Methods for Analyzing Let's Plays: Context Analysis for Gaming Videos on YouTube

Let's Plays, gaming videos distributed on video platforms such as YouTube, became immensely popular during the last years. As a new research field they offer a huge new pool of research data for the study of video games/gaming and religion. But how to adequately analyze these data? We here propose a matrix for the initial section of analyzing Let's Plays, namely context analysis which then of course needs to be followed by content analysis. Based on the six wh-questions as applied especially also in the classical historical-critical method, we here propose a structured, step by step procedure analyzing specified and clearly defined components. Each step in this context analysis takes up one specific component of the Let's Play and provides context information for it. As such, we present and discuss a sequence of steps which is applicable not only in the study of Let's Plays and religion, but in research on Let's Plays in general.