For me, it is any city/building construction game like City Skylines, Two Point Hospital, Planet Zoo etc.
Horror games
None.
I have absolutely no interest in watching someone else play a video game, excluding short clips of gameplay to get a feel for the mechanics.
I watched some gameplay of Shattered Pixel Dungeon, just to help me not suck at it. It’s a roguelike with a damned steep learning curve. 25 short dungeon levels to get through and it took me like 42 attempts before the first time I beat it.
I was talking to a friend about a parallel topic yesterday, regarding movies/TV shows about video games. I argued that it’s like watching porn when you can be having sex - I’d much rather be in control than watching an idiot fuck it all up.
In porn, don’t you WANT them to fuck it all up???
“oh no baby, I’m cumming so hard I just sharted on the dog” as the dog starts to bite the guys sack, the camera falls over, she’s screaming and he’s losing a heavy amount of blood, the emergency services arrive and the video ends with their OnlyFans link
And I’m like “…and I paid pornhub for THIS?”
You know for a god dang fact that’s someone’s kink.
Same here. With the exception of if it’s in person. If I’m playing with or showing a new game to someone physically there with me, I enjoy watching them play. But that’s pretty rare, so I might as well say none.
I also cannot stand watching any type of televised/broadcast sport, so that probably has something to do with it.
Literally none. I enjoy interactive entertainment much more than passive consumption.
Triple A titles with a story. I don’t have the rig or the patience myself, but I stream some video gameplay on another monitor while I work…
Anything with a mechanic where every choice matters and will affect the next 50 hours of gameplay, and where it’s possible to choose wrong. That’s a lot of pressure, and I’d rather someone else deal with that.
Also, anything that’s 100 hours of gameplay and 10 hours of story.
I typically don’t watch playthrough videos, but I would say games that require more time or skill than I can offer. If the video creator can take a long, challenging game, and make a video of the highlights and random silly things they encountered while cutting out the monotony that happens in between, I’ll enjoy the video.
For example, Elden Ring. I played it for an hour and decided it wasn’t for me, but the kids will watch Elden Ring videos, and I’ll watch with them and learn about and experience that game without wasting my time playing something I don’t enjoy.
Speed runs to games I know how to play.
That’s basically like watching sports. Sure I can play tennis, but watching professionals play is more entertaining.
Do I really want to see how shit I am at a game? Lol
Speed runners ain’t even playing the same game, it’s fascinating to watch.
Don’t gotta bring your ego into it, it’s a single player video game lmao
I’m from an Era when most games were single player and didn’t hardly have any sort of story. The only reason you played those games was for the challenge of beating them. You didn’t play Mike Tysons Punch Out for a story. You played it to try an beat Mike Tyson and win the game.
I started playing games on MS-DOS. Lol.
I understand enjoying the challenge of a single player game.
Speed runners are doing an entirely different thing. It’s an art form.
But you like what you like. If you don’t like it, that’s no business of mine.
Hmm.
I think that there are a couple of ways to look at this.
First, there’s just casually looking over someone’s shoulder.
I haven’t done this for many years now, but I don’t enjoy playing jumpscare games – don’t enjoy being startled – but I don’t mind watching someone else play one, can enjoy the story.
I was, years back, at least okay at FPSes, but never outstanding. I had a friend who was really solid and didn’t mind having people side-seat driving, and I enjoyed that.
Second, there’s outright collaborative play, but where one person has the controls. I think that this often comes up a fair bit with adventure games – I read about a number of guys talk about playing a game with their wife, but where they’re doing the clicking. Adventure games aren’t much about the control, but figuring things out and experiencing the story. I think that the experience watching and thinking it through here can be pretty comparable to playing. Maybe more fun if there are some tedious bits that you can just skip.
Third, there are professional streamers. That’s a whole 'nother ball of wax.
Cataclysm: Dark Days has some streamers like Vormithrax that amount to being the tutorial to the game for many players, because it’s so stupendously complicated and ever-changing, and he verbally walks through what he’s doing.
There are e-sports players. I don’t really like playing Starcraft or DoTA 2 multiplayer, but I can enjoy watching a presented event.
I understand that there are some “gamer girl” streamers; obviously there are people who enjoy that. I’ve never looked into it, but I imagine that it could be entertaining in a way that the game alone isn’t.
I remember once watching a fighter pilot watch an arcade-ish air combat game (IIRC either something in the Ace Combat or Project Wingman series). They were commenting on tactics, realism, and plane capabilities. Again, interesting in a way that the game itself isn’t.
Starcraft. I still love playing through the campaigns and coop, but I don’t have the time or energy to keep up with the 1v1 anymore. Used to play it a ton back before Legacy of the Void, but you basically have to treat that game like a second job in order to be competitive and not get destroyed most of the time. I remember going like 3-4 days without playing back then and it’d take me 3-5 hours to get back up to my usual level of play.
It’s still a lot of fun to watch pros or high level players play the game though, at least IMO.
This is how I feel about Ultima Online. I played 20 years ago as a teen…I do NOT have the time for it now.
This completely. I miss playing, but I have a job and responsibilities and not enough time to practice or follow the meta. Love watching really skilled players play though.
Not a Starcraft player, but in my experience (Age of Empires, Overwatch) the solution is to stop caring about your rank and just focus on improving where you can.
Oh I agree, I play Overwatch casually and couldn’t care less about my rank, in fact I exclusively play quick play even after 150 hours. But Starcraft is inherently competitive to me due to its 1v1 focus and even without caring about my rank I still find it too stressful and hard to play without a ton of time invested. When I do play it, I prefer to play the campaigns or coop. 1v1 is too time consuming even without caring about rank and only playing unranked.
for a bit a few years ago i watched a ton of minecraft experts create very advanced things that i never would’ve been able to. eventually i had seen enough.
You know what I did in minecraft? I dug a hole. Then I dug it downwards. It was like 60x60. Just a square hole. And next to it was a tall tower. I’d get that cobblestone from diging, and used it to build a tower. Then at the top of the tower I built a sky highway using cobblestone roads, and track.
I want actual trains in minecraft. Old timey steam trains. But a minecart and redstone is all I have.
I read the first two sentences and diggy diggy hole started playing in my head. Thank you for that. I haven’t decided if I’m being sarcastic yet.
Dig a tunnell, dig dig a tunnel.
Dig a tunnell, dig dig a tunnel.
Dig a tunnell, dig dig a tunnel.
Quick before the hyeenas cum!!!
You know what I did in minecraft?
Yes, I actually knew that.
I really like to watch competitive FPS like CS and Valorant but I’d hate to play them since my jam is turn-based games. Heck I’d even watch competitions of games like Lol or Starcraft but the Jargon is too much for me!
Any metal gear solid game, and I say that because it’s the best of both worlds! I play for 2 minutes and then watch a movie!
I had a friend that recorded deathless runs for the first three games on vhs back in the day
Horror games
Dokapon Kingdom.
It’s a cutesy looking cross between Mario Party, Rock Paper Scissors, and Dragon Quest. By the time you are done you will look at your now ex-best friend in the same way Guts looks at Femto. Watching someone else play it though, you don’t have to personally deal with the consequences and can enjoy all of the drama.
Most horror games. My startle threshold is through the floor, even when I know a jumpscare is coming it still gets me a lot of the time. I also hate feeling panicked and chased.
I’m the same way. I think it has to do with being the one who has to make the decision to keep moving forward as opposed to just passively observing
Same. I love watching people play games like Amnesia or the SCP ones, but I could never play them myself.
Imo horror games are best enjoyed in a group anyway. Get the ballsy yolo friend to stream for everyone else
Hot potato couch co-op is the best, because you can jumpscare your friends irl before the game does it and laugh about it, then everyone laughs harder when the game scares the crap out of you…
ManlyBadassHero anyone?
