YouTube got its start in February 2005 by three former PayPal employees. Originally, it was used to share videos with friends, but has since become a giant form of social media and is even building people into celebrities. Channels range from vlogs to make- up tutorials to discussions on racism and the economic state of America. And recently, gaming channels have been climbing the popularity scale.

Pewdiepie

Felix Arvid Ulf Kjellberg, also known as Pewdiepie, is a Swedish YouTuber and has been dominating the charts since August 2013. Kjellberg started his channel in 2010, playing and commentating on Call of Duty, a first person shooter video game. His channel took off when he began to play the popular horror survival game Amnesia. With a little over 40 million subscribers, Kjellberg has the most subscribers on YouTube. He is often described as silly with a vulgar sense of humor. His style of videos are known as “let’s plays,” which are videos of a YouTuber playing video games and commenting on them. Sometimes, a camera is used to capture reactions and facial expressions, so the viewer can better understand the emotion going into the gameplay. Other popular YouTubers with a “let’s play” channel include Markiplier, Jacksepticeye, Dashie and Game Grumps.

Game Theorist

If watching people play video games does not sound appealing, perhaps watching someone talk about game theories will pique your interest. Matthew Patrick runs a channel appropriately named Game Theory, where he talks about different theories he has formed on games he has played. These theories are incredibly intricate and dig deep into the “what ifs” of video games. His most popular Game Theory series is on Five Nights at Freddy’s, a survival horror game with a dedicated fan base. Patrick also runs another channel called Film Theory, in which he depicts theories he has on various movies.

Did You Know Gaming

Did You Know Gaming is a blog hosted on NormalBoots.com, as well as a popular YouTube channel. Did You Know Gaming was started by Shane Gill, however, the videos feature various YouTubers as their host. In the videos, a YouTuber will list several little known facts about their game of choice. This is essentially the gimmick of all their videos. This is a great way to learn more about your favorite games. JonTron, a popular YouTuber, hosted Did You Know Gaming’s  number one most viewed video on one of the most influential games in the industry, Zelda. This video currently has over four million views.

Hot Pepper Gaming

 Something as simple as eating a chili ghost pepper before giving a totally gnarly game review can really spice things up. This is exactly the premise of Hot Pepper Gaming. Hot Pepper Gaming, like Did You Know Gaming, features various YouTubers as the host of their videos. The YouTuber hosting the video will pick a game to review, eat a very hot pepper, review the game and be rewarded with a glass of milk for their effort. Hot Pepper Gaming recycles the old format of reviewing a game into something exciting and new. Sitting at just above 250 thousand subscribers, Hot Pepper Gaming is a relatively small channel, but definitely worth checking out.

Feminist Frequency

One of the most controversial and widely unaccepted gaming YouTubers is Anita Sarkeesian. Sarkeesian runs a channel called Feminist Frequency, where she discusses problematic tropes within video games involving women. Right now, she is working on a series called Tropes vs Women. Even though Sarkeesian only has about 203 thousand subscribers, she has disabled her comments because of the overwhelming backlash and high number of death threats she has received on her videos. Whether you agree with Sarkeesian or not, checking out her videos could possibly raise some questions that people have never thought to ask about the video game industry before. If Sarkeesian’s videos are a little too much to take in, a similar channel called Extra Credit also does a good job at raising similar questions.    

Give all of these YouTubers a chance, and try watching some of their content. Hours of work is poured into making videos and is done for the current, as well as future, viewers and subscribers. Not only is the gaming community on YouTube growing, but the gaming industry as a whole is progressing immensely.