Link for Reference: https://youtu.be/QysVPZlwJ-I
When watching gaming videos on YouTube, it can sometimes become clear that much of the YouTuber’s in-game choices are almost entirely based on the intention to pander to their audience, rather than based on their own personal will. For example, this has become the case in Torvesta’s (a RuneScape YouTuber and Twitch streamer) Dead-Man Mode videos recently. At the end of the attached video, he asks his viewers to give the video a like if they want to see him PK (player-kill) with an Amulet of Fury (expensive, rare item) in the next video.
This sort of behavior consequently predicates the whole reason for the following video on the wishes of Torvesta’s audience. Torvesta, if the conditions of his request for likes are true, is driven by forces outside of the game (money, fame-based gratification, etc. from likes) when he plays for his videos. Therefore, Torvesta (or any other gaming YouTuber who does this) is not truly engaged in play in such cases, at least according to Huizanga’s notion of play. On the other hand, if Torvesta does play for his own in-game purposes and desires, fulfilling his request for likes is a futile action.
