Let’s not play: Interpassivity as resistance in ‘Let’s Play’ videos

Abstract

This article examines contemporary practices of ‘idling’ (playing ‘idle games’) and ‘let’s playing’ (watching ‘Let’s Play’ [LP] videos of performed gameplay) as forms of power and resistance in the attention economy. Through the prism of interpassivity, a theory developed by Robert Pfaller and Slavoj Žižek, it establishes idling as relegating certain enjoyment from gameplay to the machine, while reproducing the anxieties associated with digital work as a whole. LPs, on the other hand, position the viewer as a critical analyst rather than a hands-on player. This vicarious experience of delegating play to others can allow avoidance and disengagement, which in turn may allow for a critical examination of the system as whole. As I will argue in this article, such interpassive practices can thus be seen as forms of resistance enabling users to step outside the controlling mechanism of digital media and the associated cybernetic feedback loops.

Ever-Lockdown: Waiting through Times of Playbour and Pandemic in Animal Crossing

“…2 There exists, then, a soft and intriguing tension between the boring monotony of island processes that push players away and the comforts and 2 It is worth noting in passing that the use of streaming platforms has accelerated during lockdown in a mode which has become habitual (Gupta and Singharia 2021). Though this is beyond the scope of this article, see Taylor (2018) and Gekker (2018) for more on the implications of streaming 'let's plays' etc. of games specifically.…”

“…Keogh has keenly contested the idea that videogames are necessarily interactive media, critiquing Game Studies' focus on action, and noting the frequency of waiting and observing narrative cutscenes, extended animation sequences and even cautious hiding in agonistic games (2019,. Even more radically, Fizek and Gekker have drawn on Pfaller and Žižeks' concept of interpassivity to argue that in some genres, players delegate their enjoyment (Fizek 2018b), and even that players can resist playbour by rejecting interactivity (Gekker 2018). Through their work we can see the condition of 'interpassivity' present in kinds of distracted and bored player, building on Pfaller's definition of the 'antiideological' refusal of interactivity: 'the pleasure in letting others [here the game] consume (instead of work) in one's place' (2017, 1), allowing us to 'opt out' of playbour and, as Žižek has it, use digital space to 'gain a minimum of distance' toward our fantasies by externalising them (1998,511).…”

Playing the Zombie: Participation and Interpassivity in Gothic XR

“…The view that Gothic genre is seen as being 'made' for video games is shared by many in the field (Whittaker 2007a(Whittaker , 2007bNewman 2008;Rouse 2009;Kirkland 2011;Perron 2005 and2018). However, Gothic videogames in our culture today can be seen to be a lower form of Gothic expression and few can be seen to be associated with contemporary anxieties with any real depth (Newman 2008).…”

"Let's Play" Communities

“…Much of the work done on LP, as discussed later in this document, omits or only briefly mentions the Something Awful forums as a factor in the genre's development. LPs are often used as a method of examining some other field of research, such as morality evaluations in Gothic literature (Piittinen, 2018), the concept of narrative paradox and dissonance (Roth et al, 2018), or examining gameplay through the lens of interpassivity theory (Gekker, 2018). Therefore, the following research question is proposed: Overall Research Question: How did Let's Play emerge as a paratextual practice and gaming entertainment artifact from the production practices of the Something Awful community, and how did LP then transition to a commercial practice outside of SA?…”