Video streaming, I'm thinking two forms of it. The first form is video streaming as the internet's equivalent of watching a TV show (be it on YouTube, or live on Twitch, etc.), the determiner being that you are mainly in the audience. The second form of video streaming you might more accurately call video conferencing, where you are a participant with other folks on the stream.
I'm a bit in the "old man" category when it comes to people watching others play RPGs as entertainment, it doesn't personally appeal to me. Critical Role I think is the main example of this kind of thing, though there were other people who had "Actual Play" series of various types I've brushed up against over the years (like Adam Koebel of Dungeon World fame, etc). My feelings about this I admit are purely personal and arbitrary, however. I do find myself watching a variety of YouTube content I'm sure others would be baffled by, such as watching an Australian plumber clearing drains over and over. Where this all changes for me though, is review or instructional content. If a video can help me understand a game I'm interested in, or is a review, this is good content for me.
As for video conferencing... well, all of us reading this have been through about a year and a half of pandemic. Streaming as video conferencing was key to a lot of things including work, relationships, and as relates to the day's prompt, RPGing. Being involved in RPGing via video conferencing was illuminating in a couple ways for me. Video is at a distance and comes with some barriers that create friction... make some things about RPGing more difficult. Side conversation becomes less natural, it's easier to awkwardly step on toes and speak over each other, the only upside for me was that you can easily pull in resources from the internet, paste images or relevant URLs into chat. It wasn't the same joy as good ol' in-person playing though. This changed how often I joined sessions, I played less over this pandemic period. The reason, I found, was in what I wanted out of RPG sessions. I'm a little fussy about what I consider good sessions and roleplaying (for my preferences). In person "Game Night" provided both a game and a certain kind of social experience. Video conferencing really curbed a lot of what I enjoyed about the social life aspect, which meant that I had to really be enjoying the game to be convinced to sign on. With another subset of my friends, however, we engaged in some trivia, Scattergories, Pictionary, CityGuessr, and just watching silly streams together every week and it was pretty great. Why the difference? Some of it was group size, maybe. Less people works better, especially via video conferencing I feel. More than that however, is that these conferences were social visits first, and the game provided an excuse to get together. I guess I find it easier to socialize in non-RPG games, as I don't feel like I'm interrupting or damaging the immersed vibe of the game and all of that. This makes it sounds like the pandemic was absolutely dire for my RPGing life, but that is not true. We were able to launch a campaign with people I played Street Fighter with "back in the day" and it has been some of the top RPing of the past few years for me! Amazing RP is Amazing RP, and it can overcome whatever barrier intervening technology may create, thank goodness.
In any event... I'm glad I've been able to see people again. Get your vaccine if you haven't! Let's keep this place habitable!
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