I have noticed that I have not been playing that many video games and instead I am watching more of them. For example: I can watch gameplay footage, video reviews, twitch streams, and lets plays of video games for hours. But lately I can only play a game for 30 minutes or so. There are currently only a few games that I am playing and I have a whole lot of them that I haven't played. Is there anyone else here with this problem and how to get back into gaming more?
Do you spend more time watching video games than playing them?
- Thread starter Randoman01
- Start date
No and it absolutely baffles me that anyone would ever want to watch people play games.
Like...I cannot understand the appeal in any way, shape, or form. Even with "funny commentary" or whatever weird reason people have for saying how awesome watching people play video games, I just don't get it. I'm bored out of my mind watching anyone play video games.
Whatever floats your boat I suppose. I just don't get it...
Like...I cannot understand the appeal in any way, shape, or form. Even with "funny commentary" or whatever weird reason people have for saying how awesome watching people play video games, I just don't get it. I'm bored out of my mind watching anyone play video games.
Whatever floats your boat I suppose. I just don't get it...
Well, to see how the game is. Also to see how people play it. That depends on the game, like watching different people play Until Dawn or Dark Souls to see what they do similar and different to you and others. Maybe to see how others react to the game "Oh will they get freaked out at this part like I did? Oh, I love this part, maybe they will love it too?".tippy2k2 said:
Another reason is because I dont want to play it but I want to see it played. This is for alot of horror games for me, and games with focus on plot rather than gameplay.
I watched Dan from Extra Credits play Dark Souls as a way to get a blind walkthrough as I played ahead and then caught up if I wanted to be aware of what is ahead of me without having a guy be like "Ok, this is the Gaping Dragon, its got like this big mouth body, whatever, just run around and hit it like this and you're done" but instead being like "Oh shit" and Im like "Oh shit" and a sense of figuring it out without the risk.
As for something like Game Grumps, I like the humorous commentary with the game as a springboard. Though its heyday was long ago in the Jon era. Alot more frustration these days =. =
I've done it for games that I have no interest in getting. To see what the hype is about. Games like Undertale and The Stanley Parable.
I don't play games as much as I like to. I do play games a lot more than I do watch them though.
I don't play games as much as I like to. I do play games a lot more than I do watch them though.
I watch gameplay videos for a variety of reasons.tippy2k2 said:
a) To see unedited gameplay of a game I might buy. Cinematic trailers are good fun, but a bit useless. Gameplay trailers are edited to make them look more exciting. Those 'vertical slice' trailers of 10-20 minutes of gameplay that have thankfully become fashionable of late are better, but even those are cherry picked, often focusing on more scripted or exciting segments of the game.
b) To see the cutscenes/story of a game that I find tedious to actually play. Often RTS or puzzle games in my case. There are even people out there who post "playthroughs" with all or most of the gameplay edited out, usually called '[game title] The Movie'.
c) To get better at more challenging games. For example, I got a ton better at XCOM after watching videos by a guy who was good at it. Currently browsing some Long War 2 videos to see the changes in action.
d) As a spectator sport of sorts. Usually of competitive multiplayer games that I don't actually play, such as MOBAs or RTSs. I will watch League of Legends or Dawn of War commentaries the same way I watch MMA matches. (A comparison that would probably get me punched if made in the wrong company.)
Admittedly, it's pretty hard to find "Let's Players" who don't insist on spouting the kind of oh-so-fucking-funny drivel that even 12-year-old me would have found painful. That and finding one whose voice doesn't make me want to claw my own eardrums out.
They can do something I can't.President Bagel said:
I can play a video game. I can't make a one handed catch on the goalline with a 215 pound Cornerback draped all over me...I suppose if I could, I'd probably find watching sports boring too.
If you want to watch people play video games, I'm not going to stop you (or even judge you for it because God knows I waste my time with plenty of my hobbies; see sports above).
I just don't care to watch someone else play video games and try as you guys might, you're not going to make me see the appeal the same way that you're not going to convince someone who finds football boring that it's super fun (though evidently that's not going to stop people from trying as a third of these responses have been to me talking about reasons for watching other people play video games. I appreciate the enthusiasm gents but you're not going to give me some revelation that I've been wrong all these years
)
Im mostly trying to show why others may enjoy it, not trying to sway you personally to enjoy it.tippy2k2 said:They can do something I can't.President Bagel said:
I can play a video game. I can't make a one handed catch on the goalline with a 215 pound Cornerback draped all over me...I suppose if I could, I'd probably find watching sports boring too.
If you want to watch people play video games, I'm not going to stop you (or even judge you for it because God knows I waste my time with plenty of my hobbies; see sports above).
I just don't care to watch someone else play video games and try as you guys might, you're not going to make me see the appeal the same way that you're not going to convince someone who finds football boring that it's super fun (though evidently that's not going to stop people from trying as a third of these responses have been to me talking about reasons for watching other people play video games. I appreciate the enthusiasm gents but you're not going to give me some revelation that I've been wrong all these years
I dont enjoy sports. I used to say that "If it was video games Id like it" but thats actually not true. Competitive gaming is usually just as boring as sports to me. I guess I just dont enjoy that kind of competition.
I almost never watch "lets plays" or the like (with the odd exception of an odd Mike & James Mondays). The only games footage videos that I watch are ones with some (hopefully) insightful analysis/opinions, such as Errant Signal, and Super Bunnyhop, or reviews/"not reviews" like ACG or TotalBiscuit.
TB is particularly good (or at least would be, if he were still making videos on a regular basis) for rolling demos. Those do give a better sense of how the game actually plays, and his commentary is generally pretty well researched.
TB is particularly good (or at least would be, if he were still making videos on a regular basis) for rolling demos. Those do give a better sense of how the game actually plays, and his commentary is generally pretty well researched.
I do it to decide if i want to buy a game when i don't trust the trailers or description to be truthful. Which happens annoyingly often.
I occationally do it when i am stuck and look for a walkthrough and only find a video walkthrough.
Other than that, no. But then again, i am not a sports spectator either and don't watch a lot of TV.
I occationally do it when i am stuck and look for a walkthrough and only find a video walkthrough.
Other than that, no. But then again, i am not a sports spectator either and don't watch a lot of TV.
I used to watch a lot of Let's Plays on YouTube; then I became a working adult. I suppose back then I didn't have the income or the financial freedom to play whatever games I wanted, so I would watch the playthroughs. The only YouTuber I will still check out on my lunch breaks is CallMeKevin. Been watching him for eons, back to when he was doing the "How To Annoy" series for Machinima.
I didn't spend thousands of dollars on a gaming computer to watch someone else play games.
I didn't spend thousands of dollars on a gaming computer to watch someone else play games.
I enjoy the occasional Youtube personality, Jim is still amusing, less so Markiplier(he's gotten...shrill), Angry Joe is angry, yadda yadda. But I wouldn't say I watch so much as put it on the background when I'm doing other work.
As far as videos I actively watch, its only for games I'm currently playing and need a guide on how to do X. Took me like 15 lives to get into the Abandoned Workshop in Bloodborne. Too bad there was fuck all in there, but still, lamp and sex doll so yay me.
As far as videos I actively watch, its only for games I'm currently playing and need a guide on how to do X. Took me like 15 lives to get into the Abandoned Workshop in Bloodborne. Too bad there was fuck all in there, but still, lamp and sex doll so yay me.
I'm in precisely the same boat. I have friends who do but cannot honestly understand why I would watch someone else play a game instead of playing it myself, playing something else or watching an actual video. One of the reasons games are popular is because we, the player, get to drive the action and watching others play removes that. TBH, I get frustrated with long cutscenes. If I want to watch a movie, I'd watch a movie, if I'm playing a game then save the movie and tell your story better (eg. thru gameplay, environment or player actions/choices).tippy2k2 said:
I will say tho I can watch competitive Dota 2, which is a game I "like" but don't love and will never be great at. It's the e-sports thing....watching coordinated teams of five go head to head, the choice of heroes, skill, split second decision making, ganks all make for a very exciting potential match. It has issues, but I can watch Dota 2 The International matches and enjoy them.
Oddly enough, I think the scales have tipped in a direction similar to yours. Outside of my current playthrough of Dark Souls, very few (if ANY) games interest me at all, but I do like to watch others play, particularly games I know I?ll never play. Not loud, obnoxious personalities like PewDiePie or Markiplier who attempt to entertain with inane antics, but the realistic personalities like James and Mitch from GameFront; they?re funny, never over the top and watching them kind of reminds me of the good ol? days of gaming, sitting on the couch with a couple buddies and just shooting the shit while we played.Randoman01 said:
The only game I've watched is Dark Souls and that's because Epic Name Bro has a lot of insight into the development process and design of the game and its lore. I don't particularly understand when people spend lots of their time watching other people play games. If I had that kind of free time I'd use it to actually play games.
I totally do, because I can watch Youtube at work and I am stuck at this fucking desk 10 hours a day. Which means I only ever get about an hour to play games when I get home. Even on the weekends I have too much other crap to do to play much. Fuck I miss being 14.