The Rise of ‘Practical Gaming Content’: Why Players Prefer Step-by-Step Guides Over Reviews
For years, gaming content online was mostly about reviews. Gaming journalists reviewed new and popular games and often gained numerous followers interested in their content. Lately, however, there’s an increased interest in practical gaming content instead.
That content is mostly “how-tos” and tutorial content designed to help players play the games and achieve goals within them. The players are no longer looking for streamers to choose what to play, but to learn how to play.
The Data Behind the Shift: Guides Are Winning Attention
Tutorials and guides are among the most-watched content on YouTube and other video platforms. The difference comes in the viewer’s behavior. Reviews are watched once, while the tutorials are viewed several times by the same viewer to learn how to pass a level or find a secret in a game.
For instance, an Elder Ring review could help a player decide whether to try it, while tutorial makers can create a wide range of content within the game’s world. Videos such as “best early game weapon” or “how to beat Margit” can find many more viewers than any review.
In a way, it’s a change in how a younger generation uses the internet. Opinions are now less valuable, but practical skills are worth more. The same goes for content beyond video games. Users are rarely asking whether crypto casinos are legal, since it’s now well known that they are. Instead, users are looking for tips to improve their play. Crypto casinos provide all the gaming options a player could get from an ordinary casino, but the use of cryptos as a payment method allows them to make payments quickly and without providing personal data.
Time Pressure Is Rewriting Player Priorities
Modern games are often very long and can require dozens of hours of gameplay, especially for players who want to complete them. Games also feature live-service progression systems, seasonal content, and layered mechanics. Players often use guides to save time and pass parts of the game that are too difficult.
In Call of Duty: Warzone, for example, players aren’t experimenting endlessly with loadouts, but searching for the current meta. A single optimized class setup can mean the difference between early elimination and a deep run.
Players once didn’t appreciate using such help from YouTubers. Instead, they felt that the only way to actually complete a game is to do so on their own, without guides. However, the player’s attitudes are changing.
From Exploration to Optimization: How Game Design Changed the Demand
Game design itself has caused the need for tutorial content. Games used to be linear, and even when they were long and complex, it was quite clear how to progress from one stage to another. This is no longer the case, as games have become more complex and their mechanics are often not intuitive.
In Fortnite, success isn’t just about shooting accuracy. It’s about building mechanics, rotation strategies, and adapting to constant balance changes. In Elden Ring, character builds, stat scaling, and hidden mechanics can dramatically impact difficulty.
Why Reviews Are Losing Relevance (But Not Disappearing)
Reviews are still a big part of the game’s video content. They will continue to be so for years to come. In fact, a new genre of reviews, unique in style and filled with humor and inside jokes while providing journalistic content, has exploded and found countless viewers across hundreds of talented creators.
However, these are consumed as content and not always as a way to choose which game to play. In that regard, reviews are becoming less relevant. The players are now more independent in choosing games, and communities designed to facilitate that process are growing in influence.
Community-Driven Knowledge Is Replacing Authority
Games are designed to provide tutorials, and those are now intermingled with the gameplay. This is especially important in complex, long games, where each new feature weapon requires the player to learn a new skill.
Players in the game still use these, but they also rely on tutorials from the video creators and the player community. Such help goes beyond video tutorials and can also come from other sources such as Reddit threads, Discord servers, and collaborative wikis.
The SEO and finding Content
The way players search the internet for content is also well-suited to the rise of video tutorials. Search engines are designed to pick up on the phrases players would naturally use to get unstuck in a game. For instance, “Best SMG loadout Warzone” or “Elden Ring rune farming route” are specific, problem-driven searches.
Conclusion
The video tutorials are no longer treated as content alone; instead, they’re a tool for players to use to play and pass sections of games. As games become more complex and difficult, there’s a greater need for this kind of content. The players are turning to these tutorials, sourced from community experts, as the best resource for understanding and excelling at games. At the same time, reviews have lost relevance.
