Can someone please explain the appeal of watching others play?

I like to watch other people play games I've completed to see how good/bad I've done, Games I'm not going to buy but have a mild interest in, Console games that won't be on PC, But they have to be in an episodic format (20-40 min.) not 3+ hour streams.

a reply to: vlawde

It's like being the passenger in a car. Sometimes it's nice to enjoy the view and let someone else do all the twidley knob pushing stuff.

a reply to: vlawde

Haha well I stream me playing games. I have an attractive female friend who likes to watch me. I have no idea why, but I’m down lol. She’s the only one that watches me, though.

I’m guessing that the internet drained some people of the brainpower, willpower, and concentration to play games themselves.

I watch Twitch more than I watch television. I would agree that a lot of the content on there is garbage. Just a lot of annoyingly loud personalities playing boring video games. However, there are some niche streamers that are very good -- especially in the RP or roleplaying community. I know it is a weird concept - people roleplaying as characters inside of a video game - but there is some tremendous talent at work in this arena. Whether it be their improv skills, voice work or storytelling. These people have made me laugh and cry more times than any show on television ever has.

I'm not big of Youtube let's plays, but I do find a strange comfort in watching them late at night before bed for some reason. My own personal theory is that I am a youngest child and as such I grew up in an age where video games started booming, but I wasn't really old enough to play a lot of these games so I spent a lot of time watching my older siblings play them. It sort of takes me back to my youth in a strange nostalgic sense. I've often wondered how many of these older types that watch streamers play video games were younger siblings that grew up in the 80s and 90s.

a reply to: vlawde

I watch a couple people play games.
Only the games that I also play, though.

I really enjoy watching a couple people play 'Mario Maker'
They can clear extremely hard levels that I would never be able to clear, even with years of practice.



The only other person I watch play, is a similar situation. Someone who is better than I will ever be at Call of Duty, but there's a fun gimmick, too. He ONLY USES KNIVES

originally posted by: ketsuko
Eh, I will occasionally watch a certain kind of game stream.

There's the type of gamer who does insane things in games that I won't take the time to do, but if they're going to take the time and I can see it done that way, I find it amusing especially if they run up a good commentary.

There's a guy who's doing a sort of "Big Brother" type series exploiting all the different ways you can kill Sims in Sims 4, and it's pretty funny. He's scared them to death, burned them death, waited to see which ones would drown first, made them die of anger, expire from heat exhaustion, die from a disgusting house full of filth, run on treadmills until they die, etc.

All things I think about but I never take the time or effort to do, but it's pretty funny when someone else does it to creepy sims named Florida Man and Babs Ross and Beth Amphetamine, etc.

Or I'll watch speed builds to get ideas and tips.

I've also watched videos where people use cheats and exploits because again, it's something I won't do, but with the right commentary, it's pretty darn entertaining.

Sounds like Graystillplays. That dude is pretty funny

a reply to: vlawde

those who can , do - those who cant - watch

a reply to: eXia7

Got it in one.

Yeah, Gray makes me laugh and he takes the time to do things I think about but would never have the patience to set up and follow through on. So I watch his stuff.

I haven't read but a couple of the replies as I want to answer the question without feeling swayed or undermined by previous responses.

There are numerous reasons for watching let's plays. A few that immediately come to mind are:

1) Learning new game mechanics and strategies. The very first time I ever encountered a let's play it was because I was stuck in a puzzle game, couldn't figure out how to proceed and searched YouTube to see if I'd find the solution.

2) Being able to share in the experience of a newly released game that one doesn't have the proper hardware to access. A game that's too demanding for ones PC or a console exclusive for a console one doesn't own themselves.

3) Curiosity about what all the hype is about regarding a streamer who's mentioned in news stories frequently, such as Ninja, Pewdiepie or Markiplier - as examples.

4) Boredom, the fact that Netflix, Amazon Prime, CBS All Access and Disney + are all handy but you've already watched what you wanted and scrolling through menus of hundreds of thousands of movies and shows that just don't spark your imagination gets really tired after awhile. Firing up YouTube and mindlessly clicking a link is sometimes just what the doctor ordered.

5) Being IRL friends with the person streaming and wanting to show support to their venture.

6) Being a fan of the game or developer and simply wanting to support their product by helping to boost engagement numbers for it.

In my own case I watch game streams / let's plays nearly every day - but in a very specific way. I tend to watch at bedtime, in bed. I used to prefer movies for this part of my day but the fact that they had the desired effect and I dozed off while watching became tedious because I'd end up missing the end of the movie and the next night I'd feel obligated to try and pick up at the last point I could remember seeing. There were times when I'd wind up trying to finish out the same movie for days at a time and it was not relaxing.

On the other hand I can fire up a multipart let's play on YouTube and if I happen to fall asleep mid episode? Well I don't feel obligated to go back and find out how it ended. I can just click "next" the following night and casually watch.