New report claims gamers spend more time watching videos about gaming than playing games

imagine if this was about football fans

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.''

New report claims people with hobby spend more time watching videos about hobby than doing hobby

I stream a 25-year-old MMO, EverQuest, about 8 hours a week and lots of viewers just want to live vicariously through my moment remembering when they were doing it themselves without committing 500-1,000 hours to level a character.

I also watch other people play other class types of endgame content to do the same.

I'm not the most engaging streamer, but I enjoy answering questions to my 2-10 viewers. I also enjoy when another streamer answers my own questions.

I don't understand watching streamers with 4,000 viewers spamming kewk emojis though.

This is not at all surprising. Almost all hobbies and sports are like this.

The only difference that makes this interesting is the fact that you could be gaming while watching about gaming, which is untrue for many other hobbies.

Makes enough sense, as goofy as it sounds.

1. No Money. - Videos let me watch games that aren't worth buying to me along with letting me parse games that look fun enough to buy.
2. No Time. - Videos can be put on during other chores or tasks, left on as background noise during times where I would absolutely not have enough time to actually play a game.
3. Skill Issue. - No matter how good I want to be, I'm ultimately just kinda ok at games. Watching higher level players can be a way for me to learn tips and tricks to improve, or they can be a way for me to experience difficulty levels of the game I will never realistically achieve on my own.

In other stunning news, researchers find people who like sports spend more time watching it than playing it.

Where's "New report claims sports fans spend more time watching sport / videos about sport than playing sport".

This isn't some new, crazy, hard to understand concept.

Wouldn't be me. I don't like streams. When I've had twitch drops i wanted to claim I'd just mute the tab in the background to get the time limit needed.

I don't have the attention span for streamers. It's like golf. Might be fun to play but watching is another matter.

Definitely fall into this category. Commentary/ video essays about games are my go-to for background noise.

Makes sense. I usually just put on a 2+ hours long video whenever I'm doing chores. I don't actually care about Wolfey's last weird team, it just makes for good background noise.

people want to play with friends, and with gaming getting lonelier, i think people are seeking the parasocial relationships on streaming sites.

That's me for sure these days. Back in high school I used to play at least a couple of hours every day. I have a gaming PC and a Steam Deck but probably play a few hours a month. But I'll happily watch several hours of Twitch each day while I'm relaxing.

Probably just getting older and busier, haha.

This thread got me thinking Lemmy needs a better "find a co-op buddy" community for games in general. If it's here already, could use better marketing.

Not sum'm I suffer from, but I want to see y'all living your best lives too. A good homie can make or break a game run.

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

Plenty of people have a twitch stream open whilst playing a game.

Sometimes you are so tired that you can’t actively engage in something, but you want to engage with it so you passively engage instead.

This goes for gamers watching gaming videos, woodworkers watching woodworking videos or people with dirty houses watching lawnmowing/pressure washing/car detailing/rug cleaning videos.

You get some of the endorphins of achievement, without having to go through the effort of achieving something.

Those aren’t gamers in the same way watching racing doesn’t make me a race car driver.

I watch games about the game in gaming, but I also watch games about my game when I'm not gaming. Therefore by definition my gaming will be less than my watching gaming.

Yeah cause I'm too busy to game frequently, but I can watch something while being productive.

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

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. 😅

I am absolutely trash with the elden ring series but I love everything about it. I watch people play and enjoy it. I'm sure 20 years ago I'd have been all in on them but my game difficulty is set to easy these days.

Absolutely can't stand watching people play video games. They play wrong.

And the only videos I watch of a game are ones to see what kind of game it is when I don't know too much beyond word of mouth "this game is great" kind of thing. Sure, you've described the game as an action-packed romp with tons of weapons and semi-open world, but the video shows it's a 2d side scroller with variations of the same 5 pixel "guns" that all shoot the same ball. Not interested.

Beyond that, I have no interest in watching videos. And if companies started trying to somehow cram even more ads into their games to advertise to people watching a stream then I'm even less in than before

All of my little cousins and nephews watch streamers. To them it's more fun to watch someone play than to play most times. They don't like dealing with challenging games all the time, they really just want to have fun. These kids do play games but they watch more than me so I tried watching some streamers and I get it. When I was growing up we had systems with multiple controller ports and no online. Online gaming was PC only until I went to college and console online took off. But growing up you had to bring your friends or cousins to play some Mario Kart 64. That was way different than playing with randoms online. Streamers kinda brings that connection back.

I’ve spent boatloads more time watching football than playing football, too.

Also, with Rainbow 6: Siege, there’s so many ways to play the game that I love watching videos to get ideas for new strategies to try.

Lastly, contrary to popular belief, a lot of games actually require thinking about what you’re doing. Time spent playing is not really time spent spacing out so I will happily watch videos about a game I like to play when I don’t have the energy to actually focus on playing them.

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.

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.

I'm always "why am I wasting time watching this when I could be playing a cool game?"

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.

I don't watch streams, but I do watch a lot of Let's Plays (i.e. Materwelonz, WoolieVersus). Sometimes to watch them play games that I normally wouldn't, sometimes to listen to their insights at certain hype points in games I previously played, and usually due to loneliness (i.e. parasocial relationships).

Regarding the last point, it also tends to be the reason I gravitate towards games with strong story, or MMOs. Feeling like I belong to a community keeps the loneliness at bay. Outside of games, I like to be in crowded areas, though not necessarily interacting with anyone.

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.

That's because I suck at the games I like and need that hit of dopamine imagining I'm actually good at something

Can confirm. This is me

This brings back a college memory - one dorm I lived in was so boring I once drew a crowd of 5 while playing solitaire in the common room. It happened another time when I was making a Halloween costume by drawing a giant Jack of Hearts on a bed sheet with markers, holding the actual card up in my hand as a guide - but that one was more understandable.

I game while watching my favorite streamers!

I mean, have you played games recently?

Because the new games are shit and the good old games you can't play on newer systems properly

fully agree

This applies mostly to young gamers.

Thats technicaly correct for me .I often play eu4 while i watch eu4 and spice it up with a bit of music in the background. Alghtough i do only watch gameplays of games im really into ( eu4 ,against the storm ) but generaly not skilled ( or patient )enough to do whatewer crazy shit the streamer is doing, rarely gameplays of games where plot is important in any way and when id do usualy its speedruns.

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.

And videos complaining about videogames.

Thank god we have YouTube videos that tell us what games to like and what games to hate. Imagine we would have to make this decision on our own.