Streamers are annoying and incredibly over dramatic when they play.
There are plenty who are laid back. Some of the ones who do speedruns and stuff barely say anything.
I especially don’t get why you would pay someone money to sit there and watch them.
Why would you pay money to sit there and watch people play sports, when you could go and play sports yourself? Why would you pay money to watch soaps, when you could participate in your own mundane dramas with your family and neighbours? A lot of pastimes really just boil down to watching people do stuff that isn't especially exciting.
And I used to watch my brother play as a kid but that’s different. We knew each other and were in the same room at least.
A lot of people don't have friends with similar interests. Parasocially sharing a game you like with a streamer can be a substitute for sharing it with a friend or sibling.
Personally, if there's a game I really like and have played repeatedly, watching someone else play it can be a fun way of reexperiencing it. I tend to prefer the slightly more polished stuff you get on youtube to livestreams though. Also I find twitch to be buggy and poorly optimised, and am somewhat mystified that it has become such a successful platform.
There are plenty who are laid back. Some of the ones who do speedruns and stuff barely say anything.
Why would you pay money to sit there and watch people play sports, when you could go and play sports yourself? Why would you pay money to watch soaps, when you could participate in your own mundane dramas with your family and neighbours? A lot of pastimes really just boil down to watching people do stuff that isn't especially exciting.
A lot of people don't have friends with similar interests. Parasocially sharing a game you like with a streamer can be a substitute for sharing it with a friend or sibling.
Personally, if there's a game I really like and have played repeatedly, watching someone else play it can be a fun way of reexperiencing it. I tend to prefer the slightly more polished stuff you get on youtube to livestreams though. Also I find twitch to be buggy and poorly optimised, and am somewhat mystified that it has become such a successful platform.