Questions About Streaming

[Ridge]

Hey team, who here streams?

Streaming seems to be an ever growing thing in gaming.
I have questions about it for anybody who can answer.

Why do you do it? Do people actually watch it? Why do they watch it?

I feel like the whole concept around streaming is ridiculous and narcissistic. Why should anyone care to watch me (or anyone) play a game? Especially now. Just a year ago you needed some hardware to get into streaming, but with the new consoles anyone can do it, this really waters down the pool of "talent".

Also people who watch streams, why?
If I have the technology to watch a stream, I also have access to the technology to just play a game.. I'll enjoy that a whole lot more.

Maybe I'm just getting too old for this, but this whole thing is bewildering to me..

 

[Moberg]

I don't streem but I enjoy wathing others' gameplays. Especially when I consider buying a title but need to check how it actually looks. Also it's nice to watch how other gamers cope with boss battles etc. in games I play myself.
Some games allow to interact by helping (or not) a gamer during streaming, like Thomb Rider or Dead Nation.
Sony improved streams quality to 720p, now they look much better.

 

[Ridge]

On the topic of it being interactive sometimes. I did watch a fair bit of twitch plays Pokemon. But that wasn't really thr same thing as just watching a guy play a game..

 

[Ciel]

Hey team, who here streams?Why do you do it? Do people actually watch it? Why do they watch it?

I stream from my PS4 on Twitch mostly because I can and partially because I like to watch the archived videos of myself--and laugh. Watching my past Twitch streams also permits me to learn from my mistakes; being able to see what I did wrong is especially helpful. I have a few friends who watch it. Why they watch it I cannot say for certain. I will assume it is because they have nothing better to do and most of the time, I am playing drunk... which is rather amusing for everyone. Ultimately I do not stream for anyone other than myself but, if someone asks a question or wishes to engage with me as I stream, I am thrilled to participate in conversation with them.

 

[Strykstar]

I don't stream but I'm an avid stream watcher.
I love it especially in RPG's and strategy games as I like to follow along the player's thought process and figure out if I would have made the same decisions and whether I could have improved them or made better ones.
It might be a bit voyeuristic but I get lots of fun out of it.