Yeah I rarely watch Twitch but basically do so for two reasons.

The first is to check out games I'm interested in. The streamer is mostly incidental unless they're actually getting in the way of seeing the game. YouTube exists for this too, but I find the spaces in between the highlights that you see in streams to be more interesting than the structured reviews.

The second is to watch them play a game I've already played, usually in the hopes they enjoy it too. It's a form of validation of my own experiences, it's just nice to see someone happy at the same things I guess, and also a way to relive a story I might have mostly forgotten but through a fresh perspective.

> Yeah I rarely watch Twitch but basically do so for two reasons.

I think you may even be in the minority. I would expect most fans of twitch streamers to be an actual fan, not there to merely enjoy the game (even tho the game is actually enjoyable to them as well).

On youtube, it is more likely the opposite - "fans" on youtube enjoy the content, more than the youtuber. This is typically why once a youtuber becomes well-known for one type of content, that they cannot switch away (see the countless minecraft content creators that are somewhat burnt out by minecraft, but continues to make it since it is the majority of their views). Content creators who _are_ personalities and can branch out, have already done so to twitch.

I think it’s hard to outline why people watch twitch. I follow quite a few blood bowl streamers, and use twitch for little else.

I use it like I use sports. Though at first I did learn things, but now it’s solely for watching high end playoff/championship games, sometimes with friends.

I haven’t really donated much outside the thing you get by having an amazon prime subscription. Which is honestly rather silly considering how much money I pay for my NFL subscription.

> It's a form of validation of my own experiences,

I think this is an important one. Growing up as kids, we'd often sit next to siblings (or parents) to watch them play games, turning them into a shared experience.

I prefer watching shit on TV with my girlfriend over watching it alone as well; like you said, having someone else react similarly validates your experience.

Man I barely even want to watch the cut scenes once.

It's really not to different from a lot of religious behavior either. If people can feel deeply attached after reading a book or hearing a story It really shouldn't be surprising that that others can feel the same via stream or other digital mediums. One can also think of these purchased rewards/interactions as the equivalent of relic collection/worship.

I'd hesitate to conflate the two.

As someone from a mainly secular country, I have often pondered the loss of a central gathering place the places like a church give to society.

A weekly service really helps foster a community. The only other thing that does is schools, but that excludes a huge swathe of people.

You might be interested in the concept of the third place: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third_place

Bwahahahasob. That's right, in the before-times home and work were separate places.

Only in last couple centuries; before, when most people lived in villages, your home was your workplace.

It is very interesting, especially the sociological demographic data showing what is happening in response to the decline of church attendance.

In a nut-shell, communities that stop going to ‘church’ don’t produce enough offspring to be long term (centuries) stable, but those that do are long term stable.

That's fascinating! I've wondered about that anecdotally for some time. Do you have links to more in-depth reading?

There is a lot from Pew’s data:

https://www.pewforum.org/2017/04/05/the-changing-global-reli...