>>49812428>What is the appeal of whether or not the streamer is even playing the game?Depends on the viewer/streamer;
-you might like watching an expert breeze through a game/show high level gameplay or do game challenges, maybe even teach you some things actively through tutorials
-you might want to see gameplay of a specific game to judge whether or not you'd like it and want to buy it
-you might be an expert in a game and want to offer your knowledge/support (hopefully not to the point you become an annoying backseater) through chat
-you might want to watch a streamer you enjoy eat shit when playing through a game for the first time, while also either combining one of the 2 previous points, playing the same game alongside them and eating shit together, or just hope for some funny/interesting reactions
-for online games with private lobbies, you can even play with/against your streamer of choice, giving you some more "personal" interaction with the streamer and also some screentime
-it can be any of the points above while also having the stream playing in the background to have some background noise, and only focusing on it for specific interesting segments
Meanwhile video reactions offer:
-watching a video you/someone in chat have watched before which got recommended to the streamer, aiming to either get a reaction or some commentary on it
-watching a video the streamer has watched and wanted to show you to see your reactions/comments, possibly comment on it themselves, and, in some cases, seek vain validation by hoping the chat agrees with their opinion(s)
-pass time watching videos with someone instead of by yourself (this also serves as a parasocial/gfe/be-enhancing experience)
-any of the above but also the background noise thing I mentioned earlier
I think you may notice some differences between the two streaming activities
