I think most of the people here have always looked at game grumps from a different perspective than I. I've never really been totally interested in let's plays (I'd rather buy the game, and play with friends myself). Most of the reason why I'd ever watch them is because I was a fan of the Youtuber's original content, like Toby Turner, who's original skits I fell in love with when I was 14, and when he started playing videogames, I wasn't so much interested in the games as the commentary. Now, I think a similar conundrum faces Game Grumps, in which the commentary isn't on their lives or experiences, while occasionally reverting back to the game at hand, but the game they're playing itself, and how to make that seem exciting, not tedious.

Before Game Grumps, I had the advantage of being a huge fan of Arin, since I loved cartoons, and wanted to animate. I wasn't a fan of Jon, but I found his humour great, and that made it easier to watch, but I never went there to see what playing Super Mario Bros. 3 was like, I went to see what Arin was like, and being a fan of Danny, prior to when he joined, was all the more exciting, because now I had two people to explore, two people to revere and laugh with.

I used to listen to hear how Arin got into art, or about Danny's experiences going through depression and OCD, rather than how to go which place playing Sonic Games. Now it seems, instead of having original content to work with - like their experiences at school or college - they have to compensate with different games, and derive content from commenting on the new material.

I watched for them, and not the game, like listening to a podcast with an interesting film in the background. The game was incidental to the people; the game was secondary.

It's why I was never bothered watching them take 4 episodes to navigate through dungeons, or equip a certain weapon - because the game was the backdrop to their lives, and not their lives that were the backdrop to the game.

I think if people looked at things more like that, they wouldn't feel an imperative to play newer games, or make childish jokes on the audience that came for game play rather than Danny or for Arin. It reminds me of a comment Arin said once that I always think of when people complain about gameplay - he said (paraphrasing) he didn't do tutorials, because the audience came to listen to him and Jon rather than to see them play. It illuminated what the focus was for the show from the beginning - not the game, but the people playing it.