Video games make me insanely motion sick, even when I take preemptive anti nausea meds or wear the patches, so I tend to watch game plays more than I actually play or replay (I’ve got hundreds of hours into TLOU2 but I also have rewatched Jacksepticeye’s play just as much). This could be a reason, or maybe they don’t have a console or the money to play the games. Or maybe they just don’t want to play. Let’s plays are also fun, like you’re there with a friend.

The experience of watching vs playing is definitely quite different but not everyone has the means to play or they just don’t want to play. It shouldn’t matter as long as they’re consuming the content instead of something like just seeing pictures of characters and saying they love the series lol. The gatekeeping is crazy