Let's Play is a relatively recent revival of an old concept, which became mainstream (for a certain value of mainstream) due to the Something Awful forums, and has since branched out to independent players on YouTube as well as other forums.
Essentially, it's a screenshot or video Walkthrough with entertaining commentary; the goal generally isn't to Speed Run through it, but to show off how the player plays the game normally. Mistakes and multiple deaths are often left intact, for the sake of humor. Performance Anxiety for those who commentate over the game as they play leads to a large number of mistakes, often of the hilarious variety because of the stupidity of the mistakes — an effect compounded by the inherent distraction of trying to play and keep up a witty banter at the same time (imagine texting while driving with Everything Trying to Kill You).
The tone and style will vary greatly with the nature of the game and those playing them. Some use screenshots and captions, whilst others use videos, or a mix of both. Some of those videos have voice commentary, and some use subtitles. Some players may already know all there is to know about the game and attempt to show off everything about it; others are going in completely blind and have no idea what to expect (horror games are most often LPed in this manner, as the candidness of the player's reaction may be more engaging to the audience than the game itself); some record commentary while playing, others record it after the footage is recorded; and still more may deliberately invoke both with co-commentators - the player showing off all that they can while being accompanied by a friend who has never seen the game before. Depending on the quality and style of the game, the LP may be in-character Fan Fic of sorts, an informative walkthrough, or closer to a MST, the latter especially common if there's multiple commentators involved. Often they also have some degree of fan input; the viewers may submit their own side material, vote on a certain course of action to take, or offer suggestions.
Emulation and heavy use of save-states is often involved (though making use of the latter incredibly obvious is commonly discouraged), as most of the consoles and games able to be currently emulated don't have a save or password feature. For the most part, cheating is discouraged, though doing boring parts (like grinding for levels in RPGs) "off-camera" is encouraged. On the other hand, some LPs embrace cheats and hacks as their gimmick to mix things up.
Computers love to attempt suicide by any means possible partway through (a phenomenon often known as the "Let's Play Curse"), and video hosts that are not YouTube tend to delete all game footage or die entirely shortly after becoming a reasonably popular host for Let's Plays. Sturgeon's Law is in effect, and many Let's Plays on forums won't last long if they're not gripping.
In July/August 2011, Nintendo of Europe became what may be the first company to use the Let's Play phenomenon as a way of actually promoting their games. For the release of Xenoblade Chronicles, in addition to the usual trailers and such, a 7-part mini-Let's Play showcasing portions of the game was released. Later, they even held a "Make Your Own Let's Play" contest for the same game.
See also Web Video, which covers live-action narrative videos released online, as well as the webcomic of the same name. Compare with Actual Play for Tabletop RPGs.
Please do not add this page to a work's trope list. No matter how famous the LPer behind it, the fact that a game has had a Let's Play of it is Not a Trope. note
This video provides a succinct history of Let's Plays.
Tropes often involved in Let's Plays:
- Better as a Let's Play: Watching someone else's reactions and decisions as they play the game is almost as or more entertaining than actually playing it yourself.
- In-Character Let's Play: The player pretends to be a fictional character for the whole playthrough.
- Rage Quit: Player may get frustrated and bail on the game they are playing if they can't get past a certain part after a certain amount of tries or episodes.
Sub-indexes of Let's Players:
Let's Players with their own pages on the wiki:
- Achievement Hunter
- Afterlife SMP
- Alpharad Deluxe
- The Annoying Orange
- AntVenom
- Archcrystal
- Ari Zonia
- The Best Worst Let's Plays
- Bikdip on a Bus
- BillyMC
- Bit Polar
- Blake & Friends Play
- BlastphamousHD
- Bob Lennon
- The Bowlingotter Show
- BrainScratch Commentaries
- Bren Tenkage
- Brotoro KSP
- Burning Dog Face
- Call Me Kevin
- The Camping Rusher
- Captainsauce
- CaptainSparklez
- Caveman Films
- Chadtronic
- The Chaotic Crusaders
- Chilled Chaos
- Chimney Swift 11
- Chip Cheezum
- Chorocojo
- Christopher Walkenthrough
- Christopher Odd
- Classic Gaming Grand Prix
- ClementJ642
- Clumsy Chicken
- Coestar
- College Reunion Group
- CoryxKenshin
- cosmicPostman
- Cr1tikal
- Crazy Commentaries
- The Creatures
- Criken2
- Cypheron 48
- Daikatana
- Danny 2462
- DanTDM
- Dan The Enigma
- DanzNewz
- The Dark Id
- Darkmindedsith
- Dashie Games
- Dashnet Plays Eastern Mind
- The Deadbeats
- Dead Doll 00
- Deadlox
- DeceasedCrab
- DeliciousCinnamon
- Demonic Jack
- The Derp Crew
- DesuDesBrigade
- DGR:
- Ridiculous and Hilarious
- Super Expert No Skip
- Trolled!
- Uncleared 0.00%
- Uno Más
- Diabetus
- Direwolf20
- Donnabellez
- Dopefish
- Digital Paradox
- The D-Pad
- The Dpads
- Dr Parabola
- Drak and Shadow Let's Plays
- DrDisrespect
- Dream
- Dungeons & Drogans
- D-Up 242
- Dwarf Fortress community:
- Dzwiedz 24
- The East Coast Four
- Eastern Money 128
- Edison T. Crux
- Eexecute
- ElectricalBeast
- Elison Cruz
- Epic Name Bro
- Etho's Lab
- Empires SMP
- Excelblem
- Fallout for Pimps
- The Family Gaming Team
- TheFantasio974
- Feather Adventures
- Finale GAME
- Find The Computer Room
- FitMC
- Fiyah Kitteh
- Freelance Astronauts
- FSS Zilla
- Funhaus
- The Funniest Minecraft Videos Ever
- GACKT Game Center
- Game Grumps
- Games Done Quick
- Gamingandstuff
- Gaming Garbage
- The Gaming Lemon
- The Geek Critique note
- Gemini Laser
- General Secura
- GetDaved
- Ghost Wolf Games
- Giga Boots
- GI Proz
- Goodbye18000
- Gore And Perkins
- Grand Theft Auto San Andreas Grove Street 4 Life
- GrayStillPlays
- Gronkhnote
- Gunarm Dyne
- Hadriex
- Haydunn
- HC Bailly
- Headless Wonder
- The Heartless
- Hellfire Commentaries
- Helloween 4545
- Hermitcraft Server
- Hobo Bros
- The Horizon
- Hypocritical Gamer
- Icee TH
- Inu And Friends Gaming
- Ivorycello
- Jayuzumi
- Jbizzo 49
- John Wolfe
- JoshJepson
- Kagato The Final Boss
- Kilplix N Friends
- Kirin Dave
- Knud Knýtling, Prince of Denmark
- KPopp
- Kruggsmash
- Kung-Fu Jesus
- Kurtjmac
- Kuledud3 (Now known as MsBreezy)
- KZ
- Lam Park
- LAN Party note
- Last Stand Gamers note
- Lathrix
- Let's Drown Out note
- Let's Dub Project
- Let's Race With RPGM
- Let's Ramble With Rae note
- Let's STFU and Play
- Levelengine
- Life SMP
- Lilsimsie
- Liquid Courage
- loltyler1
- LordMinion777
- Lorcain
- The Lost Boys
- LP 13th Age
- Lucahjin
- Lying In Bed Mon
- Mahu
- Minx
- Mangs
- Many A True Nerd
- Marik Plays Bloodlines note
- Mario Party TV
- Markiplier
- Marriland
- Masae Anela
- Matt McMuscles
- Max Of Few Trades
- medibot
- MegaGWolf
- Mega Slime Entertainment Zone
- Men Drinkin Coffee
- Mentski
- Merg
- Mianite
- The Midnight Guys
- Mike BurnFire
- Mikeyspiky200
- Mindcrack Server
- Minecraft: The Ex-Communicated Series
- Mischa Crossing
- ModestlyProphitic
- Monotone Tim
- Moogle FTW
- Moxie2D
- MVGLive
- Mr Sark
- Naka Teleeli
- Nalif
- NC17 Productions (2013-2016)
- Necroscope 86
- Nero Nova
- Nerd³
- Nnemonic
- N00b22222
- Noob Kingdom
- Normal Difficulty Gaming
- The Nostalgia Critic: Let's Play Bart's Nightmare
- Obscure Game Theatre
- Officially Devin
- OMG Kon
- OneyPlays
- Over The Gun
- Party Cats
- Paw Dugan
- PBG Hardcore
- PC Games Girl
- Pcull 44444
- PeanutButterGamer
- Persona 4 Endurance Run
- Phantom Savage
- Pharaoh2091
- Philza
- Pikasprey, specifically on "Pikasprey Blue".
- Pink Kitty Rose
- Piro Pito First Playthrough Of Minecraft
- PK Sparkxx
- Planet Raeth Gaming
- Playing With Mah Wii
- pokecapn
- Poofesure
- ProJared
- Prepare To Try
- Pwnage
- Pyschadelicsnake
- Pushing Up Roses
- Rabbid Luigi
- The Rad Brad
- RageGamingVideos
- Radical Bromance
- raocow
- rawkhawk64
- Rawrzaur
- Red5433
- Research Indicates
- RewatchResetReplay
- Retro Challenge Gamer
- Retro Game Master
- R.L. Yoshi
- Roahm Mythril
- Royal Robbie
- Robbaz
- Roy725
- The Runaway Guys
- Runner Guitar
- The Russian Badger
- Sandstriker
- Sans Gaming note
- Santoro Gaming
- The SB Wproductions
- Thescatsbury
- A Scotsman in Egypt
- Scott Manley
- Searching 4 Rinoa
- SeaNanners
- Shady Oaks SMP
- Sharky and the Bear
- Shinryuu82
- Sidemen
- Simon Says: Let's Play Video Games
- Single Girl One Hundred Baby Challenge
- Sir Ron Lionheart
- Skiddlez Iz Kewl
- Skorpeon RyDer
- Skyblock, but Every 30 Seconds a Random Item Spawns
- Sky Does Minecraft
- Skyrim For Pimps
- Sky Williams note
- Slimecicle
- Slowbeef
- Slowflake
- Sly Fox Hound
- Smii7y
- SMPEarth
- SMPLive
- Smosh Games
- SomeOrdinaryGamersnote
- Something Awful: Dungeons & Dragons
- Sorcerer Dave
- Sorceror Nobody
- So Totally Toby
- Spike And Barley Play
- Splattercat Gaming
- Spoiler Warning
- Sp00nerism
- The Spoony Experiment note
- Squeakythe Zepa
- SSoHPKC
- SSundee
- Stacy Plays
- Stampylongnose
- Steam Train
- Stellaris Invicta
- StephenPlays
- TheStrawhatNO!
- Sunless Server
- Super Butter Buns
- The Super Failio Cousins
- Super Gaming Bros.
- Supergreatfriend
- Super Jeenius
- SuperLPHeroes
- SuperMega
- Super Playify
- Super Skarmory
- Taco-Man Plays a Video Game
- Tails Firaga
- Takarifreak
- The Talkies Crew
- Tealgamemaster
- Team Four Star Gaming
- The Terrible Secret of Animal Crossing
- Tessellating Hexagons
- Theagent41
- UberHaxorNova
- Tear Of Grace
- TeeQueue
- Thunder THR
- Tipping Forties
- Tobuscus
- Tom Fawkes
- Trask Nari
- Tree Topia
- Twitch Plays Pokémon
- Twitch Plays Pokémon Red
- Twitch Plays Pokémon Crystal
- Twitch Plays Pokémon Emerald
- Twitch Plays Pokémon FireRed
- Twitch Plays Pokémon Platinum
- Twitch Plays Pokémon HeartGold
- Twitch Plays Pokémon Black
- Twitch Plays Pokémon Black 2
- Twitch Plays Pokémon X
- Twitch Plays Pokémon Omega Ruby
- Twitch Plays Pokémon Red Anniversary
- Twitch Plays Pokémon Vietnamese Crystal
- Twitch Plays Pokémon: Arena
- Twitch Plays Touhoumon & Moemon
- Twitch Plays Pokémon Colosseum
- Twitch Plays Pokémon XD
- Twitch Plays Pokémon Trading Card Game
- Twitch Plays Pokémon Crystal Anniversary
- Twitch Plays Pokémon Brown
- Twitch Plays Pokémon Randomized Platinum
- Twitch Plays Pokémon Prism
- Twitch Plays Pokémon Sun
- Twitch Plays Pokémon Waning Moon
- Twitch Plays Pokémon Chatty Yellow
- Twitch Plays Pokémon Blazed Glazed
- Twitch Plays Pokémon White 2
- Twitch Plays Pokémon Pyrite
- Twitch Plays Pokémon Theta Emerald EX
- Twitch Plays Pokémon Bootleg Green
- Twitch Plays Pokémon Ultra Sun
- Twitch Plays Pokémon Dual Red & Blue
- Twitch Plays Pokémon Storm Silver
- Twitch Plays Pokémon Sweet
- Twitch Plays Pokémon Bronze
- Twitch Plays Pokémon Randomized Y
- Twitch Plays Pokémon Flora Sky
- Twitch Plays Pokémon Fused Crystal
- Twitch Plays Pokémon Burning Red
- Twitch Plays Pokémon Metronome Sapphire
- Twitch Plays Pokémon Volt White
- Twitch Plays Pokémon Randomized Colosseum
- Twitch Plays Pokémon XG
- Twitch Plays Pokémon TriHard Emerald
- Twitch Plays Pokémon Randomized Ultra Moon
- Twitch Plays Pokémon Sword
- Twitch Plays Pokémon: The Gauntlet
- Twitch Plays Pokémon Lightning Sapphire
- Twitch Plays Pokémon Sirius
- Twitch Plays Pokemon Rising Ruby
- Twitch Plays Pokémon Vega
- Twitch Plays Pokémon Chatty Crystal
- Twitch Plays Pokémon Renegade Platinum
- Twitch Plays Pokémon Red-Green-Blue Race
- Twitch Plays Pokémon Randomized Black
- Twitch Plays Pokémon Randomized Black 2
- Twitch Plays Pokémon Blazing Emerald
- Twitch Plays Pokémon Randomized Chatty Crystal
- Twitch Plays Pokémon Dual Sanqui Red & Blue
- Twitch Plays Pokémon Charity Dual Red & Blue
- Twitch Plays Pokémon Grand Colosseum
- Twitch Plays Earthbound
- Two Awesome Gamers
- Two Best Friends Play
- Tyler 1
- Tyler Sederwall
- Uchiha Drew
- UberHaxorNova
- Undertale ULTRA
- Un Played A Thing
- VanossGaming & Company
- Vash 12349
- Venturian Tale
- Video Games Awesome!
- Video Game Dunkey
- VintageBeef
- Watch Girls Play
- Whats Spiderfan Fourteen Playing
- Willmanda Games
- The With Voices Project
- White Blade Zero
- WhoIsThisGit
- Wii Rike to Pray
- Woolie Versus
- Xavier Woods
- XCOM Universum
- XEspmasterX
- Xiil3gendaryzetsubou
- Yamimash
- Yo Videogames
- Yuki Mizuno
- Zeta Beta Omega Fratboys