Discourse at Play: Construction and Professionalism of Video-Based Game Reviews

Key insights

6 takeaways

01
Video game reviews on YouTube partly mirror traditional professional-critic styles, but consumer-oriented reviews do not follow the discursive patterns documented for film and other established media.
02
Factor analysis of 28 discourse items identified two dimensions, a high-art factor and a popular aesthetic factor, with first-person perspective and personal playing experience each appearing in 93% of reviews.
03
Among 150 randomly sampled reviews of 2016 and 2017 releases, reviewers using high-art discourse tended to have posted more videos and produced better-edited content, while popular-oriented discourse showed no comparable relationship.
04
High-art discourse correlated with higher view, like, and dislike counts, suggesting emerging channel-based institutionalization on the platform, but these effects weakened once subscriber counts were controlled.
05
Discussion of form appeared in 78% of reviews and comparisons to other games in 67%, while most reviews (106 of 144 coded for sentiment) were favorable.
06
The study's findings are limited by single-coder analysis, exclusion of six high-volume channels, uniformly positive sentiment, and modest effect sizes.

Summary

YouTube video game reviews have emerged as a significant form of criticism, yet they remain understudied relative to text-based outlets. This study examines how these video-format reviews construct discourse and whether they align with the traditional professional-critic model or the consumer-review model that has grown alongside social media. Drawing on Verboord's framework distinguishing high-art and popular aesthetic discourse, the research asks how reviewers fit these categories and how professional or consumer characteristics shape audience evaluation and engagement.

The analysis rests on quantitative content coding of YouTube game reviews. Factor analysis of 28 discourse items identified two interpretable dimensions: a high-art factor and a popular aesthetic factor. The most prevalent elements were first-person perspective and personal playing experience, each appearing in 93 percent of reviews, alongside discussion of form (78 percent) and comparisons to other games (67 percent). Findings indicate that video game reviewers partly mirror traditional critical styles, but consumer-oriented reviews do not follow the discursive patterns documented for film and other established media.

Among 150 randomly sampled reviews of 2016 and 2017 releases, reviewers employing high-art discourse tended to have posted more videos and produced better-edited content, while popular-oriented discourse showed no comparable relationship. High-art discourse also correlated with higher view, like, and dislike counts, suggesting a form of channel-based institutionalization emerging on the platform. However, these effects weakened once subscriber counts were controlled. Most reviews were positive, with 106 of 144 expressing favorable sentiment.

The authors acknowledge important constraints, including single-coder analysis, the exclusion of six high-volume channels, uniformly positive sentiment, and modest effect sizes. Overall, the study concludes that established critic categories apply in part to YouTube game reviewers, with more experienced creators adopting critical approaches and attracting greater engagement, while excluded outlier videos are unlikely to have biased the findings.