What is the #1 Youtube video for this week? and what is all the hype? In the third week of May 2022, The most popular video is from LazarBeam with “50 Players vs Natural Disasters”. 

This clip has been on the popular page for over a week, coming up to its 12th day. It has me wondering, why is it so popular and what does this say about our culture?

Who is Lazarbeam?

Lazarbeam is an Australian YouTuber, professional gamer and internet personality that has 20M Subscribers on Youtube. His videos are mostly about gaming, rising to popularity for making Fornite memes on Reddit and now solely streaming on Youtube. His channel features

What is it about?

This video of “50 players vs Natural Disasters” is an eight-minute video that is essentially a recap of a new instalment of his game series on Fornite called Meme Olympics Natural Disasters,  where Lazarbeam has 50 players from his fan base come stream with him and he’s in control of a few buttons that are the ‘Natural Disaster’ Buttons and they all have to fight to survive.

The video features notable players such as Fresh, Mau and his girlfriend Ilsa. In the video the game goes for three rounds, each round took place in three separate places on the map and Lazarbeam set loose a myriad of Natural Disasters and challenges.

The first round was in a seemingly regular place but that gets attacked by an earthquake and then a flood. The second round features a giant robot, moll drills and aliens, that terrorise the players. The third round takes place in a dinosaur ridden land and attacks the many players.

Why Is It So Popular?

The success of this video is due to a few reasons, the first one is Lazarbeams large fanbase and following. On Youtube, Lazarbeam has 20 Million Subscribers and a total of 8,254,210,181 views as a whole, this means that he is more likely to have a video become very popular even if the content isn’t for everyone.

The second reason is exclusivity, this game he was hosting only allowed 50 of his subscribers/fans to join in, meaning Millions missed out on experiencing this unique game, so when the video comes out on Youtube they want to watch it to see what that game and hype was all about. The third reason is, that people who are gamer enthusiasts simply just like to watch other people play games, a Reddit User suggests why someone would enjoy this genre of video,

“The people watching the stream enjoy watching someone who is much better then themselves playing a game they enjoy.” – Sircake via Reddit

Another Reddit User shares their personal experience and reasons behind watching streams from games,

“To “cool down” mentally before I go to sleep it helps to watch something pleasant but not intensely thought-provoking. Also it allows me to “experience” games that interest me but have gameplay I either wouldn’t like or would get frustrated with…” – Annon via Reddit

What does this say about our culture?

In a world where Youtube Videos can reach anybody and everyone in the world, it’s interesting to see what videos appeal to the majority of users. This video to me shows how people enjoy being a part of an online community such as the one Lazarbeam has created on his Youtube channel. This corner of the internet is a place where gaming lovers can come, watch their favourite streamers play their favourite games, have fun and find a community of others who enjoy the same things.

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