headbandone: sourcedartonline: headbandone:Are let’s plays a thing in Japan? Just remembered a...

headbandone:

sourcedartonline:

headbandone:

Are let’s plays a thing in Japan? Just remembered a plot point in Sword Art Online was that Akihibo Kiaba had to be a player because it would be boring to just watch other people play video games. While I could chalk it up to the criticism of SAO’s writer not knowing much about video games, I can’t remember ever seeing anything about let’s plays in recent anime or manga. I feel like there has to be some Japanese let’s players. I can’t imagine there’s that many cultural barriers between how westerners enjoy video games and how the Japanese enjoy them that would make this entire genre incompatible, though I could be wrong.

This isn’t a cultural issue or the normal Reki Kawahara doesn’t play video games bullshit.  It’s a time issue.  Sword art online was written in 2001. Our gaming conventions and sensibilities have changed quite a bit since the story was written. To say the least about our technology.

So yeah just remember in an area before wifi was commonplace, before smartphones and widespread broadband this was a look into the future of gaming.  It’s colored by that time period though. It’s why 10k players at launch was a huge success, and it’s why the concept of watching someone else play a videogame was boring.  The thought of watching someone else play games like a tv show was entirely foreign as a concept.

The Japanese stream and watch lets plays and speedruns just as much as anyone else now.

2001? Huh, that’s a lot earlier than I thought the original light novel would’ve been made. Guess that does explain those things. Heck, probably would explain away issues with the MMO’s game design, both in turns of this predating WoW and the resources for understanding game design outside of the game industry probably would be a lot more sparse.

Thanks for confirming that Japanese let’s players and live streamers do, in fact, exist. I kinda assumed they did, just the plot point planted some doubt in my mind.

Sword art online wasn’t published until 2009, but it’s been a web novel far longer. 100% of the main series content was already written when the first book went to print. It completely explains the percieved issues with design. Kawahara was an Ultima online player and SAO is very clearly based on that games structure and mechanics.