214: Society of the Spectator

[Dogstile]

i like this article

me and my friend ciaran both sit and watch eachother play fallout 3, when i'm on my own i'm very perfectionist about it, when he's there its very "i don't have enough money" "meh, screw it, shoot him" *shoots with mirv*

it changes the entire experience

 

[Mullahgrrl]

Me and my little sister usually play Final Fantasy 10 on summers.
We got it with the playstation 2 when it was new and we are almost through now.

 

[jh322]

MGSM: Metal Gear Solid Marathon.

Upon the release of each title (beginning with the MGS2) one of my oldest friends and I have had a marathon, always honoring the agreement that neither of us would read GAMEFAQs or wikipedia about the story or gameplay and we would discover everything together, without online help or any help otherwise. As this has become a more and more epic experience, we have increased our food and time budgets accordingly, with the 1-4 start-finish all cinematics included spanning two and a half days and £140 worth of food and beer.

We love the games on our own, sure, but this is to my mind simply the best way to experience them. Also, because they have another dynamic (trying to figure out what the hell Kojima is on about), we can also sit and have huge debates about what we think has happened, is happening and will happen.

Awesome multi-single player games, and some of the best gaming times I've ever had.

EDIT: great article by the way, barely anybody talks about this type of gaming but to me knowledge it's actually pretty common. Nice for it to have some limelight, 'cause it really can be a hoot.

 

[UsefulPlayer 1]

I remember a time where my sister would watch me play video games.

In truth, she did point out things that I have missed, she help especially in the puzzles. One moment in particular when I was playing the last level of "Brave Fencer Musashi" I spent hours trying to figure out how to kill the boss until she stopped by and I said "I've tried everything!" And she coolly said "Did you try this?" And I proceeded to win within the next several minutes.

Another time I played Infamous at a friends house and we'd just take turns playing. Lots of fun and allowed us to talk a lot about the game and video games in general.

But I'll add a negative is that when you have another person watching, they'll motivate or you'll be motivated to progress the game and not just wonder around and explore. I remember I was able to explore all the nooks and crannies of "The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker" if I was alone. Otherwise it would be "Move one!"

 

[Woem]

The fun thing about a single-player game like Baldur's Gate or Icewind Dale is that the other player doesn't even need to sit back. Hook up a LAN cable, join the game and jump in on the fun! Playing Baldur's Gate 2 over LAN was one of the best gaming experiences I ever had.

 

[The Random One]

Cute article. I remember a friend of mine enjoyed Eternal Darkness, but couldn't get the hang of it, so he decided to watch me play instead. It's not a game where it matters much.

I should do the same with the first Resident Evil games. Last time I played, it involved a friend laughing his ass off at me because I kept running into walls and almost got hit by the first zombie.

Eventually her interest in watching TF2 grew into taking a few turns - always as the Pyro at first, because when a Pyro is spinning in a circle firing wildly at nothing nobody bats an eyelid - which led via baby steps to her current ability to school me at Halo 3 deathmatches. Sometimes.

This just gives weight to the theory that the Pyro is a girl!

 

[zahr]

I used to just love watching my friend play the Thief series. Several years later, I tried the games out myself, and loved them. One of my friends who was unfamiliar with the series told me he had fun just watching me play them.

Interesting, that. I wonder if Thief 2 is just one of those games, that are as fun to watch as to actually play?

Also, before she moved on to Oblivion, I used to watch my sister playing Morrowind, give her tips and info, that sort of thing. Lots of nostalgia.

 

[Virgil Vansant]

Back in college, I spent many many hours playing games with my roommates watching, going through several Final Fantasy games, Wild Arms, Resident Evil, and more. They always offered suggestions ("Don't go right, that's what the developers expect you to do!") and helped out with the puzzles.

Nowadays, my wife watches me play games as well. She's not much of a gamer, sticking pretty much with Mario Kart and Lego Star Wars. But I've gotten her hooked on The Longest Journey and Sam & Max, and she enjoyed watching me play Jade Empire. She was a little put off once when I started playing Jade Empire before she got home. She likes the story elements, but doesn't care for the complicated control schemes found in most games. Watching me play has been a gateway to her playing adventure games herself. I think I'll dust off Beyond Good & Evil for her to watch next...

 

[The Eaten Cake]

I like to play JRPGs with my friends. The Tales games are good for that 'cause of the multiplayer combat, but recently I've been playing Persona 4 with a friend who lacks a PS2. I'm often helping him out with backseat gaming. Survival horror games are fun to play with spectators, too.

 

[Fearzone]

Twas a time long ago, way back in the 1980s, when computer games were mostly played in arcades at a quarter a pop, and boys and girls alike would hang out and play, and sometimes play competitively or co-op, or kick back waiting in line at a popular game, and be impressed by leet skillz or derided for noobish play. It was a time when computer gaming was actually a rather social experience, not with avatars, but in a face-to-face way. Not that it ever got me laid but did arouse some positive feminine attention from time to time. And those were the days of dolphin shorts. Yep, those were the golden days, that nothing of the console generation has ever quite been able to match.

 

[Mitsukya]

Man... Until about the age of ten, I NEVER played a game for myself.
The playstation 2 was in my brother's room, and the first game he got for it, was Final Fantasy 10. My god, those days, where I'd just sit, and watch were some of the BEST gaming moments for me, even though I wasn't the one playing.
Sure, being a backseat gamer might seem boring, but I was so intrigued by this game, that soon after, all I did was watch him play games!
From Final Fantasy 10, to Kingdom Hearts 2.
It was only until I was 10, that I played a game for myself, and that was Fable.
But I had my own long-distance backseat driver. My friend, who I've been good friends with for 10 years now, would stay on the phone, talking to me about what's cool about Fable, and what I should try to do for some fun times. ;]
Anyways, the brothel houses got boring after a while, and I got bored of gaming.
UNTIL, I got my hands on Pyschonaughts, arguably the BEST game I've played for it's time.
If we don't judge graphics, and control issues, that game was the BEST game I've ever played.
Being a serious gamer though, I knew there only had to be more gold nuggets out there, and I just had to look for them.
I stopped being a backseat driver, and started to be my own player.

 

[Danman1]

I can Totally relate to this article (great article BTW) because my younger brother is ALWAYS watching me play games.

I watched my older brother and dad play Diablo 2 and later WoW until I begged for my brother to let me make my own account. 4 years ago-ish. Im still playing(yes I am following the Cataclysm stories)

 

[Kelbear]

I love spectator mode in multiplayer games, since it allows me to see what other people are doing wrong, and what they're doing right. It gives me access to a whole new world of experience.

Similarly, deathcam replays that reenact my failures allow me to see things I hadn't noticed before while I was caught up in the gameplay itself.

It's fun getting into the mind of another player. You can really pick out the differences in style after a while. I'd played with my best friend through a long series of FPS games going back to ActionQuake2 (before counter-strike beta1!). Eventually, I could instantly pick him out of a crowd of visually identical enemies because I knew what he'd do, how he'd move, and where he is going to be. And vice versa. He knows I know he'd go left, so he'd go right just to mess with me...which I know, so I expect him to go right instead. Made for an entertaining series of mind games. After one of us defeats the other, we'd dissect our actions during the round over the phone, and we'd learn in detail how we were beaten. Definitely raised our level of play.

 

[Captain Lag]

Am I the only who can't stand watching others play instead of playing myself? Until I read this article, I always assumed that was the more common stance.

I don't like watching others play either. Its just so boring

 

[rohit9891]

Nice article dude...

 

[ReverseEngineered]

I like the topic, though I found this article a bit short -- it seemed to just get going when it would change gears. The idea of gaming as a spectator sport isn't new, so such a light introduction to it seems insufficient.

That said, I'm glad people are still talking about it. North America has nearly given up on the idea that people like watching other people play games. I think it's a problem of not understanding "why" people like to watch. I (usually) don't watch videos of some random person playing Donkey Kong, but I was glued to the tube watching Steve Weibe play live and I totally get into the game when I'm watching my friend play on the couch next to me.

Games become a medium for sharing an experience; there is an entire social aspect to them. It's not watching the game that is interesting, it's the connection you share with the person you are watching play. Often times you relate to the experiences of playing the game, marvelling at the player as they succeed where you failed, offering help and suggestions as you see the player struggle, and otherwise sharing in their glory when they finally make it past that tough level.

 

[JediMooCow]

This article was really good, and gave me a pleasent few moments of remembering games I've watched others play.
Actually, reading through the comments has been quite enjoyable, and it's great to see that there are so many others who've had good times using games as a 'co-operative single-layer experience'.

I have been frustrated, interested, pissed-off and captivated at various times by watching others game, and having my own gaming watched. It seems to be one of those experiences that can be very good or very bad, depending on a variety of factors.

Again, thanks for the article. I think I'll take a leaf out of some of the other commentors' books, and go play through MGS with a friend.

 

[Skarlette]

Thanks for reaffirming that I'm not the odd one who enjoys watching games as opposed to playing them myself.

I remember visiting my older cousins one Christmas, and the eldest was a die hard Resident Evil fan. I was 10 (and not to debase myself or anything, but also a girl). This was the scarriest thing I had ever seen in my life so far. I had seen the movie IT and other horror games, but they did not compare.

The story was absolutely engrossing, I would tell my cousin to pause while I read every note we found in the game. I wanted to enter every room, kill everything, defeat the bad guys and the dead guys, and I wanted to beat the game on hard with no saves to unlock everything that we could.

However.... the zombies terrified me and I spent most nights of that vacation sleeping in my parent's bed because I had a newfound fear of the undead. Instead, I sat there holding the walk-through guides, pointing out everything that we needed to get, every secret to unlock. I would jump at the zombies as they broke through mansion windows or something, but at the same time felt secure that I wasn't the one in control. This was where movies were okay, since I was a passive witness to the horror. In the world of survival horror, however, everything felt different. If my cousin paused the game and handed me the controller to hold while he went to get a drink, I would freeze up, hands shaking as I held the controls, terrified that if I hit start again, even by accident, we would end up a bloodsplatter.

I am much older now, but I still won't play Resident Evil games unless I can enter unlimited ammo codes and put god-mode on; yet those games that I didn't play myself still stick out in my mind as the most memorable games I've [watched someone else play], and the reason I started playing games myself when I got a bit older (just not shooters or survival horror!)