When I talk to people who don’t follow gaming closely about the phenomenon that is Twitch, the response I get is usually along the lines of “Why do people spend so much time watching other people play a game they could just as easily play themselves?” “Why do so many people watch the NFL when they could just as easily play a game of football in their yard?” I reply. The analogy isn’t perfect—you need good weather, a group of friends, a field, and decent physical fitness to play football, after all—but the basic relationship is the same. Twitch has become a phenomenon because watching the best players in the world is often more entertaining than participating as a relative novice.

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