Gamers are spending more time watching videos about gaming on YouTube and Twitch than playing games themselves.
  • Maxxy@lemmy.zipEnglish
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    22 days ago

    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.

  • Eyedust@lemmy.mlEnglish
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    22 days ago

    You don’t really know it until you stop watching videos for like a week. Suddenly you want to do your favorite things again; try things yourself again.

  • Semi-Hemi-Lemmygod@lemmy.worldEnglish
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    21 days ago

    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.

  • jjjalljs@ttrpg.networkEnglish
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    21 days ago

    This makes me feel kind of alienated.

    I don’t think I’ve ever watched someone playing games intentionally, outside of like “how do you do this part?” guides, and maybe a couple hours spectating in games total.

    Ok, and a handful of like “let me solo her” highlights that made it to me. But I never like seek it out.

    I’m principal Skinner, I guess.

    • jdeath@lemm.eeEnglish
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      21 days ago

      this is Lemmy. There’s like dozens of us in this thread that hate watching streamers! you are not alone.

    • RinseDrizzle@midwest.socialEnglish
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      21 days ago

      Bro, preach. Definitely only need a quick clip for like, where is this item hiding in Elden Ring?

      Maybe helps that I still have a solid squad of irl mates I game with, but also don’t mind catching solo time on single players.

      I was dead fucking wrong about twitch tho. When it first came out I was like “who the hell is this for, younger siblings?” Like, why wouldn’t you just play the game yourself? Figured there’d be a lil niche for e-sport pro level scene, but twitch got way bigger than I ever would’ve thought.

      Saying all this as a mid-thirty dude who truly will never comprehend people who spend a bunch on twitchy

      • tigeruppercut@lemmy.zipEnglish
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        21 days ago

        It’s cool watching people of different skill levels than you, not just the pros I think. Also when people take on challenges that take a long time, you can kind of skip through the vid at your leisure.

        Plus sometimes you just don’t have the energy to game. It’s like Matt Groening said in that old Life is Hell comic (although about tv): Why is tv the best pal of all? When you’re tired, tv does the playing for you.

    • biscuitswalrus@aussie.zoneEnglish
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      21 days ago

      I like people doing challenge runs and speed runs, and occasionally letsgameitout who spends 1000 hours committing to the bit that I might have considered as a passing funny joke. I’d rather watch that then some evening ad riddled free to air.

      I’m well over 30, not far from 40. Hobbies can be entertaining like watching someone else race a car. I ain’t gonna be able to do that. But I appreciate those who can.

      • jjjalljs@ttrpg.networkEnglish
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        21 days ago

        It would never occur to me to go watch someone do a whole speed run. Even less so to watch someone “doing a bit”. Like, making a character that looks like Shrek and invading in a swamp is kind of funny, but I’m not going to watch that.

        I don’t know how to explain the complete void that is my interest there. Like, I wouldn’t be mad if it was on in the background. But I just… Don’t find it appealing. Like watching paint dry or looking out my window. It’s there. Sometimes there’s a cat. But I’m never going to be like "sweet let’s go watch outside the window "

  • JackbyDev@programming.devEnglish
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    21 days ago

    My wife likes YouTubers but isn’t a gamer. If I’m doing stuff with them I’m more likely to pick a video about games than a game.

      • JackbyDev@programming.devEnglish
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        21 days ago

        We called my wife “fake gamer girl” for a while because we made a group chat back in 2020 with everyone in it to coordinate online games. They were there because she would play Among Us or Jack Box with us. It was very tongue in cheek. To be honest, they may have even said it themselves for the first time lol.

      • grrgyle@slrpnk.netEnglish
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        21 days ago

        Nice. My partner is more of a movie person and I’m more a games person, so I’ll watch movies with her almost as a favour, and she’ll return it by playing games with me lol.

        There’s an art to picking a movie or game for a choosie person, and we’ve both got pretty good at predicting eachothers’ tastes in media.

    • fmstrat@lemmy.nowsci.comEnglish
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      22 days ago

      The interesting part to me is that you can watch football even when/if you can’t play football, but you could be gaming instead of watching.

    • bluGill@fedia.io
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      22 days ago

      I can only watch so much football as can a rare other people like me. If I am watching football I want the view of one position. I don’t care that the quarterback got sacked on the play, how did the running back avoid the defense in his attempts to become open for a pass - or some such that I want to emulate when I next play. (i think that is a likely thing - I consider football too dangerous to play so I’m guessing - in reality I’d prefer to see other sports that I’m likely to play)

      edit: spelling

      • lime!@feddit.nuEnglish
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        22 days ago

        i can’t make heads or tails of this reply :P

        “how did the running back avoid the defense”, i’m assuming there should be a “to” in there? who runs back? i can’t parse it…

            • bluGill@fedia.io
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              22 days ago

              The game most of the world calls “football” is called “soccer” in the US. We have a very popular game we call “football” in the US that is unrelated to “soccer”, instead it is related to rugby (still very different from rugby, but there is a relation)

  • Blackmist@feddit.ukEnglish
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    21 days ago

    Never really understood watching it when playing is also very little effort. It’s not football.

    • TargaryenTKE@lemmy.worldEnglish
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      21 days ago

      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)_/¯

        • Blackmist@feddit.ukEnglish
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          21 days ago

          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.

          • Dyskolos@lemmy.zipEnglish
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            21 days ago

            It’s an okay-ish solution for people who don’t wanna invest in a pricey pc or that just wanna game from their potato thinclient. No mods kills it for me personally.

            • Blackmist@feddit.ukEnglish
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              21 days ago

              A guy at work used to use a cloud service called Shadow PC.

              They’d basically rent a gaming PC out and he’d just torrent them right on to the cloud machine. Pretty sure mods would have worked there.

              It felt a touch laggy with a mouse, but a controller would probably have been just fine. It’s a shame there’s a disconnect between what gamers want (a gaming PC that’s just somewhere else) and what providers want (a walled garden).

              • Dyskolos@lemmy.zipEnglish
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                21 days ago

                True. Those cloud-services allow for mods. But still too laggy, too expensive, too much hassle. And in the end you own nothing again. Like car leasing 😑

                But gf now is much cheaper, but therefore has those downsides. But yes. Just a pc somewhere else

    • Kilgore Trout@feddit.itEnglish
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      21 days ago

      Interesting that you see a difference between the two. Football also does not require incredible effort to play, still a lot of people only watch it.

    • spicy pancake@lemmy.zipEnglish
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      21 days ago

      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)

    • prof_wafflez@lemmy.worldEnglish
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      21 days ago

      when playing is also very little effort.

      Same. Not only is it little effort, but you get to experience what the intended purpose of the game was without having to listen to some rando try out bad jokes or say lame stuff. Any time I look at a video tutorial I look for videos with no narration and once I figure out how to solve the problem I turn the video off and get back to the game. Watching someone else play a game just seems like a waste of time, personally

    • Captain Aggravated@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
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      21 days ago

      Well…

      1. “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.

      2. Tutorials and walkthroughs exist.

      3. 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.

      4. Especially on Twitch with streamers it’s as much about the player as it is the game.

      5. 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.

      6. 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.

  • .Donuts@lemmy.worldEnglish
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    22 days ago

    It’s time for game publishers to think about in-game video as something beyond marketing alone," said Rhys Elliott, games analyst, MIDiA Research. ‘‘By reclaiming video engagement, publishers have the potential to unlock new revenue streams, like advertising, and drive growth.’’

    • wick@lemm.eeEnglish
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      22 days ago

      Lmao, what a takeaway. Guy is struggling to earn that paycheck.

      • Bonesince1997@lemmy.worldEnglish
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        22 days ago

        Reminds me of the business plans of the business guys from Ready Player One. “We estimate we can sell up to 80 percent of a user’s visual field before inducing seizures.” 😂

      • djsoren19@yiffit.netEnglish
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        22 days ago

        Please bro just a little bit more groooowth. I promise we’ll unlock all the money in the world if we can just have a littile more grooowwth.

  • ZeroHora@lemmy.mlEnglish
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    22 days ago

    I mean they are counting e-sports? Because is the same shit as watching soccer but better, vast majority of soccer fans doesn’t play it regularly.

    7.4 hours a week gaming

    Those are rookie numbers

    • huginn@feddit.itEnglish
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      22 days ago

      The long weekend from Thanksgiving gave me unprecedented access to factorio space age. I think I hit 60 hours last week.

  • RealFunAtParties@lemmy.worldEnglish
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    21 days ago

    I would say this isn’t me, but I started playing Dwarf Fortress lately and have probably been watching an hour of tutorials for every 30 minutes I play at this point. 😅

    • shani66@ani.socialEnglish
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      21 days ago

      It’s not that bad! Once you’ve got the basics down you can just watch as everything explodes

  • njm1314@lemmy.worldEnglish
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    21 days ago

    The article didn’t mention it but I’m curious what the breakdown is by age. I have to assume younger Gamers watch way more videos than older gamers.