Poll: Has watching gameplay online, such as a Lets Play, made you decide not to get a game?

[FillerDmon]

Random Question from a Random Person while Randomly Strolling these Random Threads. I'd been curious for a while how this sort of trend actually goes; does anyone in the industry (mostly looking at you Nintendo) actually have justifiable reason for disliking seeing LPS of their games online (with the core problem being the idea that "Oh, since I watched the game, now I don't have to pay for the enjoyment of it")?

Quite frankly, I think the main reason I -am- venturing into PC Gaming is because of the Super Best Friends. More than a few things I wouldn't have been willing to try if it hadn't been for their influence. I'm hoping to snipe XCOM2 in the next Steam Sale specifically because of how badly "I-don't-know-what-proper-cover-is" Pat got rekt by the Advent, with the sabotage of "Literal-Race-Traitor" Woolie canceling out the advice of "Sole-Sane-Man" Liam.

I'd consider that some LPs might have turned me off to some games, but they usually weren't games I'd have been interested in getting anyway. Word of mouth alone killed Sticker Star and Sonic Boom without needing to confirm that they sucked.

Edit: I'm sorry everyone. I tried editing this twice; yesterday when I said I would, and just now today. Won't let me. 5 was supposed to be Both, and 6 was supposed to be Other. Considering that there isn't too much room for other in any case, as buying, not buying, and both are kinda simple choices, 5 can easily stand in for Both.

 

[Saelune]

LPS is Lets Plays?

Yes, it has, cause I get to see the actual game, not some pre-done trailer. I know I passed on Sonic Boom after watching the Game Grumps play it.

Ive also gotten or desire to get games Ive seen played. Bought Rogue Legacy immediately after watching Game Grumps play it, and didn't regret it one bit.

 

[FillerDmon]

LPS is Lets Plays?

Yes, it has, cause I get to see the actual game, not some pre-done trailer. I know I passed on Sonic Boom after watching the Game Grumps play it.

Ive also gotten or desire to get games Ive seen played. Bought Rogue Legacy immediately after watching Game Grumps play it, and didn't regret it one bit.

Yes, LPS means Lets Plays. Sorry about being vagueish.

And thanks to your comment, I decided to include a "both" option, because that's entirely fair.

 

[Bilious Green_v1legacy]

I don't really watch Let's Plays, but I do watch a lot of reviews and the odd stream to get a feel for a game I might be interested in.

 

[bartholen_v1legacy]

LP's alone? No. But they have had a significant impact on the decision. Watching the Darkest Dungeon livestream on the Escapist was the first time I ever heard about it, and it got me immediately interested.

 

[mardocOz]

Let's Plays have made me buy many games. I got into Saints Row because of a Let's Play. I bought Enter The Gungeon because of a Let's Play. Farcry 3. Bioshock Infinite. Metal Gear Rising - Revengeance. Many others. Games I would not normally have looked at twice but picked up as a direct result of seeing someone play it online.

But, as pointed out earlier, there are times when watching a Let's Play has put me off buying a game. Some of these are due to the poor quality of the game in question (Sonic Boom was the example used above, and is a good one) but sometimes it's because there's little to the "game" other than a single, linear narrative. Games like Firewatch and Oxenfree look fantastic, and I wish I had experienced them myself because now I know how they end there's little point to me picking them up.

I guess there are some games that suit the LP format better than others. Walking simulators and narrative heavy games with little player interaction do not lend themselves well to them, whereas games with a lot of choices or action games can be enjoyed as a playing experience after watching a video that shows you exactly what it is.

 

[Luminous_Umbra]

Mostly, they help me find good games, but there is the occasion of learning about issues with games that cause me to not buy them.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

Quite the opposite - I watch LPs because I'm not going to get the game.

 

[Guffe]

I've had the occasional "this seems interesting, let's watch a let's play quick, to see what the game is like".

Often I already know about a game if I really want it and anticipate it.
If I am for example on Ebay, scrolling through my search of *console game* and see something that might be interesting. Open Youtube to watch a LP, and based on that decide it doens't seem interesting, that has also happened. So LP:s have had both the impact of me not wanting a game, and helped me decide I should get a game.

 

[Ambient_Malice]

No, because most LPers suck at videogames. Looking at footage of someone playing a videogame can give me a general idea of what the game is LIKE, but it can't tell me whether the game is FUN.

 

[EHKOS]

Yeah, they help me a lot. Sometimes the Zaibatsu brings a game to my attention and I buy it and love it. If I'm in the store I cue up a gameplay video on my phone because back-of-the-box screenshots are getting more vague all the time and it helps me tell what the physics will feel like. If I don't want to shell out money for a game, or am interested but don't want to play it myself, I'll watch someone else do it.

I've also learned who to trust and not to trust when it comes to opinion to buy.

 

[Ronald Nand]

If the game was something I found interesting about it but there was a big deal breaker in the game, then yes I'd just watch an LP. Like take God's Will be Watching a stressful resource based adventure game, I played the first chapter but found the second chapter made you replay too much content when you lose, so I just watched an LP of the rest of the game. Of course there are LPs I watch like Two Best Friends LP of the David Cage games, which I watched more for their riff of the game, rather than the game itself, which I wouldn't really be interested in buying in the first place.

Then their LPs which make me want to purchase the game because it looks so fun, like the MGR LP Two Best Friends did, which I immediately stopped watching so I could get that game and play it blind.

 

[Elfgore]

I've actually bought several games due to LPers. Ubersoldier II, Chaser, and several others.

 

[Erttheking]

Probably, but for the life of me I can't remember when.

 

[Cid Silverwing]

Let's Plays are the only way I can preview a game I suspect might be shit before I buy it, considering all the garbage being spammed daily. It USED to be that I would play the fuck out of the demo version on a disc or freeware until the full version was released.

 

[Mister K]

Not really. In fact, Super Best Friends Play convinced me to get some games, like Metal Gear Rising,.

 

[wings012]

Haven't yet had a LP convince me not to get a game that I was going to get. Usually they entice me to try games.

Though a lot of the time I realize I prefer watching people play certain games and end up not getting it. Usually crafting stuff like From the Depths or Kerbal Space Program. I don't have the time or patience for those but its fun seeing what people build and do.

 

[MythicMatt]

Most of the time, it'll be PC games I decide I want after watching LPers. Some of time, I just want to enjoy a game for a console I have zero interest in getting [The Last of Us, lookin' at you].

For the most part tho, I end up deciding what game to get based on how good it looks, or expectations from the rest of the series.

...As for why I have a load of VN games I haven't played yet, they were free and I'm waiting until I start my own LP channel.

 

[CaitSeith]

LPs have helped me to decide to buy games. But I wish I had watched any LPs of Five Nights at Freddy's before buying it (it ended up not being my kind of game).

 

[Kaymish]

Yes to both i have bought a game on the back of an LP and i have also decided not to buy a game because of an LP Of course there are other factors at play in every decision but i can think of atleast 2 cases on each side where LP's were a dominate factor