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.
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 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.
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 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.
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.
Age of Empires 2. It's like watching a live chess match. The more I learn about the game, the more my own gameplay feels clumsy. Thankfully, the aoe community is larger than ever, even though it's been 20 years since release.
The same goes for me and Total War. I love battle strategy but I am just no good at it haha. Some of my favorite streamers will occasionally play them, which is good enough for me
Yeah, i agree. I fact i play Rocket League casually with friend. But seeing people playing in another level it's like seeing another dimension of the game that always surprises me and i never expect what may happen.
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.
Elden Ring and most other soulslikes - I don't have the skill, time or will to "git gud" at them, but they are a beautiful spectacle and a joy to watch, especially when watching someone who plays really well.
Any of the 4x/grand strategy type games (e.g., Crusader Kings, Hearts of Iron, Civilization). I don't really enjoy the menu management of some of those games and the density of information and mechanics is anxiety inducing. However the emergent narrative those games provide really interests me so watching someone else play is the best way to access what I enjoy about those games.
It's crazy how polished a lot of those videos are. Blooprint, Wiilljem, Frost, etc are so much fun to watch, but I know I don't have the mentality to deal with losing everything, and I suck a fps.
Counterstrike and Tarkov because I'm too bad at them to have any fun playing myself, but I really enjoy watching competitive matches or streamers raids here and there.
Also, Dark Souls 1-3 and Skyrim. I've played them all so much and still play through here and there, but I like to watch challenge runs and see all the modded or otherwise ridiculous playthroughs that I don't have the patience to commit to myself.
Have you ever got a friend to play Dark Souls? It's a fun game to watch someone new play it. My late best friend did that with me during the first lockdown, and I got the sense that he was vicariously enjoying the game through me.
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.
Games that have no agency and are more or less just "interactive" stories. I am actually waiting for tomorrow when Game Grumps are gonna start up Danganronpa V3. I really like these games; but nothing you do really makes a difference aside from seeing a continue from the last checkpoint screen if you fail a challenge mini game. So, even if I played it and talked to all the characters every chance I had, it wouldn't change the overall story; so why not just watch someone else play it? 🤷🏻♂️
There are a couple of occasions where I watch someone else playing: when deciding if the game is worth buying (gameplay vs cutscenes) and when I'm stuck in a part of a game I can't really google.
Cities Skylines - because ain't no way am I getting enough memory for the fluid huge city I want to be flying through. Also, it's fun to watch design nerds make some really pretty cities.
My spouse and I are gamers. It’s fun to introduce them to a game and watch them experience it for the first time. Every now and then they don’t like a game I’ve introduced, and other times they end falling in love with the game. Right now my spouse is introducing me to Hades, and they’re watching my experiences with it: it’s a good game so far, but they rave about it so I wanted to know what it’s like. We get to hang out while they watch me play, and it’s quality time together. Who knows, maybe this will be a favorite game of mine too?
I don’t watch strangers online play games, but let’s pretend there’s a content creator who I enjoy watching, is close to my age, and I enjoy their personality. How cool would it be to watch that person play some of my favorite games: nostalgic games, ones that inspired me, introduced me to new concepts, broke me, etc. If I aligned with that content creator, I’d love to hear what they think - what they liked and didn’t like about the game, how they felt with the thought-provoking moments, etc.
With that said, some persons like to watch others play games for these reasons and more.
Oh, I get why people like watching games, I've watched people play games lots. But mostly I've watched when I can't play a game myself. I had a job with a lot of downtime for a while, and while I couldn't install games on the computer, I could watch twitch or YouTube all I liked. But given the choice, I'd much rather be playing the games.
I'm not saying anybody is out of line... I'm just saying * I * would rather play games than watch them. And I think games are most fun when played (which I don't think is really a crazy statement).
But it's true, I'm not really into spectating sports either, I don't get much out of it. I would much rather play a pickup game of basketball than watch the NBA finals.
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!
I like watching strategy or sim games. I can work through different problems or layouts for things, but I still miss things or don't fully understand how it works. When I watch someone else play there are lots of "ah-hah!" or "why aren't I doing that?!" moments.
I guess this is a case of playing the game and watching it, rather than watching it instead of playing.
Any point & click adventure game, especially old Sierra series like King's Quest. They have so many bullshit mechanics designed to trip the player up and cause an immediate Game Over.
That's interesting, I like playing those because the entire pathway is often unique to me, what about them makes you not curious to know your own path?