YouTube launched a new feature today called YouTube Slam that further gamifies the YouTube experience.
Like a digital version of battle of the bands, YouTube Slam pits videos up against each other and allows the viewer to vote on which one is better. YouTube calls it both a “game” and “video discovery experiment,” with categories for Comedy, Cute, Music, Bizarre, and Dance.
According to the official blog post announcing, the votes “determine who wins the Slam and gets featured on the leader board.” The blog post goes on to say users “earn points for predicting the crowd favorites” and are stacked up “against other players at the end of each week.”
Media outlets have compared it to “Hot or Not,” a photography rating site, while others on Twitter have likened it to Most Awesome Thing Ever, which pits two random subjects against each other. Battle Roulette, a relatively new site, does the same thing, except with live performers.
Whether it’s novel or not, people are still playing.
“Having Fun playing @youtube Slam!!! I feel Like Simon Cowell!! WOOT!” tweeted YouTuber The Mighty Thor.
Photo by m rkt