I’m old now. I’ve finally realised I get more enjoyment from watching someone play than to actually play the game. Why is that? Do you experience that as well?
I’m the opposite. I rarely find it enjoyable to watch someone else play a game, to the point that I have a hard time understanding things like Twitch, much less that game streaming more broadly took off the way it has.
Yeah, if I’d been given a chance to buy Twitch in its first year for $100, I would have said no. I play a lot of video games but watching video game streaming for fun is beyond my comprehension. It was one of my first “No, it’s the children who are wrong” moments.
I could MAYBE understand it if the person playing is my actual friend irl and we’re having a conversation while he’s playing, or he’s telling me tips and tricks for parts i get stuck on or whatever. But if there’s a choice between me playing a game, or watching a video of someone else play the game, I can’t imagine choosing to watch someone else play instead of me playing.
I’m 40, and I can’t stand watching someone else play a game. Even when my kids are playing, I’m like, dude, you’re doing wrong, gimme the controller. The very thought of watching a “professional” play on YouTube or whatever, irritates me.
I watch people play games like Detroit: Become Human and TellTale games because if your game is just an interactive visual novel, I may as well outsource the QTEs.
No I don’t. I find most people’s videos incredibly boring, even if they’re supposed to be on an interesting subject. Making videos is so common that lots and lots of people are terrible videographers. They just let things drag on, they waste people’s time. So making a video of a subject that is also boring, looking over the shoulder or listening to someone play a game, is even worse.
I’ll watch my Mom play a video game in real life for like 30 seconds. That teaches me something about what she’s doing, and that’s all it’s worth. I’m an indie game designer and developer. I see it; I get it; that’s all I need.
Games are interactive and are meant to be played. I can’t relate to people only watching games, at all. I know people do it. I cannot relate to it in any way. It is alien to me.
One thing I’ve realized about people’s YouTube play sessions, is they get their audience more from the audio they’re doing, than from the video. Because people listen to these videos, while they’re eating dinner or doing laundry and so forth. Their eyes and hands are on something else.
