How Video Games Changed My Life: Life-Changing Testimonies and The Last of Us

This study examines how players describe video games, particularly The Last of Us, as life-changing, treating their online accounts as testimonies that shape personal identity and foster community belonging. Drawing on a sample of five YouTube videos and 23 Reddit threads, the analysis adopts an actor-centred approach, regarding players as active meaning-makers rather than passive audiences. Its theoretical foundations combine religious-speech frameworks, speech-act theory, transformative-talk theory, and life-story theory, situating player testimony within the broader study of religion and popular culture and game studies.

The central finding is that players frame their experiences with the game as personal life stories with transformative and testimonial qualities. The game's linear, non-branching narrative, centred on the bond between Joel and Ellie, presents players with a meaningful moral and emotional dilemma that prompts reflection on their own lives. Four recurring themes emerge in these accounts: parenthood, not giving up on life, sexual identity, and self-acceptance. Within these narratives, the characters serve as normative reference points for a "reformulation of the self."

The analysis also highlights the social function of these testimonies. Sharing stories within online communities confers belonging and legitimacy, and community conventions such as reassurance, replaying the game, and collective anticipation of the sequel, confirmed for 2019, reinforce trust and social bonds. The study concludes that such accounts reflect genuine affective meaning-making in digital play rather than mere fiction, with the game acting as a catalyst for self-reflection and community formation. The findings are qualitative and limited to the sampled posts, so they illuminate patterns of expression rather than measuring prevalence across the broader player population.