Honest question: does anyone even watch the twitch TV gaming sessions?

I mean, I see literally hundreds of them and I'm not sure anyone really cares to watch them. Discuss.

I just don't have the time, otherwise I would.

When I know it's coming, the problem is usually I'm playing in a session when one is going on so I seldom have the free time to watch some of them.

I initially watched the dev's game sessions, mainly because I wanted to see how they were using Roll20 and learn how I could better employ it in my own game. More recently, I sometimes will click into someone else's game session if it shows up on Roll20's twitter feed. I might watch for a bit but I usually just minimize the screen and listen while I'm working on something else. I definitely do not browse around Twitch, looking for random games to drop in on.

I drop in on as many as I can.

Due to most games being played in American timezones I very, very much prefer youtube for gamesessions... So no, not really browsing Twitch I am afraid.

Why though? Why watch others play?

I do. It makes for nice background noise/distraction when I'm working on something on the other monitor.

I've watched a few but have given up on them mostly. Most GMs in my experience run really boring games, at least from an observer's standpoint. Lots of "DM May I?" and "20 Questions" and not much forward progress. If and when I do watch them, I usually consider them reminders of things not to do when I myself am DMing. So it's educational at least from that standpoint.

Waffles said: Why though? Why watch others play? Because you can listen to some stuff and think "Oh my god I do that and it sounds like rubbish". You know, learning from mistakes and all that. Be it as a player or as a GM, you can learn a lot from your own mistakes, but also from those of others. But it does require a lot of free time. Which I personally am not willing to commit to hear other people blabbering for three hours. EDIT: That comes from a guy who can't stand podcasts for the same reason. And I miss some pretty good stuff because of that :'( (I tried listening to Order66 and other ones, and my head aches after 5 minutes).

They can be really educational to watch/listen to, whether or not you are gaining tips on what to/not to do. I would say more often than not it is learning some interesting ideas that you prolly wouldn't have thought up whether that is story line stuff or even just presentations of the game. I have always believed that as a player and a DM/GM you are always expanding your play style as each group you game with will be different. To think that you've figured out "the way" to game is just arrogant so by watching/listening to others you can get insight into different aspects. While many groups have a similar style, there is a big difference between similar and exact same. Plus I am just that big of a D&D geek...I won't lie.

The Judge said: Because you can listen to some stuff and think "Oh my god I do that and it sounds like rubbish". You know, learning from mistakes and all that. Be it as a player or as a GM, you can learn a lot from your own mistakes, but also from those of others. Haha, yes, this. Whenever I've watched or listed to these things, I'm constantly screaming at the computer like I'm warning the soon-to-be-victim in a horror movie not to go into the basement alone. As well, my favorite is when I hear the DM do something that makes me cringe and the players doing exactly what players for years have been doing in response to those cringe-worthy elements. "Oh, a tavern scene, sweet. I bet the thief tries to steal something from the barkeep and gets caught. *ten minutes later* Yep, there it is. Now I bet guards show up and arres... yep, there it is." Or worse - "What a clever idea the players just came up with. I bet the DM blocks it without even testing it with game mechanics. Yep, there we go. Wasn't "logical" enough for him." Classic. I should make a drinking game out of it. Like take a shot whenever I hear the DM say "Today we're going to be doing more roleplaying than combat ..." I hope I have enough rum. There are podcasts and whatnot that are actually entertaining because they focus on that specifically. Crit Juice is one of them. As noted, others can be educational but not as entertaining.

I don't watch them because I don't have the time, I only just have time to play my own game... That said, I do watch RollPlay but that is usually split into 30 minute chunks and moves fairly quickly compared to most of the others I've watched. I think that podcast/show has the advantage due to the players mostly being from a webcasting back ground to start with so they are generally more concerned with being entertaining than the most of the more "amatuer" podcasts.

Headhunter Jones said: I've watched a few but have given up on them mostly. Most GMs in my experience run really boring games, at least from an observer's standpoint. Lots of "DM May I?" and "20 Questions" and not much forward progress. If and when I do watch them, I usually consider them reminders of things not to do when I myself am DMing. So it's educational at least from that standpoint. That's just it: RPGs aren't a spectator sport, or at least not yet. Ever since I read Hawke's Tribe of One series I've wanted to see gaming become a spectator sport. For those not familiar with the series, the main character is a sort of magically-cursed schizophrenic/DiD individual (hence Tribe of One as the title) who in one of the books, I think the first in the series, visits a gambling parlor where people are playing a game that at least superficially resembles D&D. While the players have their own betting rules, the observers place side bets on a the action in-game, for instance, whether or not a door is trapped or which player will die first. Unfortunately, I just don't have the time to view another group's session. I'd be willing to try and watch a few, mostly for the educational reasons others have mentioned, but it can be hard to find the time.

Dickie said: Unfortunately, I just don't have the time to view another group's session. I'd be willing to try and watch a few, mostly for the educational reasons others have mentioned, but it can be hard to find the time. Agreed, which is why I will link in then just minimize the screen and listen while working on something else. If it sounds like something particularly interesting is happening, then I will stop what I'm doing and have a look.

Dickie said: That's just it: RPGs aren't a spectator sport, or at least not yet. They can be, if the group plays as if they're aware of their game having an audience. If it's the usual simulationist actor-stance claptrap where they spend 10 minutes asking the DM questions about a door or debate every plan without moving the game forward, then it's boring as all get out.

It's amazing the number of people posting on Roll20 about "I saw RollPlay from ItmeJP and want to start a game like that" or LFG pitches saying the same ("similar to ItmeJP "). So I'd say that channel is one of the more popular that uses Roll20 for RPG's, and is one that has actually introduced people (younger-set of youtubers in particular) to RPG / D&D / Roll20, or it's served as a model that some people wanted to make their gameplay like that style they saw on the videos. Another real consistent channel is called table_topping and the DM of that runs RPG's on there 5-6 nights per week, mostly D&D Next, and Dragon Age, lately (all Roll20 never video games on his channel). I think a fair number of people watch that channel. He has coordinated with Roll20 or at least some of the Marketplace artists from here, and does "give aways" of Roll20 Token Packs to people watching his Twitch. So, yes, some people watch some of them, some channels are better than others, you don't know til you take a look, and it seems Twitch has its uses (including introducing some new players to tabletop gaming or Roll20).

Gold makes a good point, a lot of new people who post in the LFG forum say that they first discovered Roll20 (and often RPGs themselves) from seeing recorded game sessions, presumably on Twitch or YouTube. So even if people don't necessarily watch live-streamed games, the recorded game sessions are definitely introducing new people to the hobby. Which is always a good thing.

Headhunter Jones said: I've watched a few but have given up on them mostly. Most GMs in my experience run really boring games, at least from an observer's standpoint. Lots of "DM May I?" and "20 Questions" and not much forward progress. If and when I do watch them, I usually consider them reminders of things not to do when I myself am DMing. So it's educational at least from that standpoint. Likewise, I watch some for educational purposes, see if I notice anything I like, see how other people do it and learn from that even if most of the time it's: "ok, remember to NEVER handle things like that". There are also a couple pure roll20 tricks I try to grab here and there though a lot of people don't seem to use roll20 to the full of it's capabilities and since I really don't like the whole dynamic lighting thing, it's limited. Aside from that, I like having background noise from these when I work or do other stuff. Previous generations had radio in the background when working or doing other stuff. I have podcast, let's plays and streams. Not much difference really. I DID however discover roll20 from such a video while browsing randomly for RPG news (table_topping channel as well), so there's that and I think that's quite important.

Yes I watch the D&R (Dungeon & Randomness) Group 1 twitch broadcast whenever they run a game. D&R is a D&D 4e podcast... they have a pretty good size fan base so you it is fun to interact with other fans. It is also fun to see all of the stuff they edit out of the podcast. But other than that I don't watch any other games on Twitch

I've been listening to Critical Hit for the last two and a half years, it's actually really, really entertaining. The editing is well done so their's no down time for math or awkward silences and you can tell that all the folks playing are very comfortable with each other and great friends. As well as that they tend to split combat episodes and Roleplay episodes into two sects, so if you don't care for the combat rounds you can just skip to the next for more Roleplay and narrative, though you may not understand why they're at the top of a tower or missing an arm. Also, they have about a 500 hour backlog, so you'll have plenty of stuff to enjoy on the bus ride to work/school. Though keep in mind, the main story starts at episode eight, which is the first of the series in the Critical Hit tab. I especially love that they joke about the fictional languages and use real ones, like Giant is French and Dwarven is Spanish xP