One of the main elements of an RPG is exploration as well as discovery. With that considered how is watching extended playthroughs, let's plays etc... Any different than having a story spoiled by giving away plot points?
Watching someone play a game is not the same as playing that game, you're breaking that feeling of discovery, you've seen what is there to be found.
I think this has a huge impact on folks when they actually get to play. This also goes for bosses, story elements and just about everything else that is involved in RPG play...
For every minute you are angry , you lose 60 seconds of happiness."-Emerson
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The last game i played was and likely is the ONLY game right now that does not hand hold you to every single section of a game.Arrows flashing in the air,on the ground,markers on a map,it would be near impossible to NOT find your way directly to every single so called disco spot on a map.
Games are designed for 8 year olds,yet i have seen young kids that are very bright,they don't need any hand holding,so who are devs making these games for,idk,i guess too many years studying C++ and not realizing the real world.
Never forget 3 mile Island and never trust a government official or company spokesman.
For every minute you are angry , you lose 60 seconds of happiness."-Emerson
Now games like Skyrim, Witcher 3, X3 space games, strategy games...all those are vastly better to actually play.
Plus, games like Call of Duty have a super short singleplayer...why pay 50-60 dollars for a crappy short story? Watch it on youtube and you just got the whole experience for free
Granted, if you play multiplayer...its a bit different. But if a game focuses ONLY on the story, and not a huge world to explore and tons to do, it isn't worth buying.
My Skyrim, Fallout 4, Starbound and WoW + other game mods at MODDB:
https://www.moddb.com/mods/skyrim-anime-overhaul
"We all do the best we can based on life experience, point of view, and our ability to believe in ourselves." - Naropa "We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are." SR Covey
I agree with Aori, but with one notable exception: I've often watched my brother play certain games over the years. In particular, games that have interesting enough stories, but gameplay I have no interest in. Survival horror type games, for instance. I never could stand the controls and play of those games(Resident Evil, etc.), but enjoyed watching my brother play through the storylines.
That said, I'm not about to go on the internet and watch some random stranger play a video game.
But I know if I ever watch a playthrough before I actually play it the game gets ruined for me since it would be losing the element of surprise and everything.
I am more referring to watching let's plays and the like. Unless you never have any intention on playing I see no real benefit to even seeking them out. I just couldn't imagine going and watching a playthrough of Skyrim, GTA, Read Dead Redemption, titles like Horizon etc... On top of that without the substance (gameplay) you're missing the entire journey from point a to point b in the story.
A good example of this is trying to watch the Star Trek Academy storylines linked together to make movies. Or a final fantasy game's cutscene storyline compiled into a movie, without the gameplay you lose every single bit of plot that moves between those scenes. The substance is gone, meaning the storyline has huge gaps.
For every minute you are angry , you lose 60 seconds of happiness."-Emerson
We live in an age of increasing access to information, on just about anything. So if watching a 'lets play' video on a game spoils it for you, then chances are that playing the game would also be a disappointing experience. For me if i watch a video of a game and its 'exciting' and fun looking to play, then i will most likely buy it, i choose to make informed purchases, thats all, the whole 'buy in haste (or ignorance for that matter) and regret at your leisure' is all too apt for the video game industry, where marketing hype surrounding a game all too often hides a multitude of faults and/or promises things that will in all likelyhood never be delivered.
Many people watch those playthroughs because they can't play the games. Or watch them at work or on their mobile instead of playing them. I have a friend who is not into video games. He's like 65 and probably he wouldn't start now. Once I told him the story of Mass Effect and he got so interested in the story that he went on and watched the whole trilogy on YouTube.
There's also another group, whom get familiar with a game beforehand. They like to know all the secrets so they wouldn't miss them on their own therefore they treat these sort of videos like walkthroughs. I wrote about myself and Souls series. But most of my friends, since they play it only once, they prefer to hit everything. Or they want to get platinum achievement with the minimum amount of hours and playthroughs--they all go through these videos.
Funny thing is, the tool itself can be useful, for meaningful purposes like dev interviews, Q&A sessions, one-time events (1-2years ago I had to do an emergency maintenance at the same night Weatherstock was, that's an event with minimal 'actual' gameplay if you're in the audience -a /cheer or a /clap here and there - and about the music, I listened the performances over a stream while working), or even lectures like the Tolkien Prof's lecture a few days ago for those who can't attend in person.
But the way it is 'generally' used, it is just plain dumb. Sure, to each their own, and opinions may vary. As Constanine wrote above, there are different kind of play styles, and walkthroughs / hints / cheats are not something new, they were already there at the '80s with gamer magazines. The present version is the same just evolved, presenting those informations through video instead of text and pictures / screenshots.
Personally I prefer to explore and figuring out stuff by myself. I don't mind players with walkthrough usage (heck, I even wrote some back in the days, and I like to help other players ), but I don't use them. I usually just watch reviews of games I already play (just to see how accurate the reviewer is ), and never to jump into a game based on that - much better to try the game for yourself and decide based on your own experiences.
Sure, occasionally I used to watch videos about games I don't play, since there are a few guys I watch for the fun and not for the actual game infos, for example HL, he's great :waving: (actually I think I was the first linking a video of him here, way before he became a mmorpg.com resident, his second vid from the MyFirstHour series which was about RaiderZ)
I've only played a small fracture of the games he covered over the years, but I still watch them because of the jokes. Not to mention the review part is usually spot-on too, based on the games I do play.
The only thing that is wrong is the belief that your way is the right and only way to enjoy games. That's not to say that people have a tendency to make stupid decisions that ruins their own fun but I don't think that's the case with people that regularly watch others play games.
I have a tendency to look up builds for RPG's simply because games have a tendency to force you into a path before you can make an informed decision if its good or not. I hate restarting games because I screwed up my first build.
For every minute you are angry , you lose 60 seconds of happiness."-Emerson
oh , you talk about RPG and not MMORPG ? sure , watch story mode video and being spoiled at they own risk .
Although my current playthrough is Resident Evil 7 and not an MMO, but I might do one of those in the future if an MMO interesting enough presents itself.
I come into the game as much as possible like a new born baby. It is all new to me, all fresh..."what's this!" Seen so many friends start MMOs already jaded by their consumption of videos, beta etc. Not surprisingly I tend to be the last one to leave the game.
"We all do the best we can based on life experience, point of view, and our ability to believe in ourselves." - Naropa "We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are." SR Covey
Also if it's on a console I'll watch someone play it or usually all the cut scenes. As I only do pc games. It is easy to understand the game from just the cut scenes because they usually contain key story content. It's a lot like watching a movie as opposed to reading the book. Some people will read all the lore so they understand all the details in a game that other players won't see just by playing the game.
"We all do the best we can based on life experience, point of view, and our ability to believe in ourselves." - Naropa "We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are." SR Covey