[Last modified: October, 16 2024 02:15 PM]
The sun was shining down on UCL as I embarked on my first practice participant observation. Unfortunately, I would not be relishing the sun but needed to turn my attention to my laptop where my digital field site awaited. I began by opening a new YouTube account, one that would be unaffected by my own personal viewing habits and the algorithmic effects of this. I entered my new account and arrived on the barren homepage, greeted by the prompt: “try searching to get started”. I obliged and typed in one of my keywords: ‘retrospective’. The resulting page was a seemingly endless stream of videos, more loading with each scroll. This stream of potential viewing material was sporadically interrupted by portrait-oriented videos called ‘shorts’, all of which had been tagged with the word ‘retrospective’. I swiftly moved past these however, and returned my focus to the long form content that populated my screen. The majority were video game retrospectives, with the first TV series retrospective appearing after 19 videos. The videos I noted were also all the long form genre, ranging from 40 minutes to over 12 hours. I unsurprisingly did not select a 12-hour video but settled on one of the first videos that my search had generated, titled simply ‘Wii Retrospective’. The video created by youtuber Liam Triforce, is 80 minutes long, has over 1.4 million views and was released in May 2022. After watching the introduction, I turned my attention to the comment section to orient myself with the viewers and begin to observe what was being shared and experienced through this video. I began with the default filtering setting, with the most popular comments appearing at the top.
As I scrolled, I observed different conversations occurring within the space. Some commenters addressed elements of the video, sharing their opinions, and expanding or correcting points made by the creator. There were also many comments complimenting the creator and expressing enjoyment at the length, style and pace. Most of the comments I observed however were of a specific nostalgic nature. These comments specifically addressed the sensorial experience of the content and referred to the transportive qualities of the accompanying Wii music. This was expressed by several commenters who asserted; “That jingle is just pure childhood bliss” and “The moment the Wii menu theme hit, you took me right back to my family living room”. Similarly, many comments I observed shared personal anecdotes, talking about childhood memories and lamenting video games today. I specifically noticed a theme of gifting in these anecdotes, with many of the comments referencing receiving the console from a close family member. This was particularly exemplified by a comment posted a year ago that read “My grandma bought my brother and I a Wii for Christmas in 2011, listening to that music again, seeing the menu. It brought me to tears man, thank you for bringing those memories back to me.”
While it is not surprising that a video focused on a game console that was released 18 years ago would elicit nostalgic sentiments, the deeply personal and self-reflective nature of many of them is surprising to me. As someone who frequents online space and consumes a considerable amount of digital content, it is evident that the comments I observed on this video are uniquely personal compared to those that would be found under a TikTok or Instagram reel. With that in mind, I believe this mini participant observation has barely scratched the surface of this digital realm. I am keen to explore more videos of this genre and conduct more detailed thematic analysis to determine if the sharing of such personal and nostalgic anecdotes expands beyond the niche of this video.