Title. How do people do it? Is it a generational thing? I never understood it and it seems to get bigger every year. I assume this is a teenager thing, possibly early 20s? What is so exciting about watching some out of shape guy play video games?
The “personalities” of these people can’t be the reason. Someone shed some light here, please.
Edit: The world first raid stuff counts here too. Never seen so many people try to be involved with something that they aren’t involved with. Is that it? Vicarious living type situation?
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Some people like to watch either streams or Let’s Plays of games they are interested in but may not want to play personally. Also, not all streamers are the “out of shape guy” stereotype, as video games are less of a social stigma these days.
Streaming itself is a generational thing, but watching streams isn’t.
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Streams are very calm and great for destressing. Ocean waves are also very soothing.
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tv sucks now and streams have a sense of community
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I ask the same question for people who watch The Bachelor or The Bachelorette. Keeping up with the Kardashians is another one I’ll never understand.
But I guess it’s all about taste.
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No need for the judgmental tone there.
Speaking for myself, I simply enjoy watching people play videogames. I enjoy playing them myself more obviously, but when I’m at work, I don’t really have that option.
My wife has asked me this very thing before, and after giving the same explanation as above, I asked why she enjoys Real Housewives. People like what they like 
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I don’t - but I could see reasons including:
Supporting friends / family / guild mates.
Shared common interests.
Unable to currently play themselves.
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But beware the Daughter of the Sea
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I often watch stremes of games I have no intention of playing. I am interested enough in said game to see what its about but no real interest in playing them.
Take fighting games for example. I am completely trash at them but they are exciting to see really good players unleash all sorts of combos.
Other times its to see someone have the same reaction you did to a very important part of a game. Downed a really hard boss and had no one to share it with? there is a streamer out there with the exact same reaction as you did. And that can be a wonderful feeling to see a boisterous personality get super excited on the same exact part you got excited about. it can be fun.
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So it is generational. Reenacting life as we live it.
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maybe? Im 35 so where do I fall on the spectrum? I mean Seeing a young adult complete a really hard game for the first time I completed 20 years ago was a fun feeling for me. /shrug
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I dont really get it either. dont understand why watch someone play a game i can just play
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I’m in my early 30s and will sometimes leave a game stream on in the background while I do other things around the house. It’s white noise.
Also some special events are fun to watch, like speed gaming marathons. You’re watching people crush the product in ways that normal players never would. Like one time there was a guy running Castlevania completely blindfolded… that was pretty wild.
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Why do people watch sports or cooking shows or documentaries or anything?
It aligns with their interests and they find it entertaining and/or educational in some way.
Simple as that, really.
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The same can be said for basically any live event. Why watch sports, why watch reality shows, why go to concerts. Will you ever do any of those things at that level? Probably not.
Better question is, why do you care?
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I’m 37 and never even considered it watching streams. I’m also the only person my age I know that doesn’t and has never used Facebook besides my brother.
Maybe I am the outlier but it still strikes me as an odd thing to do.
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you cant really go out and do most live events or sports unless you wanna set it up. i can sit and play games anytime i want
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same reason middle aged house wives watch the view
Personally, the only way I would ever watch a stream is if I wanted to check out how a game plays before buying it, or if it’s a WoW stream, maybe the streamer is talking about some lore speculation or something. I know I’ve watched videos on YouTube, but to sit there and just watch someone else play a videogame that I could be playing myself? Nah.
World first doesn’t impress me either. I feel like downing a raid before anyone else is something any one of us can do if we really wanted. I don’t see there being that much actual skill in this game to where downing some random boss is some amazing feat to be spoken of in legend.
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I watch let’s plays of games on consoles because I never plan on buying one. Since there are games that are exclusive I can still feel apart of the accomplishment. My part at least.
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