Weekend Open Forum: Watching other people play video games

[Mr Dude]

For me, there are two ballparks when it comes to watching other people play.

On one hand, you have the 'eSports' category, where you watch professionals play at the highest level, be it whether you have money on the results, to learn from the experience, you follow the team/player, etc. Like regular sports, there are the same merits to it.

On the other hand, you have the 10.000.000SubscriberYoutuberClown, who provides long and thorough sessions that are sure to heal you of any faith in our kind and should come graded in alcohol%, for level of cerebral damage that they provide, except you don't even get to be drunk.

 

[Teko03]

My nephew & my friends son can literally watch other people video of others plying video games all day long if you let them, I personally don't understand it ---- I prefer to be the one playing the game. I only watch clips of others playing for a brief moment to see if I like the game play so I can decide if I want to play it or not.

 

[Kibaruk]

I think it appeals to lonely people that can't afford games most of the time. And don't get the wrong idea, I'm not saying that's a bad thing. If you're someone with social anxiety and an escapist attitude simply hearing the sound of someones voice can do wonders for your mental health.

Streaming is also good if you're interested in a game but aren't satisfied with game reviews

I bought Minecraft for my little brother so he had it, still he enjoyed it much more while watching a streamer play, create, tell his story, it's kind of fun. Nothing to do with money.

I have watched the occasional video of a stream in Clash Royale, and the way people narrate the games is pretty interesting.

 

[Milest]

I enjoy watching the Games Done Quick videos on YouTube. It's an annual charity done to benefit cancer research. The videos include both the games being played, and footage of the audience's reactions so it's more like a communal sporting event than a lonely let's play.

 

[Feng Lengshun]

Honestly, these days I'm just too busy - too emotionally and mentally drained - to enjoy playing game on my own, and that's if I even have the time. But a lot of the time, I really do want to play the game, I want to know the story, I want to know how it plays. This is where Let's Play comes in; I can't play the games, but other people can. So I watch them play as a substitute for me playing. It especially helps since I'm not swimming in money as well.

 

[Wytefang]

I think it's mostly a waste of time. I can see the value when it's a "How-to" or a "Tips" video for a game, but it's completely pointless to watch some other faceless nerd play a videogame that I should just be playing myself. The height of pointlessness, really.

 

[erickmendes]

It's great for evaluating games if you are considering a purchase. Livestreams can't edit out the reviewer's biases.

Outside of that, I can't find much value for them personally. Not gonna watch someone do what I could be doing.

Exactly.... My son is 6 month old, so sometimes it's too late for me to play, so watching someone playing Heroes of The Storm is the closet thing to playing it somedays.

 

[Kibaruk]

Exactly.... My son is 6 month old, so sometimes it's too late for me to play, so watching someone playing Heroes of The Storm is the closet thing to playing it somedays.

That's another thing totally different, from watching I don't know... a Farcry or Crysis game to watch what's considered an eSport, since you can learn a lot from watching how people react, what they play based on what they face and so on.

I think it's mostly a waste of time. I can see the value when it's a "How-to" or a "Tips" video for a game, but it's completely pointless to watch some other faceless nerd play a videogame that I should just be playing myself. The height of pointlessness, really.

Gee... have you ever considered reading the comments and taking a look at different peoples point of view? That's kind of the whole idea of a forum where you can interact you know... however you dismissed very valid points people are making and diminishing their experience because you think it's "pointlessness". Really.

 

[erickmendes]

That's another thing totally different, from watching I don't know... a Farcry or Crysis game to watch what's considered an eSport, since you can learn a lot from watching how people react, what they play based on what they face and so on.

Well, yep I agree that's almost eSport, but its like watching an off season game (if it was sport), cause generally is just a streamer playing Heroes of The Storm... but I can see ur point. I also like to watch these kind of games you are talking about.

The bottom line for me is that be it esport watching or just some dude talking about a game, still game related stream, and yep I got a lot of interest on it. I would buy an e-ticket to watch live stream of an International Heroes of The Storm cup or something like it. I pay for NetFlix why not pay ticket to something that I like.

Twitch is in the forefront of this new... thing.
Just random toughts.

 

[gollum21]

I watch poker streams on twitch. It's nice not to have to lose money and you get to see what some talented players are thinking as they talk through each hand. You can also watch high stakes poker games for free, some of which were aired on T.V. years ago and some that are still being aired

I also know poker isn't the only thing to be learned on Twitch. There was/is a streamer called HandMadeHero (or similar name) that was coding a game from scratch. Anyone trying to learn how to code games probably could learn from this as well. And that's just one more example.

The difference between learning something from youtube and twitch is on twitch you can watch an actual person do something live and overcome practical issues that often get edited out of youtube instructional videos, oh, and you can even ask questions in the chat as the streamer does whatever your trying to learn

And sometimes for fun I'll watch some speedruns and learn of glitches/skips in games that I didn't know where there.