Many people still question why someone would get enjoyment out of watching someone else play a video game. Twitch and YouTube livestreams are even more enigmatic, as tens of thousands of people will tune in to watch someone play those games for hours on end. Yet, there's a simple reason people will watch someone play a game they have access to: Twitch's most popular games aren't as fun to play as they seem on stream.
Taking a look back at 2020, there were several games that exploded in popularity, thanks to Twitch's largest creators. Among Us, Rust, and Minecraft are three of the biggest titles from 2020, all of which saw a resurgence due to content creators. While each of these games was released two or more years ago, all three saw record active player numbers last year.
However, there's something misleading about the way these games are portrayed on Twitch. It's no fault of the streamers, as they are just playing these games in the way that's most fun. But that method of play isn't always readily available to the average viewer.
Why Some Twitch Games Are More Fun To Watch Than To Play
Among Us was one of the first games to see an immense amount of popularity in 2020, despite having been relatively unknown since its release in 2018. Its social deduction gameplay made for some amazing clips and allowed streamers to connect during a time where they couldn't travel. However, Among Us streams were the ones with 10 entertaining individuals in a single lobby. Seeing these streamers interact with one another would make viewers want to play Among Us for themselves, but they might come to realize it isn't as fun as it seems, as the average gamer doesn't have nine other people on standby to join a lobby at a moment's notice. Full-time Twitch streamers have a catalogue of other content creators to play with at any time of day, which normal people don't have.
Rust and Minecraft are also great examples of games that aren't what they seem on Stream. The Offline TV Rust Server, along with Minecraft's Dream SMP and Epic SMP servers, relies heavily on social interaction to be entertaining. These servers are inhabited entirely by content creators playing in a way normal players won't. Many public Rust servers are toxic environments that hardly resemble Offline TV. Players who want to have a similar experience will come to realize it doesn't exist outside of a curated environment. In a similar vein, Minecraft SMPs are rarely as active or interesting as Dream and Epic because these communities' personalities and scripted events can't be found in public servers. All of this leads to frequently disappointing experiences for players not backed by a community of Twitch friends and fans.
Source: Mojang Studios