Here's why people like watching StarCraft

May 17th, 2011

Video games are meant to be played. StarCraft, however, is unique in that it can be as much fun to watch as it is to click.

The reason. Dramatic irony, according to University of Washington researchers Gifford Cheung and Jeff Huang. "The spectator and players each have different slices of game information," Cheung and Huang found. During play, "one party is privy to some information and the other is not."

In other words, the players know things that the audience doesn't. Likewise, the audience can view the action from a macro perspective, appreciating things that the player might not catch.

Now that's entertainment!

Comments

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Never really thought about it like that, but then I'm not much of a spectator when it comes to computer games, I prefer to play them, I think it's a much more immersive experience than watching someone else play. I suppose the next best thing is tag teaming a game if there's you and a few mates, you can always take it in turns for different parts of a game, whether it be to make use of each others strengths or just to share a common experience. I guess Iwas always a little worried incase a mate would miss a secret of mess up my scoring average :D

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Posted Tuesday, May 17th, 2011    Quote This Post
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haha i totally understand what you mean andy, but yeah, I think any game is more fun played than watched. Also, another reason people like watching Star Craft: Husky :P Day9 too i guess, tho not as much as Husky!

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Posted Tuesday, May 17th, 2011    Quote This Post
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good catch. definitely true.

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Posted Wednesday, May 18th, 2011    Quote This Post
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Wow, that is a very good observation. I never really thought of it like that but man, I can see why.

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Posted Wednesday, May 18th, 2011    Quote This Post
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Same goes for CS 1.6, HoN, LoL and pretty much any other game, I somewhat disagree with your opinion and the study however. Primarily because a large audience watches game-plays, etc for the sole fact of learning new things which I am not disagreeing with. What I am disagreeing with however is the fact that a large number of people, maybe even majority watch out of sole interest, boredom, and such.

After all isn't that what keeps most live-streaming sites live? :)

Anything worth having is worth working hard for.

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Posted Wednesday, May 18th, 2011    Quote This Post
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I spent most of my childhood watching my brother play games, so I learn to enjoy watching the game as much as playing it myself.

Though I never saw the difference between Starcraft and any other RTS games.

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Posted Wednesday, May 18th, 2011    Quote This Post
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Ha! That's an interesting take! Explains perfectly how much fun it was to watch Incontroll destroy TLO in game two @ MLG Dallas.

Link in case you missed it, I highly recommend watching this, it was hilarious.

If actions speak louder than words, why is the pen mightier than the sword?

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Posted Wednesday, May 18th, 2011    Quote This Post
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It's somehow relaxing to watch other people play, perfect hangover activity ;)

thanks for the link of a nice match :D sneaky!

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Posted Wednesday, May 18th, 2011    Quote This Post
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I do find myself occasionally heading to youtube and watching a match or two.

xXNoobtubedXx

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Posted Wednesday, May 18th, 2011    Quote This Post
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I think that, for myself, it's almost like watching a sport. Sure it's more fun to play it, but when you watch it you get a view that the players might miss and as a result you get to do the thing people do with horror movies:

"Noooo don't go up that way!"

"He's behind you!!!"

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Posted Wednesday, May 18th, 2011    Quote This Post
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.... it's like why some people like watching sports. I don't like watching sports but I like watching starcraft

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Posted Wednesday, May 18th, 2011    Quote This Post
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Its like reading Othello for a English class and knowing what Iago plans the entire time XD

http://wolfcgc.webs.com/ Check it out good cheap computers!

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Posted Wednesday, May 18th, 2011    Quote This Post
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Watching is easier than playing, but just as fun.

I for one welcome our video overlords and watch instead of playing.

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Posted Wednesday, May 18th, 2011    Quote This Post
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Starcraft II video is funny on some channel on youtube i like the game

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Posted Wednesday, May 18th, 2011    Quote This Post
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Hm.... that is quiet interesting :P
But others do watch to become better and learn about others.

Live life to the Fullest and never regret what you have done.

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Posted Thursday, May 19th, 2011    Quote This Post
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I agree with Dusty, watching others also helps your gameplay out too. One, it helps figure what that person does, if he is your next opponent, and two it gives ideas to build order and counters.

Starcraft 2. It's in the game!

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Posted Thursday, May 19th, 2011    Quote This Post
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Its true some games are hard to watch while others are fun

@.@

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Posted Thursday, May 19th, 2011    Quote This Post
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CSS and Quake Live matchs can be intense.

these sort of instances make me jump...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DyF51_N37Lg&feature=related

Never stop rollin'

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Posted Friday, May 20th, 2011    Quote This Post
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@Jerico0 mayby they did not have enything else to research :P

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Posted Saturday, May 21st, 2011    Quote This Post
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I have never had a chance to watch or play this game :/ now I want to try both lol

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Posted Sunday, May 22nd, 2011    Quote This Post
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I watch others play to learn new techniques and strategies to use. The more strategies one knows the more options a player has in sertain situations. I have done things that people would never think to be affective.

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Posted Monday, May 23rd, 2011    Quote This Post
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I love playing starcraft as much as I love watching it, and it is true, as a watcher you get the see the game from a more birds-eye perspective.

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Posted Tuesday, May 24th, 2011    Quote This Post
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Watxhing other people playing videogames totally bores me - and yes, this also counts for SCII!

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Posted Monday, May 30th, 2011    Quote This Post
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I also like watching commented SC2 videos & replays, it's both fun to play and watch, for sure :)

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Posted Friday, June 3rd, 2011    Quote This Post
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Now i understand why its so much fun to watch people play SC1 and SC2, been a fan for a long time :) great game.

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Posted Wednesday, June 8th, 2011    Quote This Post
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