Let's Play

Today I want to talk about the joy of watching Let's Plays, or LP's.

I'm sure many of you already know about these, but for the uninitiated, I'll explain.

A Lets Play is a recording someone makes while playing a video game. What they see is what you see, as if you were playing it yourself. Many also like to add running commentary as they play, and with the right person, this can add a lot to the experience.

'Hang on', I hear you say. 'Watch someone else play a game? Why would I ever want to do that?'

There are in fact several very good reasons, lets take a look.

The perhaps biggest reason is money. Games are not cheap, even with services like Steam, and especially console games are ridiculously expensive. Add the cost of the console to that, if you don't own one (like me) and a Let's Play becomes a wonderful way to enjoy the many great stories that are out there, rather than go broke or miss out all together.

Another good reason, is to look at the LP as a preview. You can't really trust official trailers as these are often cherry picked to show off a particular scene, or are even sometimes misleading. An LP is an honest portrayal of what the game is about. Naturally, if you want to play the game at some point, you have to be careful not to spoil it for yourself.

Next we have games that are no longer available. There were, as an example, several great games released for the Nintendo Gamecube back in the day, but it's not that easy to lay your hands on them any more. To this we can also add the economic factor mentioned above. Again, Let's Play to the rescue.

Finally, you might want to find out what a popular game is all about, but it might not be a game you want to play yourself. For me personally, I love horror games, but can't stand all the sometimes arbitrary puzzles the game designers are so fond of. This makes Let's Plays very convenient.

So, where do you go to find these? Youtube is usually the easiest place, but a simple Google search of “game name LP” ought to do it.

But hold on. We're not quite finished yet. I still want to go through what makes an LP good. This is without a doubt a question of taste. I like to look for one where the player has a good voice and a suitable sense of humour. They also need to know when to just keep their mouths shut, as a cut scene is easily ruined by excessive babbling. If it's a horror game, I prefer the player to be a bit on the jumpy side, as their fear reaction heightens the mood for me. Browse around a bit, and you will eventually find one you like.

This weekend I watched this Let's Play of Dark Souls, a game that would make me tear my hair out, but instead Northernlion gave me several hours of pure entertainment. Well worth watching!

If you aren't convinced by now, let me just put it like this: can you watch sports without playing said sports yourself? If your answer is yes, you know why you can watch Let's Plays. It may be just another form of entertainment, but a very good one.