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The grumpy old man has a point. Why would you waste time searching for reviews of a game you own when you could simply waste time playing it yourself?
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Watching a few minutes of someone else playing it to dredge up memories of whether I enjoyed it and decide whether I would enjoy it now is quicker than installing, patching and playing it, especially since you can skip imto the middle of a video where it would take you a while to get through intros and tutorials to the 'real game'. It takes me a few days to realise I don't like an RPG by playing it, since they give you a lot to do and I never really think about why I'm playing. Turns out that's what happened with Arcanum last time, and more recently with Lego Universe.
I'm not saying they're good for everyone. I don't enjoy watching someone blunder lazily through a game any more than the next man, but a sufficiently empassioned player can make some of that passion rub off on you. Trailers try and make the game look good, Let's Plays make the game look like the game. A player's not trying to sell it you, they're just saying why
they like it.
Of course, they can be boring as hell. Only a couple of times have I actually watched them with any interest, and then only to inform decisions as to whether I should play it, not for entertainment.