# Why Gaming is Dead: The REAL Reason



## jonthedit (Jul 15, 2014)

Rather than make a well written article like Ryukouki, I decided to express my opinion in a few sentences.

Gaming is Dead because of this:
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=lets play
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=gmod
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=pewdiepie

Lets play!
Dear tempgodz, these abominations are the true reason gaming is dead.
Yes, you heard me right! "Let's Play" this, "Let's Play" that; You can't search for a classic Garry's Mod animation without being bombarded by some ****** that posts videos of himself playing a game while talking stupidly. "OMG I DIED HAHRAHRHARHAR SO FUNNY!!!!!"


Spoiler: TheTruth by SpeedoSausage (Explicit)







Why do these people continue to stockpile cash and ruin video streaming websites? The answer:
*YOU*
Yes, that's right! *Gaming is Dead because everyone is too fucking attention deprived to actually play a game themselves. *What's my proof? Let's Plays and their popularity. Comments on these videos are just sad. "OH MAN SO FUNNY CALL OF DUTY IS THE BEST!!!" Yet the person never played the game. They are watching it.

Videos like walkthroughs and reviews are good for the gaming community. They help a person see gameplay and decide whether or not a game is worth buying. Let's Plays, on the other hand, are completely worthless.

I am not a journalist, (clearly, this 'article' sucks!)
but I hope you can see the truth behind why gaming is really dead.

Save the games. Not the players.


----------



## Foxi4 (Jul 15, 2014)

A classic GMod animation? Sorry, but 99% of GMod crap is awful.


----------



## jonthedit (Jul 15, 2014)

Foxi4 said:


> A classic GMod animation? Sorry, but 99% of GMod crap is awful.


 
Before Let's Plays dominated searching just "Gmod", the top animations would show up. Those were the ones that are typically actually worth watching. Searching for "Gmod Animation" shows complete shit. I do agree the majority of Gmods are awful, and because of Let's Plays, it has become harder to find quality animations.


----------



## Foxi4 (Jul 15, 2014)

GMod was always awful.


----------



## elias_villa (Jul 15, 2014)

Sports are also dead with all of them being watched instead of the masses actually playing them. Those bastards!!


----------



## jonthedit (Jul 15, 2014)

Foxi4 said:


> GMod was always awful.


A fair opinion, equal to my argument above 



elias_villa said:


> Sports are also dead with all of them being watched instead of the masses actually playing them. Those bastards!!


 
I see your intended sarcasm, but honestly I can not stand to watch a sport. It is such a pain in the ass to watch something without being an influence. Why sit on one's arse' instead of getting up and playing soccer/football/basketball/baseball/<insert sport> with people who are actually real?

P.S. Welcome to the temp even if you registered just to post that


----------



## Tom Bombadildo (Jul 15, 2014)

0/10, worse reasons than Ryu.


----------



## Taleweaver (Jul 15, 2014)

jonthedit said:


> I see your intended sarcasm, but honestly I can not stand to watch a sport. It is such a pain in the ass to watch something without being an influence. Why sit on one's arse' instead of getting up and playing soccer/football/basketball/baseball/<insert sport> with people who are actually real?


But you agree that sports isn't exactly dead since millions do not practice it but rather watch it, right?

This is the same thing. It's an interesting hypothesis, I'll give you that. And there's certainly something to be said about it (final fantasy and games by David Cage that handle more like video than actual games, the share button on the PS4 and the popularity of these videos), but I think your arguments are rather meager. The popularity of let's plays prove the acceptance of games within our culture; it doesn't, however, prove that people are watching it INSTEAD OF PLAYING IT. Thanks to tablets and streaming on television, it's perfectly possible to watch let's plays on moments you're incapable of gaming (like when you're eating or traveling). It's also worth noticing that watching television is on an all-time low, so my guess would be that let's plays eat more of the entertainment time otherwise spent watching television than time actually spent on gaming.


----------



## stanleyopar2000 (Jul 15, 2014)

he's right...because the only way to get paid to have other people watch you play video games is to talk over it and have some sort of narration. If there is no narration...it doesn't fall under the fair use act and thus they can't make any money from it

"Let's Plays" are pretty much. let me sit around and do my favorite hobby which is playing video games and getting money for it.


----------



## yuyuyup (Jul 15, 2014)

jonthedit said:


> Rather than make a well written article like Ryukouki, I decided to express my opinion in a few sentences.


Maybe YOU thought it was well written, it was actually a piece of shit


----------



## zeello (Jul 15, 2014)

I hate let's plays... every time I try to find gameplay footage of a game I have to wade through let's plays and when I do pick a video, turns out the guy talks while playing

and I'm like "who allowed you to speak?!"


----------



## Gahars (Jul 15, 2014)

Except that game sales often rise after being featured on a popular Let's Play series. This indicates that people like to play games and watch others play.

It's not even like it's all bad. I mean, give PewDiePie his due. He's a cancer, a loud, festering tumor of a man child, but games like Amnesia The Dark Descent wouldn't have sold nearly as many copies as it did without the publicity and attention he brought it. Just because you don't like LPs (and I don't either, for the most part) doesn't mean that they can't still have benefits.

Anyway, it's not as if MST3K killed the film industry, so you should make like a stew and simmer down.


----------



## WiiUBricker (Jul 15, 2014)

I never ever watched a lets play video. What's up with this gaming is dead bullshit? Gaming was never as much alive as it is now.


----------



## Sakitoshi (Jul 15, 2014)

Let's play are the cancer of modern gaming, don't serve as speedrun nor as a walkthrough and on top of that there is a fucker talking(and if you're unfortunate enough, his face is on screen) interrupting the game.


----------



## Aeter (Jul 15, 2014)

Gaming died a long time ago, when the high and mighty game lords decided that gameplay was inferior to graphics.

Back in days long lost when you could spend years trying to finish a game bought for a nickle, now you pay 60 euros for a game that isn't finished and you have to pay extra for every part that comes next.

I say nay to this all and and game silently away in my retro cave of solitude.


----------



## BORTZ (Jul 15, 2014)

>two articles written about a "dead" medium 
>written on a growing gaming website


----------



## vayanui8 (Jul 16, 2014)

Foxi4 said:


> GMod was always awful.


How can you possibly say that this beautiful work of art is awful


----------



## Kane49 (Jul 16, 2014)

BortzANATOR said:


> >two articles written about a "dead" medium
> >written on a growing gaming website


 

You are just blind to the threat of lets plays !
DON'T YOU SEE THE LOGIC ? ITS SO OBVIOUS


----------



## boomario (Jul 16, 2014)

I seriously can't understand why people like so much this kind of videos at youtube, i mean, the fun of gaming is you PLAY the game, solve puzzles and run around killing everyone like rambo (or dieing after 10 seconds) so why watch others play?


----------



## Kane49 (Jul 16, 2014)

boomario said:


> I seriously can't understand why people like so much this kind of videos at youtube, i mean, the fun of gaming is you PLAY the game, solve puzzles and run around killing everyone like rambo (or dieing after 10 seconds) so why watch others play?


 
Have you ever watched a game of football ?


----------



## boomario (Jul 16, 2014)

Kane49 said:


> Have you ever watched a game of football ?


As someone from Brazil just after the end of world cup 2014 is kind of hard never had watched. Also, i can kind of see the point where you getting into but gaming was never meant to be watched, contrary to football we see on TV and see the other playing kind of ruin the point of everything at gaming, it's just a video, you are not playing, exploring, thinking or at control, just watching,

Also, i feel offended talking with someone from Germany.


----------



## Bimmel (Jul 16, 2014)

Let's Plays are lame and this whole thing that everybody can load their sh*t up on Youtube is horrible, I'm with you there.

But do they really destroy gaming? Not sure about that.


----------



## Gahars (Jul 16, 2014)

Speaking of cancerous Let's Players, can we talk about the Yogscast? Because that's a malignant mass if I've ever seen one.

So first there was their Kickstarter, Yogventures, back in 2012, where they raised close to $600,000 for... well, their own shitty version of Minecraft, basically. They raise the money, promise their backers a ton of rewards and bonuses, state the beta will be available by December of that year, and then... nothing happens. They don't even update for long stretches of time; there was actually a solid year between two updates. As it turns out, they gave the task of developing the game to just one guy, who turned out... well, this:



Remember, this is the result of two years and $567,665.

Now it turns out that he burned through all the money and can't afford to actually finish the game. Fans still haven't received a lot of the promised backer rewards either. Did I mention that several of those fans spent more than $10,000 for this?

They're also incredibly shifty when it comes to disclosing whether or not content on their channel has been sponsored (the most provided is usually a message that reads "Thanks to [company] for making this possible" slapped on the end of videos). To make things worse, they're now beginning a business model where some developers will pay them a percentage rate of the game's total sales over a vague period of time. What's to keep them unbiased in their coverage of the game? Not a thing. What if it's another person's content that drives sales for a game and not the Yogscast's videos? Sucks to be them!

It's not the end of the world, but it's pretty sketchy and sets a terrible precedent. Game "journalism" is bad enough as is, but I shudder to think of all the quotation marks I'd need if this promotional model ever took off.

TL;DR: Yogscast isn't killing gaming, but they sure aren't helping it.


----------



## Ryukouki (Jul 16, 2014)

BortzANATOR said:


> >two articles written about a "dead" medium
> >written on a growing gaming website



 What does that mean,  huh?!


----------



## Taleweaver (Jul 16, 2014)

Aeter said:


> Back in days long lost when you could spend years trying to finish a game bought for a nickle, now you pay 60 euros for a game that isn't finished and you have to pay extra for every part that comes next.


You've got the two totally mixed up. I've played games back in those "days long lost". Late eighties, early nineties, the average game was around 1500-2000 Belgian franks (37-50 euro). Internet wasn't as commonplace (most people never even heard the term), so you were dependent on magazines and mouth-to-mouth as to what games were good. While there were certainly gems being made, more than a few totally terrible games were made even back then. Hidden and dangerous was so bug-ridden I had to save about every other minute because there were many places where you could just fall straight through the map. I remember buying a snowboard game that turned out to have only two tricks and was just one long tube with the levels being varying scenery. Console games were good, but even there you had to be careful. While the game was certainly finished, just about every game that became popular got cloned by some retarded studio (try googling Rival turf). the "years trying to finish" was somewhat true, but that was more because the idea was that games had to be unforgivingly hard and made you backtrack so much you only kept playing it because games were too expensive to just toss it aside.

Whereas to now? Sure, the newest of the newest have their flaws. But at the same time, you can get bioshock for as little as one buck (in addition to some other games). Even without over 20 years of inflation, gaming is cheaper than ever.


----------



## enarky (Jul 16, 2014)

Retarded Let's play watchers are the same kind of people that support the other cancer that has infested gaming: pay-to-play, DLC and "early access" beta programs. Those are the people who are stupid enough to fall for those schemes.

EDIT:
http://www.dorkly.com/post/65536/how-every-awful-video-game-thing-was-born


----------



## Bimmel (Jul 16, 2014)

boomario said:


> Also, i feel offended talking with someone from Germany.


Don't be like that. It's a game after all - and there is always another chance to win.

..to complete my post from before: I don't think that Let's Plays destroy gaming - but it makes it look like the dumbest thing ever. And to get money for playing a videogame.. this feels just wrong.

Also I don't understand the motivation of some people. 300 views in 2 years, but 400 videos online where the person keeps babbling nonsense while playing. At that point you should just stop playing and buy yourself an "forever alone" t-shirt or something. I pity this people, I really do. But the big picture of gaming "suffers" under these videos spreading on Youtube like fleas.

Yeah, the people could use their heads and could understand that not everybody is the same as these people - but for the majority? Impossible task.
I can only speak of Germany as much as I catched it. Don't know how it is in your countrys.


----------



## boomario (Jul 16, 2014)

Bimmel said:


> Don't be like that. It's a game after all - and there is always another chance to win.


I was just joking, i never really liked football 



Bimmel said:


> ..to complete my post from before: I don't think that Let's Plays destroy gaming - but it makes it look like the dumbest thing ever. And to get money for playing a videogame.. this feels just wrong.
> 
> Also I don't understand the motivation of some people. 300 views in 2 years, but 400 videos online where the person keeps babbling nonsense while playing. At that point you should just stop playing and buy yourself an "forever alone" t-shirt or something. I pity this people, I really do. But the big picture of gaming "suffers" under these videos spreading on Youtube like fleas.
> 
> ...


It's the same thing everywhere, the language doesn't really matter, also i agree with you, it doesn't destroy gaming but it makes a pain when you are looking for something about game "X" in youtube and just find these guys laughing hard at something pretty stupid. Also, at first i really liked minecraft because exploring and everything but when it started to came this thousand of videos about it i lost interest on game completely.


----------



## Hells Malice (Jul 16, 2014)

Welcome back everybody to THIS weeks installment of "Gaming is dead"

Tune in next week where we see "X" blame "Y" !...AGAIN!


----------



## jonthedit (Jul 16, 2014)

Hells Malice said:


> Welcome back everybody to THIS weeks installment of "Gaming is dead"
> 
> Tune in next week where we see "X" blame "Y" !...AGAIN!


 
Yup 
I suppose saying "Gaming is dead" was a bit harsh, but it catches the eye and makes my point.


----------



## FAST6191 (Jul 16, 2014)

enarky said:


> Retarded Let's play watchers are the same kind of people that support the other cancer that has infested gaming: pay-to-play, DLC



What is wrong with pay to play, also what is wrong with DLC? Both are concepts dating back if not to the dawn of gaming then certainly over two decades ago.


----------



## Kane49 (Jul 16, 2014)

FAST6191 said:


> What is wrong with pay to play, also what is wrong with DLC? Both are concepts dating back if not to the dawn of gaming then certainly over two decades ago.


 

I honestly have no idea, somehow content on youtube makes people really angry
Did you know snookie is pretty now ?


----------



## Issac (Jul 16, 2014)

I just don't agree with this. Watching a let's play doesn't keep me from playing the games myself either. Actually it makes me more likely to try it out myself if it looks fun.


----------



## Lumstar (Jul 16, 2014)

Sigh. Different era, different problems.

I tend to blame NDAs for what we've faced recently. Companies have a shield against accountability for questionable decisions.


----------



## Taleweaver (Jul 17, 2014)

FAST6191 said:


> What is wrong with pay to play, also what is wrong with DLC? Both are concepts dating back if not to the dawn of gaming then certainly over two decades ago.


Erm...no?

The "pay to play" enarky is talking about obviously isn't about the way games are traditionally distributed but the tendency of supposedly free-to-play that is bugging you into paying to do anything useful.

I'm really curious what early nineties games you can find with actual payable downloadable content, as I doubt there are any. Keep in mind that DLC got that name because is was different than the traditional expansion packs of that time, in that these were NOT reasonably large (an extra campaign in C&C, complete with cutsènes, to name one).


----------



## enarky (Jul 17, 2014)

He's comparing it to mission packs that were available separately back then. That's a completely different concept, though, in my opinion, as you still "owned" what you bought, you got that stuff on a physical disc and could do what you want with it. Just look at the state of DS DLC if you want to know what I mean.

EDIT:
And I remember people complaining about them back then, too, so there's that. Still, these were valid additions, not just a gun for 2.99 here, a hat for 1.99 there, stuff that should've been included as unlockable from the get go. Or 0day DLC.


----------



## Veho (Jul 17, 2014)

If the game is such garbage that watching someone else play it will make people not want to play it themselves, the fault lies with the game and the game makers, not the viewers or makers of LP videos.


----------



## FAST6191 (Jul 17, 2014)

Taleweaver said:


> Erm...no?
> 
> The "pay to play" enarky is talking about obviously isn't about the way games are traditionally distributed but the tendency of supposedly free-to-play that is bugging you into paying to do anything useful.
> 
> I'm really curious what early nineties games you can find with actual payable downloadable content, as I doubt there are any. Keep in mind that DLC got that name because is was different than the traditional expansion packs of that time, in that these were NOT reasonably large (an extra campaign in C&C, complete with cutsènes, to name one).



In that case enarky was being overly broad, I have many issues with things like pay to win (though possibly there something could be done), what is paid for/given for payment in things and all sorts of other things in that arena. Pay to play/free to play as a concept I am not all that bothered by and can not see why people would be. Equally as bastard hard/cheap as some of the coinops were at the time I am going to use terms like "functionally identical" when comparing it to several things in the pay to play world.

If I ignore the downloadable aspect, though there were a few paid sites to download and foster the creation of new maps for some of the Heroes of Might and Magic series, I could buy a fair few booster packs for games in actual game shops, age of empires having a lot here, and depending upon how you want to frame it a lot of the early services were paid on top of the phone bill (though being full games, if small ones, that changes things a bit) though going a bit further into the PC world there were some things like this for FPS games (not all that successful but they did exist). Granted new skins and characters were usually unlocks or the gold (hyper alpha donkey) edition released the year after* so I suppose there is that. Early 90's might be a bit of a stretch though.

*several times the updates would only take you so far and you would have to buy the gold edition to get the rest.

I might also look into some of the things Lemmings did, sure I might have liked them and technically they would have been standalone games but such things would be a fairly minor distinction.


----------



## Drink the Bleach (Jul 17, 2014)

Now the new trend is paying for incomplete buggy games.
But I'm still living in PS2-era days when the term DLC wasn't a term. PC gaming is also too obnoxious and expensive. You feel like you need to have a better setup than anyone you know so you can be condescending and drool over PC component with support for some new graphic feature-oday, but won't be utilized by software for 2 years. I just want to play Chrono Trigger.

"Oh my god you guyz my GPU has super awesome shader 8.delta" Cool what game uses that O:" "Nothing right now! :D" "OMG future! :D"


----------



## FAST6191 (Jul 17, 2014)

There were loads of buggy and incomplete games in the arcade/cartridge era.

Also if that is your experience of modern PC gaming then I fear you have been hanging around in the wrong circles -- everywhere I go it seems to be people enjoying having the specs required kind of stall out with the consoles and possibly in general.


----------



## Taleweaver (Jul 17, 2014)

PC gaming has always been more variable than consoles, but the trend of having to upgrade every other year to be able to even play it lies behind us. Even average PC's of the last four years can play just about any game; it just won't be at maxed out settings in case of AAA games. You can argue that gaming is dead because of that ratrace to keep up with the newest of the newest, but if you believe that, then gaming was never actually 'alive' on a PC.


----------



## Kane49 (Jul 17, 2014)

I don't mind DLCs where you buy stuff to make the game easier or some colorful costumes, if you have to much money go for it. You gotta remember that back in the day you would just not have these extras.
However the cases where they deliver an absoutely barebones game and expect you to pay for the rest is seriously wrong, train simulator im looking at you !


----------



## FAST6191 (Jul 17, 2014)

Kane49 said:


> I don't mind DLCs where you buy stuff to make the game easier or some colorful costumes, if you have to much money go for it. You gotta remember that back in the day you would just not have these extras.
> However the cases where they deliver an absoutely barebones game and expect you to pay for the rest is seriously wrong, train simulator im looking at you !



Costumes and easy mode/cheats were frequently unlockables in old games, similarly it would not have been hard for devs of those old games to have a custom palette option.

I am not sure train simulators are a great example of DLC gone wild, train sets exhibit much the same thing in real life and if they are doing the fully licensed thing (the rockband/guitar hero stuff providing a good example here, estimates ended up in the thousands for all DLC) the prices can go up. Sure I am likely to dismiss such activities with something along the lines of "if it makes you happy then go for it" all while shaking my head and smirking so hard my face threatens to freeze that way.


----------



## Deleted-236924 (Jul 21, 2014)

We got the login server for Windfola down on Lord of the Rings Online yesterday during Smooth McGroove's stream since we got dozens if not hundreds of people to try and download the game + create Lv. 1 Hobbits on that server all at the same time.

(And the point wasn't to purposefully try to bring it down, it's because his stream made everyone want to get the game, and chances are several of them got interested in the game and continued playing afterwards.)

And Nintendo would probably never have seen my money for MK7 if it wasn't for his stream.


I'll grant you that a lot of people would settle for watching someone play through a game in order to experience the story/etc. (what I did with Deadpool) when they would normally have bought it and played it themselves, but acting like every LPer or Streamer has that effect is just... no...

Then again, the only appeal of Deadpool is the jokes in it; gameplay and storyline are fairly generic, but like Veho said that's a problem with the game itself, not with LPers


----------

