My brother, and several of my friends, used to enjoy watching me play video games. For a while, it was whatever the most recent Zelda adventure happened to be, or Mario Golf for the Nintendo 64 (although we spent about half the time playing that one together). One of my best friends growing up would ask me to complete parts of games for him, a task I found both flattering and annoying. Why would someone want to have someone do part of a game for them? I never understood it, and still don't, now that our youngest foster daughter asks me to do the same thing on a regular basis. "You do it, it's too hard!" she exclaims, but then, twenty tries later, she gets it.
I would say I never understood this will to watch someone else play a game, but now that I think back on my childhood, that would be a lie. Another of my childhood friends was a PC gamer, through and through (not my style - I need that controller, sitting comfortably in my muscular, sweaty hands), and about half the time I went over to hang out with him, I'd end up watching him play whatever new PC game his parents happened to buy him. Incredibly early on, it was Mech Warrior. Eventually, it was Civilization: Call to Power. I remember discovering Half-Life while at that friend's house, one game that I got into watching and helping out with. I helped out very rarely, I found, but managed to come up with strategy in that game that actually made my presence more than just that of a spectator. So, I do kind of get it - watching someone play a game can be entertaining, given the correct formula.
As it turns out, I require a very specific formula to enjoy watching someone plug through a game. I have discovered this is more detail lately due to keeping Twitch running on my computer while I do things like plan out lessons, grade, and, since it is now the summer, write a letter to one of my friends (this particular friend is in prison and has no access to the internet, so no snide remarks like "What, people still write letters?"). I have a tough time simply watching someone play - I need to be doing something at the same time. Moreover, the type of gamer that holds my interest is, at it seems, tough to find. Many people tune in for the speed runners, or so that they can find people with whom to play games online. The games that get the most viewers - those massive, multiplayer games like League of Legends and World of Warcraft - do not interest me in the slightest.
So, what does hold my interest? You probably didn't ask, but here I go anyway.
Firstly, as I stated above, I tend to avoid speed runs. I will tune in for some, because hell, some of those people are crazy good. It takes hours and hours of playing the same damn thing over and over again to get good at that, and additional hours watching others to get ideas. While that, on some strange level, impresses me, it makes me feel like the fun has been sucked out of some really great games. Why speed run The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time when it is such a great game, with a solid story and a world of depth to discover? It's one of those games in which I discover something new each time, so rushing through it seems almost criminal. So much care goes into games, from a wide variety of sources, so speed running, while occasionally impressive, just doesn't do it for me.
Now, what if someone uses a gimmick? The first time I tuned in to someone playing Luigi's Mansion on Twitch, I smiled to find out that the individual playing was racing one of his buddies. Audio from both of them fed into the channel (the friend had a separate channel running as well) and the banter was fantastic. Listening to them talk about parts of the run that were challenging was fun, adding something to a speed run that makes it a lot more interesting to watch.
Or how about playing through a game blindfolded? Oh man, I know people always cry "Fake!" at things like this, but this man playing through Super Mario World blindfolded feels so genuine to me. He fails here and there, despite what appears to be incredible timing. True, this is an attempted speed run, and he skips some amazing parts of the game to get it done (not playing through the Valley Fortress seems too easy), but he's freakin' blindfolded! I mean, how often are you going to see that?
Despite running into the occasional gimmick, I look mainly for people doing casual play-throughs of games, and usually games that I have played through myself. I hate spoilers with a burning passion, so I avoid games I have even the smallest inkling of an interest in playing. Casual play-throughs can be boring beyond belief, especially if the player isn't even miked-up (seriously - why would you do a casual play-through on Twitch if we can't even hear your voice?). But, I run into those gamers that manage to give a good commentary and remain committed to interacting with the people watching. I am not that annoying guy in the chat room that talks all about how I know what's going to happen, or about how hard it's going to be when they get to such-and-such a point - that's just being a troll. No, I sometimes ask if they've played through or not, and maybe talk about some points I enjoy, or engage in the friendly banter from the others in the chat.
Sometimes, I even make a stupid joke, as I am apt to do, just to test the flavor of the place. No response usually means I am out of there - who needs a bunch of gamers that take themselves way too seriously? I like to goof around, and once I find others that know how to do the same, I am totally down to hang out for a while. In Super Mario Sunshine, there's that Shine Sprite you get by destroying monsters that are messing with a ferris wheel and making it spin faster than usual. I pointed out quickly that it hardly seems to be moving too quickly - maybe they improved the ride? Getting the person playing the game to laugh is always a good sign, and I think I might have caught the gentleman playing that game off-guard by pointing that out, because he seemed to find it hilarious (let's get real - it's just a mildly amusing little observation). I enjoy interactions like that, where we can just hang out and talk about games.
As I have had these thoughts over the past year, after I started hanging out on Twitch semi-regularly, it did occur to me that maybe that's all my friends ever wanted - to hang out and talk and have fun. Somewhere along the line, they figured out that hanging out while I play games is fun, and I tended to agree with them, even if I initially scoffed at their suggestions. Watching someone play a game can be entertaining if you have the right mix of people. That was demonstrated to me quite clearly earlier today while I surfed Twitch. I found a group of guys watching one in their midst playing The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, and listening to them issue commands at the one playing sounded eerily like my friend's basement did when I was younger. That is, until one of them dropped the n-word (they were all white, by the way) and I tuned out, because I don't enjoy watching a bunch of racists have a good time.
But that's what it comes down to - having fun with your buddies, having a few laughs, and maybe figuring out some of the more complicated bits together. The social aspect is what's fun - the game just happens to be a medium over which that interaction occurs.
I have tried, over the last several months, to try broadcasting my own gaming over Twitch, with mixed success. I gathered a bunch of followers while playing Metroid Prime, and a bunch of them stuck with me into Metroid Prime 2: Echoes. I also picked up a few playing clumsily through every difficulty level of Mario Kart 64. People seemed to enjoy themselves, and I tried to provide a steady diet of ridiculous observations as well as tried to interact with my viewers and engage them a bit. It was fun, but given that my wife and I care for two foster children, I don't have much time to Twitch much anymore. When I had viewers, though, it went well, and I enjoyed the process immensely, kind of like I enjoyed gaming while hanging out with my friends year and years ago.
So, after spilling all of these ridiculous thoughts out of my hands and into the computer, the next time I am hanging out with my siblings or friends and one of them says, "Hey, let's watch you play a game," I might just do it. Gaming, as it turns out, doesn't have to be the anti-social endeavor it is often made out to be. I spent years having fun with my friends while gaming solo, as well as hours upon hours of playing games with them, sometimes late into the night. Having an audience doesn't need to be an open display of narcissism or an opportunity to show off - maybe the whole idea of having an audience, like it is in sports, is to engage with others and enjoy their company.
Having said that ... you should all follow me on Twitch. My name is rcbean, and having followers makes me feel important.
No comments:
Post a Comment