Jim Sterling (The Jimquisition)

I watch one L Per that does 4X, Lathland with Stellaris. His playthrough feature a lot of condensing via cuts, and he does stuff like challenges with higher difficulty modifiers, specific nation builds for mechanical or roleplaying reasons, and so on.

I do believe that the less-exaggerated streamers are pretty genuine in their games. They're still people with capacity for emotion, not bots. It's when someone thinks nonstop screeching at the top of his lungs is the norm, thaat's when the fakeness is blatant as all hell.

Edited by Adannor on Apr 12th 2021 at 5:47:33 PM

For example, I'm pretty sure Markplier wasn't driven that mad by Getting Over It with Bennett Foddy, but I enjoyed his vids on it anyway.

I can usually tell. It's not that hard. Anyway, I don't really care about FNAF and Amnesia reactions if it's just people screaming at jump scares. I do care about games like Bioshock Infinite where there are genuine plot twists. Some of the best LPs of that game are from people who really try hard to figure out the story and guess most, but not all of it.

Technical LPs can be fun too, but only if I'm specifically interested in that sort of thing.

Edited by Fighteer on Apr 12th 2021 at 10:47:30 AM

The thing about Twitch streaming is that it's actually pretty difficult to be a successful one. Twitch streamers do intentionally play up their reactions because they know that people aren't really watching them for the games themselves but rather the streamers.

They are entertainers, and entertainers have to perform to win over an audience.

Well to be fair some games are designed just to be reacted to on Twitch or the like.

I'm still subscribed to mark but watch him occassionally, not as often as the 2014-2015 era

With L Ps and streams there is an element of ‘banter’ and conversation. Convos about strategy sure then off topic antics like personal stories or talking with chat and so on. It often turns into a half podcast blog and half about the game.

What about games like Elite Dangerous?

this is something that i appreciate about lesser-known streamers like Vinesauce, most of them are basically the antithesis of everything that's currently common with Twitch streamers. they're not screaming at the top of their lungs every second, they don't facecam, they're not reading off literally every donation and sub they get, and they often don't stream what's popular (and therefore have probably seen a million times on Twitch's front page alone).

15808 i should've mentioned that i think i read that on Reddit, so it was probably bullshit anyway.

at the end of the day, nuking all of their PS3 digital-only titles with no plans for PS5 backwards compatibility with them isn't really discouraging any pirates, would-be or otherwise, who still care about the console. at the very least, Sony seems to be hinting at backpedaling on Jim Ryan's astronomically stupid opinion on backwards compatibility way back in 2017.

Yyyeah. Also the recent issues over PS 4 cmos batteries dying leaving them unplayable one day.

Edited by MightyKombat on Apr 12th 2021 at 9:02:39 AM

Alright, here’s my two cents.

I watch a handful of streamers who are mid-range to high-end-of-low as far as popularity. Found most of them through each other, and I think they all know each other. Similar vibes, but still distinct. They get a decent number of subscribers and have up to a few hundred viewers at a given time depending on how popular the game they’re playing is. Chat is usually readable enough for the streamers to recognize regulars, and for regulars to recognize each other. Pretty friendly communities with a decent amount of overlap between them.

They do get excited or emotional easily, but not over every single thing. Or if it is every little thing, it’s only at the beginning when they’re getting used to it. The vibe you get in the YouTube highlights is not the same vibe you get in the actual streams. They play games they want to play - some popular, some not so much. Several of them mostly play things for the first time, and there are strict rules about backseating and especially spoilers (although one of them has a spot on Discord for people who know the game(s) to talk openly). So because of that, they put themselves in a position to get strong reactions, but I don’t get the impression that they’re faking it or playing a character.

They’re fun to watch and pretty good at the games (one of them tends to miss things and manage to get through anyway, which can be frustrating but can also be pretty impressive.) I usually only watch when I’m interested in the game, though. I won’t watch something played that I don’t care about just because someone I like is playing it.

I think the most popular one I watch is SuperButterBuns, but I had other people in mind when I was writing. She does know the people I was thinking of, but the way she does things is different. She’s also better known for YouTube than Twitch, so there’s that. She’s hilarious, though. Highly recommend. She is pretty over-the-top, but it feels less like exaggeration for the sake of it and more like...I dunno, actual comedian funny. If she is playing a character to some degree, she’s good at it.

Edited by SapphireBlue on Apr 12th 2021 at 1:47:34 AM

Yeah I watched her youtube stuff on Resi 7 and Breath of the Weath, she's cute as heck.

I think the best way to think about it is that a streamer/YT personality isn't necessarily putting on a totally fabricated persona, they may well be acting genuinely, but they are still choosing what to show or share with their audience and you can't expect to have a full picture of who they are as people just from the content of their videos or social media feed, any more than you can with...anyone else, really.

That's not to say some of them don't play up their online persona for views, though.

Edited by Draghinazzo on Apr 12th 2021 at 6:08:48 AM

NicoB and The Nyan Cave are pretty fun, too. Caddicarus and PeanutButterGamer are fun, too.

Edited by Demongodofchaos2 on Apr 12th 2021 at 5:15:05 AM

That’s a better way to think of it. I don’t really know the streamers I watch, and they definitely don’t know me. Some of them recognize me as a regular, yes, but no one’s going to remember everything that a few dozen regulars say in the middle of playing video games. They’re not always going to remember who said what, and I don’t expect them to. It’s not the same as a tiny friends-streaming-for-friends stream where everyone’s already familiar with each other.

It’s not necessarily inauthentic, but it’s curated. Kinda like that friend who posts tons of fun stuff on Instagram or something, but you talk to one-on-one enough to know the less pretty stuff they’re not sharing. Everyone does that online to some extent.

Edited by SapphireBlue on Apr 12th 2021 at 2:25:15 AM

Jim is trying to get a refund for Outriders now. They've had enough.

Didn't the Outriders dev say it wasn't? That's what Yahtzee pointed out in a tweet. (It's a looter shooter)

It wasn't what?

That it wasn't a looter shooter.

Between this and Balan Wonderworld...wtf is going on with Square Enix.

FFXIV 1.0 and Avengers wasn't enough for them it seems

There’s also the Tomb Raider trilogy and the whole mess surrounding the Deus Ex games.

Gah don't remind me of Tomb Raider. I want it to go back to where Lara was actually fun in the old days.

@M84 It seems to most be the western branch of SE thats having the primary issues here.

Though Balan Wonderworld was developed on the Japanese side of things.