ABSTRACT
As the use of social media becomes more common, there has been a massive development of creativity in the form of online videos, specifically on YouTube. It provides the opportunity for the fans to express themselves in a variety of ways in regard to their object of fascination such as video games. One video genre that gains a great amount of popularity among YouTube users in recent years is the Let’s Play (LP) videos. It is a type of video where people record themselves while playing video games and give their comments during the filming to share their gaming experience with other video gamers. People often assume that video games could bring negative influence and they are considered as an activity that could have harmful effects on the player’s social lives, creativity, productivity, and literacy. However, based on the analysis of several LP videos from two YouTube channels namely PewDiePie and Cryaotic, this article examines how, through the appropriation process in the form of LP videos, video games could be utilized by fans to construct and articulate new meanings that are related to various social issues. It could even open up dialogs to discuss critically and problematize particular issues with a wider range of audiences who are not categorized as video game fans.
