Not too long ago, I would have scoffed at the idea, but I find myself reasonably entertained by some such content. My favourite, by a bit, is Beaglerush playing XCOM on the ironman impossible difficulty(XCOM: Ironman Impossible #1 - Secret Serpent - YouTube). He’s a good player, he edits his videos, and provides funny, well thought out voice overs. The other one I’ve been watching is Trump, playing Hearthstone. Do other people on the dope stoop so low for their entertainment? Any recommendations?
I have watched several “Let’s Play” videos for games I was nostalgic about so I guess the answer is Yes but I would not sit and watch a friend play. That seems boring.
To me the idea seems more appealing than the reality. I’ve started to watch a few to learn strategies other people use, but after just a couple minutes I start itching to just play the game itself and do that instead.
Only competitive games. Actually, only fighting games. I have no interest in watching someone play a single player game.
But Evo was super awesome this year.
Nah. I’ll watch a snippet like “Watch this awesome sniper kill a jet plane pilot in mid air” or “Guy in Just Cause 2 jumps out of helicopter into tethered car and crashes it into target general” but watching someone actually playing through a game just strikes me as dull.
My wife has a friend whose husband almost never plays games and just watches Let’s Play videos of them. I can’t wrap my mind around it but I’m a little envious since that’s got to be a hell of a lot cheaper than my way 
I can’t explain why I find it entertaining. In some cases, I find it more entertaining than playing. I’ve almost given up playing Hearthstone these days for instance, but usually catch some of Trump playing it on Twitch. The survival/crafting genre is another one that I watched a lot of. Project Zomboid, Terraria, Don’t Starve. All games that I didn’t particularly enjoy playing, but like watching. One factor may be that they’re somewhat tedious to play, but when watching them, I can speed it up to 2x on Youtube.
I’ll watch Cooptitude, on Geek and Sundry, but that’s mainly how funny Ryon and Felicia Day are.
(The eye-candy doesn’t hurt, either)
Conversely, I can’t play Crusader Kings II because I can’t imagine how non-entertaining it would be to watch a couple hours worth of Youtube tutorials before playing the game.
Just curious, which one are you referring to as eye candy?
The Let’s Play community is one of the largest on YouTube, with the most popular players having in excess of 15 million subscribers.
Although yes, it does beg the question: Who has the more pathetic life, the players or the viewers? :o
My first boyfriend (at 16) was a serious, serious gamer. And most of the guys I dated after him had some kind of video game addiction or another. I’ve watched a lot of guys play video games.
I like to mindlessly watch sports so I figure it’s related. I can sit still on a couch for a long period and watch a game of skill.
I would not watch gamers play on YouTube. Just like you wouldn’t go watch some stranger’s kid’s little league game.
I watch a lot of Trump as well. And replays of Fighting Games (mostly Street Fighter 4 these days) (and yes Evo was awesome).
I don’t get Let’s Plays, though. I want to play the game, not watch it! If it were a game that was better watched than played… that’s a movie!
It’s all about personalities. Who wants to watch people working at a newspaper or a taxicab company? Yet those are two of the most popular TV shows ever.
The Let’s Players I watch ? Sure, sometimes it’s like an extended review of a game, or there are tips and tricks that help me, but more often than not, I’m watching because the people make in entertaining to watch in some way.
If you’re talking about a player like Pewdiepie, who makes hundreds thousands of dollars for his enormous view count, I don’t think you can call a player pathetic.
I really like to watch video gamers. I hate Minecraft, I’ve never understood the game and trying to watch it is just boring, to me. But I really like CK2/EU4/Victoria 2. I also like some gamers’ Sims games, and a lot of things like The Wolf Among Us, which are story games.
Got you covered. Grim Fandango the movie 
Of course, this is a different kind of thing altogether. Grim Fandango was one of the best stories ever told in video game form.
My friends and I watch each other play video games. It is kind of fun to see how other people move through the same game differently. Also, they can point out stuff I missed - “Hey, when you go through this cave, don’t miss this alcove, where there’s a chest.”
We’ll also coach each other through games on occasion. The majority of the advice we give for one of our friends is “HEAL!” And she’s always like, “Oh.” I don’t get it, she plays World of Warcraft, she knows how these things work… 
I was watching someone on YouTube play Pokemon X/Y for awhile… It was moderately entertaining. But you gotta be into Pokemon, I’d guess.
My brother watches those popular groups play Minecraft and other games… I used to think it was completely pointless, but I figure it has more redeeming qualities than any reality show on TV these days, so whatever.
I haven’t watched any in a while, but after needing some tips in Kerbal Space Program, I’ve watched a few of Scott Manley’s videos, as he’s quite good at it and explains concepts as he’s constructing / navigating.
Twitch plays Pokemon. Is a thing. The best thing. All hail Lord Helix.
Yeah, that game is incredibly complex and poorly documented in-game. I found some “Let’s Play” article written, not recorded, which is to my taste, but in general I just waded in, made mistakes, and looked up specific questions on the wiki as I had them. It’s a wonderful game, really, but I completely understand why people are so reluctant to start.
I can see Let’s Plays with GOOD commentary being entertaining for short spans of time as well, but I don’t really grasp the concept beyond that. And most commentary on most Let’s Play videos make me want to stab myself in the ears with a pencil, so…
Edit: Oh, and apparently ESPN got enough viewership on the recent DOTA stuffthat they’re going to do more of this. SOMEONE is watching.