Be Excellent To Each Other

I was thinking last night about the amount of times I've watched other people play games and actually enjoyed it more than if I was playing.

Case in point for me was watching my mate Greg play Resident Evil on the PSX when it was first released. I enjoyed watching that so much that I went out and bought it that weekend, only to be cruelly angered by the shonky controls. You could say I got the experience without the hassle from watching it be played instead.

Have there been similar experiences with Yows Lot?

I never really played Half-Life because one of my housemates got hold of it first and I watched them play most of it (on my pc) and I couldn't be bothered afterwards.

Nah, I always prefer playing.

Resi for me too, I really liked the playthrough at http://www.letsplayarchive.com/

Yeah, I have an unplayed copy of Resident Evil Zero thanks to The Dark Id.

I prefer playing but it's awesome watching other people on say GH3 or Wii Sports.

I love to watch competant people play games, but if they are the sort that sit and fumble with the controls and lose their bearings every 2 minutes I get very annoyed to the point I have to walk out of the room!

No left - you missed it.... left..... over there!.....no LEFT!...... LEFT! FUCKING LEFT YOU DICK! LEFT.

It's like the time I watched a friend play GTA4 for a bit. As soon as they could they were off, exploring every single millimeter of the island.. on foot... It did my head in!

Watching them think they've come across something only to find it's a bin or something useless.

Terrible.

Certainly with any of the music games, it's nice to watch what's going on with the rest of the screen rather than being staring solidly at the scrolling notes. Plus in other games, I can appreciate the graphics more when I'm watching someone else play.

I like watching people play games (except for MGS4, where I was watching and had the controller in my hand).

Damn, I thought this was going to be a cool watch with games built in

Also RE on PSx for me.

I watched my missus complete Silent Hill 4. I hated playing it tho.

I remember, as a kid, watching some one in an arcade beat Kung Fu Master. that was pretty awesome.

Indeed, I enjoyed watching my old housemate Ben play through stuff. Usually the same game I was playing at the time - due to me being the one who bought all the consoles.

I mainly remember FFX, MGS2/3 and the PoPs being the games I spent the most time watching.

I dread to think what I'd be like watching someone play FFX - I fell asleep enough times actually playing it. *



* I love the game. I just fall asleep easily if I'm on a repetitive section or it's a chilled-out game like Hexic, Bejeweled 2 etc

I wonder if the whole "I like to watch other people play" might (for me at least) be a youngest sibling thing. I have two older brothers, 5 and 3 years my senior, and many of my early memories of games are of watching them play, occasionally asking to have a go, but mostly getting told "it's not your turn". When it finally was my go, it'd often be slightly underwhelming. Despite sitting there for ages desperate for a go, when I eventually got the controls I'd usually end up feeling like I was having less fun than they were.

This is probably most true of Elite. They'd both talk about how incredibly sophisticated it was, and I'd watch enviously as they blasted down Thargoids, became wealthy traders, and bought the most advanced ships. I, on the other hand, seemed to have trouble taking off, yet alone docking my Cobra Mark III.

Oddly enough, they now have fairly minimal interest in games, while I have become the kind of obsessive-compulsive games player* that feels the need to check Wikipedia to make sure he's got his Elite terminology right on a videogames forum.


* Maybe I'm being unnecessarily long-winded by not using the word 'gamer' here. But I don't like it. I'm not sure why. That said, I think savygamer is an excellent website name- for it's name alone I might one day get around to listening to the podcast. And yes, this is a long-winded footnote to explain myself for being long-winded. I'm feeling fruity... or spinachy... or..... iron-y...

Don't worry, I'm on my way out.

You need to post more often, Mr Jung.

An ex used to get me to read walkthroughs to him while he played....that sucked. Resi was fun to watch, tomb raider was boring, as is any football game and racing game. Especially when it's ramsea playing because he's too good and doesn't have entertaining fuck-ups enough. Whilst at uni, I watched my friends complete FF7 purely because I couldn't bothered to do anything else.

Watching the kids play is....soul destroying, especially the youngest one. I can feel myself getting annoyed but all that comes out is "Nnnnarggghh....frssskedds...mmmlaaaarrrggglll.....Raaaaaahhghhghghh. I'm going to wash up, I can't watch anymore" inside I'm screaming "YOU SPAZ!! OMG HOW CAN YOU BE SO SHIT! RUN AND SHOOT! HE'S BEHIND YOU!!! FOR FUCKSAKE..." Then I remember he's only 6 and it's not his fault.

You can spot a floating voter in a mod election, can't you?

But thank you! I'll try.

Vote for me, I even invited you to a game last night.

(I'm not running for modship)

(I also only sent an invite because I hit the wrong name, But you would've been welcome had you accepted)

Watching the missus's younger sister's other half playing Devil May Cry 4 was far more entertaining than when he left me have a try.

Likewise, Gaywood flailing through Resident Wiivil was better than actually playing it.

I cannot bear to watch people playing puzzle games, as they always do it wrong. Likewise, I can't watch people playing GTA as they always just drive as fast as possible, hit everything and then crash and/or die and/or get shot by the cops. Whereas if they'd just slow down they'd do a lot better.

I also cannot stand watching kids playing games when they don't know what they're doing and don't care. This includes kids who hog demonstration pods and then just bumble around looking at the ceiling or getting repeatedly killed by the same enemy; or who pester their parents to let them play a driving game (usually at a motorway services) and then just twist the wheel left and right randomly making no actual attempt to playing the game*

*so why, parent, did you even bother putting money in? The kid can just jam the wheel back and forth for free. But they shouldn't be allowed to, as I want to have a quick go before the missus comes out of the toilets, dammit!

Vote for me if you want - if not, I've had a good six months. *shrugs*

I have 'played' all the Silent Hill games between myself and two other friends whilst only managing to have the controls for around 10% of the time. I got far more enjoyment just watching the stories develop. Also Resi4.

Also, every game my brother and I had on the NES. Although we used to share the controls a little more equally for those.

You missed out a bit, as Silent Hill (the original, at least) is all about feeling utterly terrified and alone. Having two mates with you spoils that.

We used to only play it in the wee hours with the lights off, so it shit me up plenty, thank you!

That's why I played it less than a third of the time. Too scary!

Depend on the type of game I suppose. I play a lot of games with the wife and these are generally RPGs or Zelda-type things. for this is works well. On the other hand, she's no interest in me playing castlevania obsessively, although that's more to do with the fact that she's no good at action games.

I don't think I enjoy people playing arcade games - especially if they are crap at it. I remember the agony of sharing a speccy with my brother.

LTIA

Watching a game is different from taking it in turns though, a few years back my mate Pete had Soul Calubur reamcast and we played through that one night - fifty fifty for the first couple of hours, so's I can get to like a few characters, then he ploughed on for ages and I'd play through with the characters I could do when he needd a break. In those circumstances watching for hours is fun, as you've a vested interest, but watching my wife play AC or VP is morbidly boring, though I'll happily play at either myself.

But people who 'fuck about' in games where an agreement is implicit that one will play in the spirit of the thing is tantamount to a footballist picking the ball up and licking it instead of passing and moving. Roaming, gl;itches and spazziness are all fine, but I do them on my own time, not when someone else is watching. Casually dicking about in GTA is one of the greatest shows you can lay on for someone in your luonge, the pedestrians and speed freaks are tasteless fucks.