I know I haven’t managed it for a while because health and that but one of the handy things about streaming was being able to hop online and show a few people a videogame I’d just bought and maybe it’ll either give them a laugh or it’s the kind of thing they might like or, y’know, both.

Invariably I would be streaming to maybe 5 people at a push. Doesn’t matter to me, it was a really fine, easy, way to show a game. It’s nice.

We’re in the middle of a global pandemic, my stress is through the roof dealing with home stuff. Often at night my phone let’s out a quiet ping to tell me someone is playing a videogame online. Maybe it’s Catt playing Tony Hawks or Crash Bandicoot or something, maybe it’s Bear doing a playthrough. Maybe there’s just a handful of people watching, maybe more, doesn’t matter.

Often I’m watching games I have zero interest in playing myself. Honestly, I had my fill of Crash Bandicoot in the nineties, I’m done. It’s still nice to be able to see how the new one looks, works.

Sometimes I’m watching a game to see how it does a thing, filing away the knowledge for later. Sometimes I’m watching a streamer because why not, I don’t fancy a film right now. Sometimes I’m just there because it’s less isolating when the black dog comes knocking and the night feels longer otherwise.

The thing is, right, that streaming isn’t just about whether a developer or publisher, or the streamer, makes money. Whether someone playing a game online makes a cash number go up at Videogame HQ. It’s people.

It’s people just taking a moment out of their lives and videogames are the background noise that makes things momentarily nicer, calmer, maybe more interesting, maybe more enjoyable.

Not everything has to be about money.