Blog Post 7: Online Examination

For the anthropological study of online social media subculture, I chose a rather unique topic. That is to say, the Youtube channel "NISLT," a collaborative video blog of sorts focused around various aspects of the Team Fortress 2 online community.

The member of the group are, of course, focused around the channel owner "NISLT," and consist almost exclusively of members of the Team Fortress 2 player base. These people also submit videos of their game footage to the channel owner in hopes he will eventually upload the clip, with minor edits and credit given to the submitter for all to see. These clips, while varying in content and theme regarding the actual game play with each video, always follow a set layout. A title card, followed by the start of game play with the player being introduced, the events of the footage, and an end of episode screen linking to other recent videos.

The community of players is essentially what one would come to expect from people who focus around a central, competitive game: Completely bloody insane. Looking to the video comments, one can find that some people are actually antagonized and told to leave simply because they post a comment on each video, or even by posting a strange running gag of sorts for the channel. That is to say, the phrase "best *blank* EU," with the blank being something related to the video in question.

Not all members of this community think along those lines though, as there seems to be a much less vocal but supportive group of people who are willing to accept and encourage the type of video goer listed above. This can be seen by the usually staggering number of "up-votes" a comment receives. This signifies a rather divisive split in the channels community. Those who are there purely for the videos and are seemingly irritated by the joking nature of the comments, and those who think of the comments as a place to be free and have fun even if ti only remotely relates to the video in question.

The chaotic mishmash of a community that always seems at war with one another, while odd in existence and concept, could be viewed as a natural result of being based on the Team Fortress 2 game. While a long running FPS, it has become more or less infamous for how insane general game play has become. Hats are the core of the game, guns are viewed as near worthless, and a simple frying pan that's bright gold in coloration could run you $5000! To have a community that is anything but completely off it's rocker would honestly violate what the game has become in modern times.