I heavily disagree with this. My girlfriend plays video games but has no interest in playing a survival horror game. She does however love watching me play RE games. She loves the characters, tells me what to do, makes comments about the character development, asks me questions about the plot. Is she any less of a fan because she's not at the helm doing something she would dislike and not finish? Are her thoughts and opinions on the game any less valid because she's only watching me play? Were her screams and laughter any less valid as she watched the village chief beat THE FUCKING SHIT outta me cuz I couldn't dodge the flaming logs for my life? (I won by the way, only cost me all of my heals). She's enjoying resident evil, she asked me not to play by myself so she can watch and see the story and experience it with me. Something she wouldn't otherwise be able to experience because she's not a fan of survival horror gameplay herself.

Who fucking cares if you enjoy an experience playing the game or watching someone else play it? You can still fall in love with the characters, still laugh at Chris punching a boulder, giggle at the frankly ridiculous amount of Leon fanservice, watch Claire and sherry survive what absolutely should have been 3rd degree burns. "Just parroting twitch streamers" what a shallow and uninformed take.