Many people have recently learned to trust the force to become a Jedi while others have harnessed its power to crush their opposition. Others still have learned that crying in a corner will not bring them any closer to playing the new force inspired MMO.

            While I would love to play the new and amazing game I cannot bring myself to pay the initial $60 to “try” it then, when I fall in love with it, an additional $12.99 per month to subside the addiction. I know there are others out there that feel the same way and we have to suffer as a lot of our friends play the game and tell us how awesome it is. Cue the sad panda…

            However, while falling in love with the Starcraft 2 community I have found a way to satisfy my addiction to it when I can't play. I do so by watching Day[9], Husky, and various livestreams of pro players. While it is not the same as playing the game it does allow me and others to better understand the game and inspires us to try new builds.

            A wonderful side effect of watching them is that the casters will talk about other new and interesting things as well as occasionally stream themselves playing other games. Thus, I watched my first SWTOR stream.

            Husky started playing the game one day, and being curious of it I decided to watch him play. Instantly I felt connected with the character that he was rolling. I watched him go from level 1 to 12 in one sitting. And after he called it a day I no longer felt like I needed to play as much.

            The feeling was not one of the game being spoiled, instead it was as if I had played it myself. I wanted to continue watching him play ‘our’ character.

            This shared communion of gaming is not something that is new to me. As a child I can remember watching my dad play Warcraft, Starcraft, Doom, Duke Nukem, and many others. When ‘we’ would play I would help him out by watching the mini map and telling him if he was under attack or if the enemies were behind him. In a way we made playing games a father and son activity where I would want him to continue playing so I could help him out.

            The web has reached a point in it's life where people are starting to livestream their games so anyone watching can interact with the player from their homes. Day[9] can tell you that finding the rope is not as fun unless you play with friends (When he became stuck in Amnesia he looked for answers in the chat who promptly told him to find a nonexistent rope, which he spent a while looking for).

            Onlive is another way in which players can test new games and subside their addiction through watching. As anyone who knows me knows that I like a lot, not all, of what Onlive is doing for the gaming industry. One of the bonuses of Onlive’s streaming feature is the ability for people to view games being played. The viewers can chat with the player both verbally and/or through text which can add another level of connection to the voyeurism that is streaming games.

            I do plan to play SWTOR in the future when I have enough funds to do so, but until then I will continue sit in the corner and watch random players and friends alike play to get my second hand addiction fix. How about you? Do you currently play the game, watch someone else play, or just avoid it all together? Tell us in the comments below!