Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.
Rocket your D&D 5E and Level Up: Advanced 5E games into space! Alpha Star Magazine Is Launching... Right Now!

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Charlaquin" data-source="post: 7847395" data-attributes="member: 6779196">There are a few different “genres,” so to speak, of watching other people play video games.First, there’s the simple play-through. These are often (though not always) of single-player games usually with little to no commentary by the person playing. Some play-throughs will read in-game text and dialogue out loud, but it’s the exception to the rule. These are usually enjoyed by people who want to experience a game’s story, but can’t or won’t play it for whatever reason - often because they can’t afford it, or don’t have a machine capable of running it, or sometimes due to disability (especially for games that involve motion controls), or are just plain bad at video games.Next, there’s the Streamed game. These are more often than not competitive multiplayer games. They usually include face cam footage of and commentary by the streamer. People watch these for much the same reason they might watch sports - to admire the technical skill of someone who has devoted a great deal of time and energy to learning to play the game. Sometimes it’s just for the enjoyment of watching a pro at work, other times it’s to observe their technique to try to learn to improve one’s own play.Finally, there’s the Let’s Play. These can be just about any kind of game, and usually include face cam, though there are some notable Let’s Players who don’t employ them, but always include commentary, usually comedic. In this “genre” the video game being played is incidental. What people actually watch Let’s Plays for is the player’s (or sometimes players’, plural) reactions to the game. Rage games are a very popular “sub-genre” as a result. In this case, viewers aren’t really tuning in to watch someone else play video games. They’re tuning in to watch what is essentially an improvised comedy performance, the gimmick of which is that it’s done over a backdrop of a video game.In the latter two cases, a big factor in viewership is the para-social relationship the audience has with the performer. People become attached their favorite streamers or Let’s Players, and it becomes more about watching them than about the games they’re playing. This is especially true of Let’s Plays though, because the game is already secondary to the core appeal of a Let’s Play.</blockquote>

Verification