I’ve done a few posts on streaming platforms, and I’ve done a post on streaming a Wii U via Xbox One. So I’m no stranger to sharing gameplay, and I think it’s a great concept.
I stream semi-regularly, but it’s mostly for these posts, and for my friends to watch if they’re so inclined.
Recently, though, I realised, I don’t want to share some of my gaming experiences. They’re mine, I’m enjoying something and it’s a personal pleasure that probably can’t translate to an audience, and it’s not for anyone else.
Personal gaming vs sharing the experience
Ok, so what the hell am I talking about?
Well, I’ve been playing Breath of the Wild, and loving it, every aspect of it is wonderful, it’s a pure joy, something which you don’t get from games too much these days. But I feel like my joy and experience of this game is really personal, and frankly I don’t want to share this with others.
Sure I mess up shrines, or die a lot in fights with moblins etc. That’s part of it, I don’t care about sharing that at all. I care about just absorbing the whole experience and having it be just for me. It’s too special a game to focus on getting others to watch, or worry about sharing it at a decent framerate.
It’s such an involving experience to me, the music, the visuals, the way I tackle the beasts and shrines. I can’t translate how this game makes me feel to play it, not now in words, and certainly not on a live stream whilst I’m engaged with it.
Sharing gameplay is sharing everything that you do, and frankly I don’t care how bad or good I am at a game, truly. If someone likes to comment on my skill, that’s fine, and probably accurate! But I don’t play Rocket League or Destiny and feel the same way as Breath of the Wild makes me feel. I’ll stream me being awful at Gwent, or Overwatch. Not because I don’t enjoy the games, or because I’m not engaged. They just don’t feel quite so personal.
Perhaps it’s online vs offline gaming that’s the difference? But I’ve streamed playthroughs of Watchdogs and Metal Gear Solid, not really feeling like I was giving away something so personal. I loved these games, and really enjoyed them, but they didn’t hit that very specific chord that makes me think that this should just be for me, and nobody else.
Will anything else trigger this?
I have no idea, and frankly I won’t know until I know.
Does anyone else have a game that is just too personal for them to want to share it?