Well, for example; I like to watch LeagueOfLegends streams but don’t like to play it anymore.

I don't watch streamers, but I'll watch videos like 'which is the best weapon for [X]' or 'how to optimize production in [X].' I've watched stream highlights like SovietWomble's bullshittery, or IAmCrusty's psychopathic VR vids. Once you get stuff like that into your YouTube algorithm, there's a lot of it. It's gaming content you can consume when location or time constraints won't let you actually game, and that's a larger chunk of my day than when I can sit down and play.

You can't have stream highlights without a stream. Even if no one watches the stream, the infrastructure and technologies have to be there. And I can see where some audience members of those highlights would be attracted to the raw stream, trying to catch the 'good stuff' live, the same way some people watch NASCAR hoping to see crashes as they happen.

I enjoy watching tournaments to see how much of skill difference there is between me, the one day a week gamer, and the pros who play every single day for 8-12 hours. It shows you what is possible and what the limit is.

Once I bought a game because I saw a pro playing it and thought it looked like fun. Boy, was I wrong. The gaming community is not just a shit-hole, it's a toxic, radioactive bog of brain dead troglodytes caked in layers of fecal matter, impervious to reason or friendliness. Not only that, many multiplayer games have either no tutorial and you're dropped into a war zone when you keep dying, all the while being screamed at by some dude with a supermarket mic that's either in his asshole, mouth or 3 meters away on his console, with no possibility of reviewing what you did or a some kind of training chamber / level with bots to get better in peace and quiet.

I prefer to play, but I don't have time to dedicate to it. I can listen/watch a game stream while working, on the toilet, or doing chores around the house. I can only play in the evenings and weekends, and only when my kids are otherwise occupied or in bed.

Yeah, watching is worse than playing, but it's better than doing neither.

For me, it's audio in the background that I can interact with if I want.

Sometimes the people are funny too, but it's not like my first monitor. Streams are a second monitor thing, with me doing something on the main. Reading, gaming, writing.

Also sometimes I'll watch the various leagues to see people do games I'd hate to play do really really well at it.

Yeah I've only ever found 1 game play chann on YouTube that I enjoy watching, Macie Jay who makes compilations of his stream for YouTube. He's incredibly creative playing R6, it's really fun to watch. But in general I don't get watching someone play a game when I could just play it myself.

I did the same when I was playing WoW a long time ago, watching stuff while doing mining routes and whatnot. But to be fair, I was doing it because the game itself was a drudgery that I got skinnerboxed into playing and pretending I was enjoying.

So I ask this to you: is the game you are playing not entertaining enough, that you have to watch something with it in order to feel entertained? If so, why not play something else that captures your whole attention? It’s your time, shouldn’t you be spending it with things you actually enjoy?