Can You Be a Fan of a Game Without Playing It?

[Graw]

So, does that mean people who watch sports but never play them aren't fans of that sport? Like if you say 'I like baseball' a lot of people just automatically assume you mean you like watching baseball. Why would video games be different? I personally don't like watching people play video games, I'd rather play them, but if someone sits there and regularly watches people play streams of a game, looks up stuff about that game and generally enjoys stuff about that game then how is that person any less of a fan of that game than a football fan who yells at their tv every Sunday is of their particular choice in game?

 

[TetsukoQ]

It depends on a lot. Someone may be a fan of a game because of the characters or music or whatever else. Some could have watched a lets play or long play of it. Or even a cutscene movie edit thats now pretty common. I watched some games over the shoulder of a friend or family member but never played them myself. It's not the same as playing it, but its still experiencing the media.

 

[ZeromusVX4]

Why is this topic coming up so much recently everywhere? anyways I'd day so, yeah you can, not everyone can buy a console or a powerful PC to play the games they find interesting, if they really like the aesthetic, the characters, music, story, everything despite not having actually played the game why wouldn't it make them a fan?

 

[Bakuma1997]

You don't even need to be a fan of the whole game, only of a part of it, for example i consider Poppy Playtime Mid, but the Smiling Critters (And by extention, Nightmare Critters) could be their own canon, i came to enjoy more their fanlore than the actual game, then again i am not big into Mascot Horror

Also i never bothered with any of the Bendy games, but i just can't get enough of the ink characters

 

[plaindillo]

Kind of, but I mean, think about it in this way.

A game is, well, a game. As in, it's an activity you interact with with some factor deciding your victory or defeat, at least, thats what I consider a game. It's why Visual Novels are dubiously games to me but thats irrelevant.

Point is, are you really a fan of the "game" if you havent played it? I'm not gonna be stupid and say that things like narrative, presentation, characters, music, etc. don't play a role in what makes a game. I'm just saying you are purposefully avoiding the "game" aspect by not playing it.

I say for the sake of sincerity that you can technically be a fan of a game or franchise for it's other aspects, but my own standard for myself I'm a fake fan if i havent at least given an honest chance to try the game as intended. I'm a fan of crash bandicoot as a character and I respect it as a gaming franchise, But I really havent played it for more than like 30 minutes, so i dont like saying I'm a fan.

 

[dkpopman]

Loving the responses so far! It's an interesting thing to discuss.

what does been a fan means to you?

to me its not an elitist badge of honor for experiencing the game or for the amount of knowledge that you have for it, but i often feel thats how people see it.

to me its more about whether you enjoy or not something the experience can offer.

I was being a bit nebulous with my definition of 'fan' about as much as the posts I've seen on other sites have been. There isn't really any good way to define it, but I definitely don't see it as an elitist thing. I guess my sort of ham-fisted way of putting a percentage on the word could be confusing, I'm putting that as shorthand to explain how much of the game you can reasonably represent with your fandom, if you will.

My friend I wrote about is a bona fide FF7 fan, yet there's a piece of the picture that she will never understand. But here's where the nuance comes in... If she was schooling me on lore when I had played the game top to bottom, who's really more of a fan there? Is it me because I played, or her with her superior knowledge of the lore and characters? It's a real fun conundrum.

So no I don't see it as an elitist thing. Like I said, I have a rather centrist take on the matter. These things are somewhat transient. That being said, I have been frustrated a bit today reading tweets like the examples I posted where people are giving rather flimsy reasons as to why they don't want to play the games. Some of them are beyond parody. Like, come on...

(ok sorry no more tweet posting, im polluting our fair website)

I guess at the end of the day, most people want to be fans of things to be able to socialize. And the last thing we should be doing these days is discouraging socialization. I just think there should be an honest approach to these things. Don't speak with authority on aspects of a game you have never experienced. Conversely, give room to fans to be into the certain aspects that they like.
Hell, every time I go to Round 1, I play Bad Apple on Wacca Reverse, even though I don't know diddly squat about Touhou. I just love the dang song!

EDIT: I read further and someone brought up Touhou lol

 

[cornpops]

I don't understand why people need to be called 'fans' of something to enjoy something from the lens of an observer.

I love the aesthetics, visuals, sound design, music of Silent Hill. I just cannot click with the games themselves. Does that make me a fan?

No, and 'pretending' to be one is an outright waste of time.

---

Happens all the time.

Just because it shouldn't doesn't mean that it doesn't.

 

[ct9983]

If you are interested in a game and haven't played it; you're just that. Interested in it.
I know this would likely upset some people and there is always the desire to complicate things and redefine things to allow yourself to be right and ultimately feel better about your stance, but that's just mental gymnastics.
It's pretty black and white.

 

[dkpopman]

Media can be experiencied in a variety of ways, specially video games.

Take Dark Souls for exemple. Some people like because of the challenge and gameplay, some others for the lore and worldbuilding. In this case, who is the "true fan"? Both? Neither? Since video games are a multifaceted medium, I can understand liking one aspect, but not having interest on other aspects.

This is another great example for me personally. I've played through DS1 a handful of times and absolutely love it, but I couldn't tell you a single thing about the plot or lore. Am I, someone who has played the game numerous times, a 'poser'? I don't think there's a definitive yes or no to that question, regardless of my feeling of enjoyment, since who and who isn't a 'poser' is in the eye of the beholder.

In other words...

It's an interesting discussion that actually says more about our relationship with media than with the media itself.

 

[ConanTheDestroyer]

As others haves said you can be a fan of specific elements of a game. You might like listening to the music or find the art style of it appealing. But it's a still vastly different experience than playing the game itself where all those individual elements congeal. I don't think it's accurate to call oneself a fan of the game especially if it's not the game itself you like but everything else surrounding it that you appreciate. Of course liking something about a game can be gateway to trying out the game itself in which case I would definitely recommend doing so and a lot of people have become fans this way. So I personally won't call myself a fan of something before I have actually played it myself and see if it's for me or not.

Also I would have to disagree with some of the examples that have been presented particularly those that are sports related. If I can give an example of my own, you would not consider someone a fan of a book if all they've done is read it's summary. Since a book requires me to engage with it by sitting down and reading it. I know some may disagree but I just don't think being a fan by watching a professional game of baseball or football for instance is the same as being a fan by watching someone else play a videogame.

 

[dkpopman]

Also I would have to disagree with some of the examples that have been presented particularly those that are sports related. If I can give an example of my own, you would not consider someone a fan of a book if all they've done is read it's summary. Since a book requires me to engage with it by sitting down and reading it. I know some may disagree but I just don't think being a fan by watching a professional game of baseball or football for instance is the same as being a fan by watching someone else play a videogame.

I also don't agree with the sports comparison. I think video games have a unique place in this conversation, seeing as they are inherently an amalgamation of almost every artform.

Practically nobody would accept someone as a fan of a particular music album without listening to it, and nobody would claim a wrestling fan isn't a real fan if they haven't been slammed through an aluminum ladder.

Thats just how those fanbases work. Games are different, and the line is uniquely blurred.

 

[Bandini]

only if you like to talk about what you don´t know.
video games are based on expirience the game.

 

[Mal]

I was being a bit nebulous with my definition of 'fan' about as much as the posts I've seen on other sites have been. There isn't really any good way to define it, but I definitely don't see it as an elitist thing. I guess my sort of ham-fisted way of putting a percentage on the word could be confusing, I'm putting that as shorthand to explain how much of the game you can reasonably represent with your fandom, if you will.

Hey, thanks for the reply, awesome to know what was up with the % thing, i was kind of confused by it tbh.

as for the elitist thing i was just making examples of how i felt ive seen some responses been on the internet, in all honesty i should not be using this word at all, i feel it often puts people in defense or just rough some feather when there is no intention for that.

i love that example with your friend and FF7, its quite the question to ponder indeed.

i feel thats why i consider anyone invested in the media, whether a specific part or not to be a fan, in the same way that i see no difference in someone that loves the soundtrack of a game without playing it and someone that has played it but only cares about the soundtrack because it connected that much with them.
regardless, thats just my opinion on the matter.

I guess at the end of the day, most people want to be fans of things to be able to socialize. And the last thing we should be doing these days is discouraging socialization. I just think there should be an honest approach to these things. Don't speak with authority on aspects of a game you have never experienced. Conversely, give room to fans to be into the certain aspects that they like.

100%!

 

[JustLooking123]

I think a video game is a full package.
The gameplay and experiencing it ourselves is just one of its aspects, and depending on the game and the person, it might not be the main attraction.

People might love different aspects of things, and i think loving even one aspect of a video game is enough to make you a level of fan.

For example, a person might love the gameplay of a story-heavy game, and play it 1000 times... while being annoyed or indifferent toward the story parts...
Is that person considered a fan of that game?

Another person might love the story of the same game, and being annoyed or indifferent toward the gameplay... and might play it just once, but talk about the important parts of the game's story for their entire life...
Is that person considered a fan of that game?

Another person might love a game due to its music... not because the music is good at its own, but because the music is great in the situation that the game used it... revealing the true meaning of that music...
The person might not play the game much, but every time they listen to or remember that music, the scenes of the game will come to their mind too.
Is that person a fan of that game?

I can go on about different aspects of games... their arts, sound effects, voice acting, etc...
And personally, i can love a game because of any of them, or a combination of them.