Platformed playworkers: Game video creators’ affective labour and emotional labour on Bilibili

Abstract

This article investigates the game video creators’ playbour on Bilibili, a leading Chinese user-generated content platform with a focus on animation, comics and games. The creators’ labour involves creating content through affective labour and managing the fan communities through emotional labour, situated in a network production model. Current studies of platformed playbour either interchangeably use affective and emotional labour or rarely discuss the interplay between the two concepts. We argue that it is important to recognize their nuance and investigate their relationship. Our research clarifies the difference between affective labour and emotional labour and discovers the conflict between the two types of labour. We argue that the conflict derives from enhanced alienation of leisure activities caused by platformization of playbour. Although the video creators consider strategies to solve conflicts, they can barely escape from the unequal labour relationship, constructed by the platform. This study involves semi-structured interviews with 13 playworkers, one Bilibili employee and three advertisers. The playworkers’ Bilibili channels were also observed online from 2019 to 2020.