Just Watchers: Understanding Why Some Gamers Only Spectate

Most gamers enjoy and celebrate both forms of engaging with gaming and esports: playing and watching. However, “just watchers” (JWs) are those who do not play themselves but instead, you guessed it, just watch. If they don’t play, what is their motivation for watching gaming and esports-related content? And why don’t they play?

🕹️ Why Don't You Play?

The JWs highlighted multiple reasons for watching instead of playing. The first one mentioned was that playing games feels like “work.” To them, gaming is a major time commitment and mentally and physically taxing.

Time, especially, was emphasized as a major factor. Some said that work and family take priority, leaving little room for playing. Interestingly, another participant stated that keeping up to date with the game and not getting rusty was a reason to stop:

"I don’t have the time to continually re-learn the game every couple months, so I stopped playing." [1]

For them, spectating offers the opportunity to engage with games without the mentioned restrictions. One person even mentioned having a stream running while working or cleaning the house.

Multiple people felt that playing games made them feel “drained,” exhausted, or even stressed. One stated:

"Gaming is kinda stressful. At least for me. I don’t want to be stressed out by something that is supposed to fun!" [1]

An third reason was the perceived lack of skills. In the participants' perceptions, playing games requires certain skills that they lack. In turn, playing becomes unenjoyable. One even mentioned that her aversion to losing made her quit playing completely: "I really don’t like losing! I’d rather just not play." [1]

Lastly, toxicity. It became clear that toxic behavior in games led some participants to stop playing altogether. Some reported gatekeeping, harassment, and outright insults as part of their experience. What may contribute to this is the “git gud” culture, where people get mocked for being bad at a game.

Trash talk, apparently, is also part of gaming culture. It can quickly escalate into sexist, racist, or homophobic comments. Although I personally don’t believe most of it is meant literally, the anonymity of the internet amplifies it.

"The death threats and shit those women were putting up with? Yeah, no thanks. I’ll just watch." [1]

📺 Watching > Playing?

After conducting 27 interviews, the researchers analyzed the data and found that participants watched a variety of content—ranging from gameplay and playthroughs to esports competitions. In contrast, they only followed a handful of content creators without actively seeking out new channels.

"Participants reported spending anywhere between 1 hour and 5 hours a day watching gameplay videos, on average." [1]

The first reason given for just watching was the desire to experience game stories. Passionate about video games but uninterested in the downsides of playing, they chose to watch instead—particularly for the story.

"I get that feeling of watching a story unfold or watching things get done without actually having to be doing it myself." [1]

Esports, much like traditional sports, draws attention to the highest level of play. Viewers want to see how good humans can become at something and admire peak performance:

"I’m not good enough [to play]. But I can actually appreciate what the best player in the world can do it. I know enough gaming and esports to appreciate the performance and their skills. But I can’t play myself." [1]

Lastly, games create a distinct spectating experience—different from watching regular content like a Netflix show. Watching gaming content feels interactive because the story evolves from player actions in real time. For JWs, this creates a unique experience.

Thanks for watching this episode evolve in real time. 😅 Hope you enjoyed it.

Christian 🙂

References

[1] Orme, 2021