What's up with people posting YouTube videos of game play?

[Flam]

So I have a question, and I really mean no disrespect by it, but what is the deal with people recording themselves playing a video game (sometimes with commentary) and putting it on YouTube; I really just don’t get it. Is there an audience out there for this type of thing? Do people really sit down and watch a 15 min. YouTube video of someone playing Solar Jetman? I will admit that when I’m researching my next game purchase I’ll watch about a minute of one of these videos just to get a feel of the game, but do people really find it that interesting to watch the whole game play?

[treismac]

Unless I'm doing research on possible games to buy or play, there needs to be an angle for me to watch someone simply playing a video game without giving a review on Youtube. I'll watch a speedrun here and there. GameCenter CX is infinitely entertaining and equally painful to watch Arino san battle through a game. From time to time, I'll watch someone play a boss or through a hard part of a game to scout out what to do. This is how I knew what weapons to use in Mega Man III for each boss. Hell, I even ran through a level or two or three on Mega Man III on emulation to do a bit of recon before playing it on the actual hardware. Anyway... Other than those three examples, I have never been able to just watch someone play a game as they narrate what's happening. Oh, unless they're drunk, of course, because people getting drunk and playing video games, contrary to popular belief, is not the most horrible thing ever to shat its way across the internet.

[Flam]

I understand gaming review videos. While I don't find much use for them either, I get that at least people are giving thier opinion or take on a game. Out of the very limited number of reviewers I have watched I seem to like the guys at Game Sack (they seem to be somewhat informative), as opposed to the AVGN who is neither informative nor funny.

[Bubble_Man]

I'll watch gameplay videos when I'm investigating a potential buy or when I get stuck and want to see how something is done. When I do view gameplay videos, I personally prefer them vanilla. The awkward-voiced commentary and bad music in a lot of youtube vids just grates on my ears.

[SparTonberry]

Um... people like to make video walkthroughs?

Could be useful if you wanted to show someone a certain part of the game (provided you were willing to skim through to find it).

As to why people might watch (aside from commentary)... people who want to see the later levels of Battletoads without losing their sanity playing it themselves?

Actually, I'll often sit and watch while eating a meal. Might as well stare at a game video rather than the wall. (yeah, maybe I should be ashamed to admit I don't have a s/o.)

[Flam]

I can also somewhat get that people like to make these videos. I guess if you were board and just wanted to put something out on the interwebs this might be the thing to do. I guess I was just assuming there was a viewer market for these videos since I ran across so many of them in my searches, but maybe there isn't.

[EricL]

I think it's possible to have very entertaining gameplay videos if the narrator has the right voice and personality. I've watched hours of my favorite commentator's gameplay. I like commentators who are very serious and sincere, though in a calm, natural, nasal voice. I'd love to get some suggestions on people to watch. I'll happily share some of the best I've run across, in PMs.

[Rickstilwell1]

I've been finding tool-assisted speedruns to be very enjoyable. The crazy things that people pull off by using insane amounts of save states make me laugh at times, especially exploiting glitches.

[The Adventurer]

I watch the hell out of Game Grumps.

Cause its amazing.

[G-Boobie]

I play fighting games competitively, and YouTube is basically my ESPN. The amount of quality tournament play available to watch is wonderful.

Some of the "Lets Play" stuff is garbage, but some of it serves a number of useful purposes. If the player is good at the game he or she is playing, it can teach you how to play better. If you're not sure whether or not you want to spend money on a game, fifteen minutes of game play can help you decide. I've used YouTube videos to help me remember old games from my childhood, too.

[Ryudo]

It's my gaming entertainment. TV is dead YOutube is now.

Alos Strat guides are dying out and Youtube can help a lot

[kupomogli]

Like has already been mentioned, watching them for walkthroughs, potential purchases, or just the hell of it.

I've put some videos up, and despite the quality on some of them, usually get comments on how good the gameplay was. My Dracula X Chronicles videos run at around 10-20fps because I was using remotejoy to view them on my PC and then capturing what was being recorded. People still leave nice comments about how good the gameplay is. I was one time even playing a PS3 game against someone who asked about my username and if I'm the same person who made the videos, so it was really awesome to receive some recognition outside of Youtube posts.

[sneekyweezel]

I've been making vids for awhile now, and just recently figured out basically what I'm doing- just finished my actual first' let's play' as well, but seriously, I don't talk, I just write some text in, but people do use the annotations as well- each to his own.

[Flam]

thanks for the feedback, I was just wondering

[thegamezmaster]

I also like to "see" a game before buying.

[Red Warrior]

My kids love to watch me play Mario games, but I don't always have the time in the evenings after work. So sometimes, I load up a video on the TV of someone playing through New Super Mario Bros Wii on Youtube. They'll watch for hours if I let them (which I don't), and I'm free to get work done around the house for a bit. Never thought I'd need to have someone play a game for me, but it works.

[InsertCleverName]

I watch the hell out of Game Grumps.

Cause its amazing.

Same here, such a good channel!

[SpaceHarrier]

Same here, such a good channel!

This, though I feel a bit old listening to these guys sometimes.

I flip through longplays alot, because I like to see the different levels of a game I haven't played, but am still curious about. Cubex55 has thousands of different longplays, many of them are tool-assisted, which just makes things go quicker. I don't watch the WHOLE thing, I just skip around.

I usually avoid 'let's plays' because the people who narrate are SO DAMN ANNOYING. DavetheUsher is an exception because his commentary is minimalist, and pretty comical most of the time. Game Grumps are just nutty. I also like InecomCompany (Classic Game Room) who just do short 'reviews' that are more overview than anything.

There were hundreds of 8-bit and 16-bit titles I was completely unfamiliar with until I started watching youtube gameplay videos. Emulation gives me the attention span of a subatomic particle, I die once or I can't skip the storyline and I'm outta there. But Youtube - I'll just jump ahead and see if I can find the cream filling.

[Jorpho]

Have you seen the Let's Play for Jurassic Park: Trespasser? It is mesmerizing. The guy playing just has the most awesome voice; I actually watched the whole thing.

Considering that the game is both rare and not a particularly entertaining thing to actually play (despite arguably being an interesting piece of gaming history), this is quite possibly the best way to experience the game. The same goes for the other videos of that nature that I occasionally watch.
http://lparchive.org/Jurassic-Park-Trespasser/

Speedruns are also entertaining on some level, though frequently, since they're basically meta-gaming and using every possible exploit in the game code, they can hardly give you a good idea of what actually playing the game would be like.

[Casati]

I watch at least one of these a day, either to preview any potential purchases to see if they're any good, or to see the proper way to navigate through a section of the game that I'm currently playing and stuck in, and sometimes I'll play a youtube video just to listen to the game's soundtrack while I'm web surfing.