Those aren’t gamers in the same way watching racing doesn’t make me a race car driver.
Just because someone doesn’t play games all the time doesn’t mean they don’t play games sometimes.
If you race 10 hours a week, but you watch racing 20 hours a week, are you not still a racer?
Never really understood watching it when playing is also very little effort. It’s not football.
for me it’s mostly because I am too depressed and unmotivated to get out of bed and go sit in front of the console/PC but not depressed enough to put the dumb addictive black rectangle down
(i am taking medication i hope this changes)
Sometimes I’ll watch videos for build inspiration, especially for survival crafting games
I’m definitely one of those people, but I work in an office where they let us watch shit on our phones as long as the work still gets done. A hell of a lot easier to watch YT videos than to try to sneak an Xbox S into a cubicle farm ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
I didn’t use it, but I’m still salty that publishers had a fit about that. It’s honestly none of their fucking business where you run your games.
I’m not investing in a cloud only platform like Google’s abandoned attempt, so the only hope is a hybrid like Geforce Now.
Well…
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“Videos about gaming” don’t necessarily have to be gameplay footage. Reviews, promotional materials, discussions etc. count. Maybe even stuff like Viva La Dirt League’s content which is live action skits about video games.
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Tutorials and walkthroughs exist.
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Some vintage systems are difficult to get up and running or even find. For a lot of people it’s easier to just watch an enthusiast do it on youtube.
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Especially on Twitch with streamers it’s as much about the player as it is the game.
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Especially with esports or speedrunning it’s like watching a sporting event. Even if you like playing football too there’s something to watching the professionals play at the top echelons.
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One can watch gaming videos while doing other things. When I was moving into my apartment in Greensboro I assembled my furniture while watching HCBailly play through the Gameboy Zelda games.
I mean, have you played games recently?
Sometimes watching someone play a game is more fun than playing the game. Markiplier shrieking his way through Subnautica was fucking hilarious. And I have a friend who doesn’t play games but who watched an entire playthrough of Detroit: Become Human because they loved the story.
I’m part of this group and didn’t even realize it. But I have the most boring job in the world so I watch a lot of YouTube. Otherwise I never watch anything, especially at home.