Media Effects Research Lab - Research Archive
That’s Funny:
Student Researcher(s)
Anne Dooley (Masters Candidate);
Bryan Holbrook (Masters Candidate);
Faculty Supervisor
INTRODUCTION
Let’s Plays (LPs) are a type of video, often found on YouTube, in which content creators play and commentate on video games. These videos are often seen as humorous and/or informative. Straddling the line between passively watching and actively playing, this study aims to determine if the genre of LP (broken into humorous or informative) allows watchers to enter a state of flow or presence, and how that effects immersion and overall enjoyment levels.
RESEARCH QUESTION / HYPOTHESES
RQ: For YouTube users, controlling for escapism behavior and properties of the device used to watch videos, what is the relationship between LP genre on immersion and enjoyment.
H1: Immersion will vary based on the type of video the participant watches
H2: Humorous videos will produce the strongest enjoyment response while informative videos will produce the weakest enjoyment response
H3: Immersion will have a positive relationship with feelings of enjoyment
H4a: Passive flow will have a positive relationship with feelings of enjoyment
H4b: Presence will have a positive relationship with feelings of enjoyment
H5: Immersion will mediate the relationship between video type and enjoyment
METHOD
A three-condition (humor video, informative video, and combined video) between-subjects online experiment. For this study, participants (N = 281) were recruited using Amazon’s MTurk. Participants were conditionally required to have had a 95% approval rating and at least 100 prior HITs completed to ensure data quality (Peer et al., 2014). Additionally, in order to ensure the participants were YouTube users in the United States, only participants from the United States with YouTube accounts were allowed to complete the study. Participants were compensated $1.10 for their participation. A 25-question survey was constructed on Qualtrics in order to experimentally test the effects of LP’s on viewers. The survey randomly assigned participants to one of eight stimulus conditions in order to ensure an equal number of participants watched each video (n=35). The first page of the survey contained a consent form. After completing the consent form, demographic information was recorded. Individuals were then instructed to watch their assigned video with audio. After watching the video, individuals were asked a manipulation check question to determine whether they found the video to be funny or informative. Then measurements of the control variable escapism were recorded followed by measurement of the mediation variable of immersion. The final segment contained measurement of enjoyment and the final control variable of device properties.
RESULTS
Findings suggest that Let’s Play videos overall did not vary in their ability to produce enjoyment, immersion, flow and presence which did not support Hypothesis 1 or Hypothesis 2. Analysis of the relationship between immersion, presence, and flow on enjoyment showed a positive relationship which supported Hypotheses 3, 4a, and 4b. Additionally, immersion was found to mediate the relationship between Let’s Plays and enjoyment, but only for the videos that were informative, supporting Hypothesis 5. Individuals in who watched the informative video elicited immersion and the immersion produced from the video lead to higher levels of enjoyment. This relationship was found to be a full mediation as the video conditions direct effect on enjoyment became non-significant.
CONCLUSIONS/DISCUSSION
We attempted to replicate a state of passive flow or presence by showing YouTube users a short clip of a LP and measuring their levels of captivation, comprehension, real world dissociation, and transportation. Our findings indicate that a passive flow is possible to achieve when the LP is informative, but not when it is humorous. We postulate that this is due to the nature of a flow state, which requires the user to be learning a new skill of some sort. We also believe presence may have been disrupted from laughter caused by the humorous videos. Further studies should focus on the possibility of passive flow in LPs and other passive media. Practical implications stretch to content creators and the different ways the form media messages, and what really attracts the attention of their audiences.
For more details regarding the study contact
Dr. S. Shyam Sundar by e-mail at sss12@psu.edu or by telephone at (814) 865-2173