is "drama" a kind of ARG?

[memorizingthedigitsofpi]

This is going to sound weird, but it's a thought that occurred to me today and I want to write it down before I lose it.

So, I watch a lot of youtube. I have several interests that keep me watching there pretty much daily, and one of the things I enjoy watching is drama channels. These are channels that talk about the goings on between other youtubers. I never watch the dramatis personae themselves, but I do enjoy listening to other people's commentary on them.

But today I was thinking about Gabbie Hana and Trisha Paytas and Jeffree Star and all the rest and how it seems like they're always in some form of drama or another with each other. (I'm not talking about the serious stuff here, just the interpersonal stuff)

And lots of people have pointed out that drama seems to bubble up when someone has a product to sell or when their views have dipped, and I think that's definitely part of it. But also, watching the drama is kind of like watching a reality TV show.

But today I was thinking about how fans aren't just watching the drama, they're participating in it. Liking and retweeting and commenting and flaming etc. are all things that fans do to insert themselves into the narrative and try to give the creator of their choice a "win" in whatever the situation is.

And that just kind of reminded me of computer games, specifically ARGs (alternate reality games). In those kinds of games, the real world is the platform and the network is the way the story unfolds. Kind of like how youtubers lives' are the platform and social media is the place where the story unfolds.

Both drama and ARGs require users to go to multiple locations (like sites and videos and tweets etc) to gather up all of the information. They also rely on large groups of people sharing information between themselves to get the full picture together. They're a type of collaborative storytelling with the player both watching and participating in the drama and the more they participate, the more invested they become.

I'm still obviously at an early stage with this thought, but I think it might be how people like Trisha Paytas and Gabbie Hana are still relevant so long after you assume people would be bored of them. They're masters of the ARG format, whether they know it or not.

Comments

[xmarksthespotwhereistand]

That's an interesting comparison! My only knowledge of wrestling comes from GLOW, is the audience participating similarly? Do they get to influence, for example, who wins a match?

[pauraque]

I'm not familiar with GLOW so I can't compare. I'm only wrestling-fandom-adjacent -- I have a RL friend who's into it, and I've watched it with him and he's answered a lot of my questions. It's really a fascinating world, but I'm no expert on it. But from my understanding, audiences only indirectly influence the outcome in that the higher-ups who outline the stories try to figure out through crowd response, marketing research, merchandise sales, online chatter, etc. what the fans like and what they'd enjoy watching. I know there have been some high-profile instances where the promoters tried to push a particular character or storyline that the fans hated, leading to a scramble to retcon the story (e.g. repackaging a "face" performer as a "heel" character).