Why People Love Watching Others Play Video Games
Amazon agreed to spend little under $1 billion for video game broadcasting platform Twitch in 2014. The service has become so successful that its owner’s main issue has not been how to expand the site, but how to secure enough infrastructure to handle the enormous amount of broadcasts its users both make and demand. Everyone understands that millions of people across the world love to watch other people play video games – more than 55 million individuals use the site each month. Why is less evident. In this article, we tell you why people love watching others play video games, especially on Twitch.
There is no simple solution, but the most popular reasons why people love watching others play video games are as follows:
- Mimicry
- Watching and learn
- Getting advice
- Building their gaming personality
- Creating Sense of Community
- Creating Feeling of Empathy
- Plain Entertaining
- Game Addiction
Why People Love Watching Others Play Video Games on Twitch
Mimicry
The phenomenon of mirror neurons explains the increased appeal of passively watching others play games. These are specialized brain cells that appear to have a part in an animal’s mimicry capacity.
There is mounting evidence that babies use mirror neurons to mimic and copy facial expressions and noises. When we view, for example, a facial expression for the first time, mirror neurons fire in our brains, providing us with a map of how to replicate that identical emotion via neurological connections to our faces.
Watching & Learning
People watch streams to find out what they should buy next. In recent years, the sheer quantity of games on the market has soared. The video game press cannot hope to keep up with the pace of new games, and even if it could, expert reviews arrive hours, days, or even weeks after the game’s release. That’s too late for a sophisticated and switched-on sort of gamer; they need to see the game in action right now. With early access PC games frequently costing more than final retail editions and no demo version to sample before you buy, the streamer becomes the guinea pig, with the viewer looking over their shoulder to see if the game is worth the asking price.
If you’re looking for new video games, watching others play is a great method to see if you’ll enjoy it as well. Gamers with internet channels go over game mechanics and offer tips and tactics.
Some may argue that seeing someone else play removes some of the problems of learning the game on your own, but today’s video games are so sophisticated that there are likely to be plenty of difficult scenarios for you to confront on your own, even with assistance from professional gamers.
Others, on the other hand, consider Twitch and its streams as a way to improve their own talents. Professional gamers frequently webcast their own practice sessions, allowing non-gamers to watch the advanced techniques or workouts they use. These streams are frequently more businesslike in tone than more personality-driven channels, with the streamer either Zen-like in silence or delivering dry comments about their thought process, but they don’t get fewer viewers as a result.
Building Gaming Personality
Many of the most successful streamers cater to a young audience, streaming to gamers who simply cannot afford to buy and play the latest games. While some people watch to live vicariously via grownups with more money, millions of others watch because they identify with the qualities and personalities of the streamers.
Creating Sense of Community
There are numerous reasons why people love watching others play video games, but one that stands out is the yearning for connection and community at a time when both are exceptionally difficult to obtain in the actual world. When entire cities are under stringent restrictions to minimize household mixing, it’s impossible to simply visit a buddy and play games in their living room.
As a result, playing online games and watching other people play to create that sensation of connection. You can make comments on their videos and even run into them while playing your favorite online games on a server. You might even meet someone new who like Star Wars memes.
Creating Feeling of Empathy
Observing people play video games has a really interesting psychological effect that revolves around our tendency to copy what we observe. Mirror neurons are a type of phenomenon. For example, if you observe someone making a funny face, your brain generates new neural pathways to assist you in learning how to produce the same funny face.
Plain Entertaining
You’re missing out on some pretty interesting video if you’ve never seen a YouTube or Twitch gaming channel. These players do more than just play the game; they employ mods to build entire plotlines and unique encounters.
Wrap Up; Is It All Video Game Addiction?
When it comes to video games, there is a precarious cliff. A small fraction of gamers gets hooked, and their passion for gaming can have negative consequences in their lives and relationships.
Some gamers dedicate their entire day to gaming, posting their gaming content to an online site, or engaging with other gamers.
Some people may even see watching others play video games as a diversion from their own gaming, but in truth, they are still deeply engrossed in the gaming world. Video game addiction exists, although it is not as common as some may believe.
Buy Twitch Gift Card from HiGift
If for any of the above reasons you like to be active on Twitch or you are one of those people who like to watch others play, you can buy Twitch gift cards from HiGift today and become one of those streamers or game viewers.
You can also buy different gaming gift cards with cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, Tether, etc or you can use classic methods which is credit and debit cards.