The concept of streaming video games seems pretty straightforward: Somebody puts a video feed of a game they’re playing on the internet, and people watch it. They’ve got all sorts of reasons: Maybe they want to see how the game plays, maybe they enjoy the streamer’s reactions to the game, or maybe they can’t afford the game and just want to play it vicariously. Either way, it’s not all that strange, unless, apparently, you’re Jimmy Kimmel.
Kimmel put up a skit on Friday about YouTube’s new gaming channel. He didn’t get the appeal, while communicating he hasn’t been playing many games:
Honestly, as a gamer and a streamer, I found the skit out of touch and a little dull, but harmless. I’ve heard these jokes before: Hell, back in the day, I made these jokes.
Unfortunately, you can always rely on gaming’s most vocal contingent, angry entitled teenagers, to overreact whenever their preferred art form is subject to even the gentlest of criticism. The video got hammered with dislikes, and the YouTube comments were even more vitriolic and stupid than usual. Something Kimmel talked about last night:
As a gamer, some of those comments make me cringe. But skip to 3:22 and watch as Kimmel does himself no favors. I’m still not sure why football being something actually played by people makes any sort of difference; it’s still an activity you’re watching instead of doing.
It doesn’t help that he wears a thin joke out painfully quickly. Kimmel’s entire basis for comedy here is that “Game streaming is a thing! But I think video games are stupid! Why do people like this thing I find stupid?” That’s the stuff of open-mic nights, not professional comedy. If I’m going to find any sort of insult here, it’s that Kimmel and his staff were too lazy to stick gamers with a more creative zinger. (Via Kotaku)
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