[vibrolax]

I occasionally watch "let's play" videos as a harm reduced alternative to actually playing games. A half hour spent watching someone play a game/sim totally relieves my FOMO. It also dissipates my urge to build a gaming PC. As a maker and musician, there's tons of inspiring and informative content on YT. I feel that I'm quite net positive on my use of YT to enrich my life.

[smoldesu]

> a harm reduced alternative to actually playing games.

There's probably some merit to this statement, but I sorta laugh at the difference in harm between 'watching' and 'playing'. Maybe the most candid thing for us to do is acknowledge that the "harm" we're talking about is a lack of gratification.

[theptip]

I think the idea is 30 mins watching scratches the itch, 30 mins playing and you are going to play for hours more.

(At least, this is how it is for me, can’t speak for the GP.)

[maerF0x0]

> is a lack of gratification.

Actually a really big harm is the opportunity cost and substitution for real life.

Video games feel like achievement but they're not --> so they don't get the rewards in life that come with real achievement --> so when they engage with real life it kinda sucks (from neglected chores, to neglected career and relationships) --> So they go to video games for that gratification feeling of status/achievement.

[hsbauauvhabzb]

I was heavily addicted to Diablo 2, playing nonstop for months on end. I watch let’s play videos and can skip through the grind while getting the endorphin hit. I’ve played the re-master for maybe 16-24 hours total in 12 months. For me it’s less about the cost of the game and more about the potential amount of time I may sink into it.

[moffkalast]

One of these doesn't empty your wallet in the process. As a recent example, Stray costs $30 for 4 hours and no replay value, you bet your ass I watched that on youtube. It's even 2-3x worse in the console domain, especially for any AAA title.

[booyah_achieved]

> harm reduced alternative to actually playing games.

I don't quite see your logic here. How is it "harm-reduced"? Playing a game can be quite enriching and stimulating, whereas watching a video you're just sitting completely idle. To me, it sounds like you're just irrationally worried about playing a game for some reason.

[dtech]

It read it as 30 minutes of LP allows him not to spend hours on gaming, which he does not want.

[aequitas]

If you want to make that even more efficient and entertaining you can also watch speedruns, AGDQ 2023 is on right now: https://www.youtube.com/@gamesdonequick/videos

[Dylan16807]

Speedruns are bad at getting the normal feeling of a game across, and encourage watching multiple versions and attempts, and throwing a hundred speedruns together encourages a lot more watching than a trickle of half hour playthroughs as particularly interesting new games come out.

I think this suggestion does the opposite of help.

[piyh]

Watching twitch increased my game playing and urges to play

[SV_BubbleTime]

That's surely the design intention.

However... I have a little cousin in my family, and all she does it watch twitch. I've asked before "Don't want to play the games you're watching?" and she looks at me like I asked to solve fusion.

So, there is a hand shake meme of people who play because of twitch and people who just want to watch twitch... Good for twitch. Bad for humans.

[pmarreck]

did gaming interfere with your creativity?