect of my analysis that surprised me is how easily de Certeau ideas, despite being over 30 years old, could still apply today to ideas and texts that wouldn’t even have been possible when he originally published his idea. As a practitioner I would also spend a lot more time making sure i don’t have too much restriction in my story because not only does it help make a more engaging story, it supports a participatory and paratext, culture, allowing them to redistribute.

Because of the more relaxed style of using a blog, as well as the fact I could use multimedia assets, I found the research to be a lot more engaging. I also explored some references that I perhaps wouldn’t have approached with my last essay. But also more generally i think the research skills will be some of the most useful in my further academic and practical career.

Originally published at thesynergists.co.uk on April 17, 2016.