Why is it so much more amusing to watch someone play a video game than it is to play the game itself?
I'm old now. I've finally realised I get more enjoyment from watching someone play than to actually play the game. Why is that? Do you experience that as well?
I'm 40, and I can't stand watching someone else play a game. Even when my kids are playing, I'm like, dude, you're doing wrong, gimme the controller. The very thought of watching a "professional" play on YouTube or whatever, irritates me.
I'm the opposite. I rarely find it enjoyable to watch someone else play a game, to the point that I have a hard time understanding things like Twitch, much less that game streaming more broadly took off the way it has.
Yeah, if I'd been given a chance to buy Twitch in its first year for $100, I would have said no. I play a lot of video games but watching video game streaming for fun is beyond my comprehension. It was one of my first "No, it's the children who are wrong" moments.
I could MAYBE understand it if the person playing is my actual friend irl and we're having a conversation while he's playing, or he's telling me tips and tricks for parts i get stuck on or whatever. But if there's a choice between me playing a game, or watching a video of someone else play the game, I can't imagine choosing to watch someone else play instead of me playing.