Who are the streamers I will like?
November 26, 2019 4:57 AM   Subscribe

Please recommend your favorite non-misogynist, non-racist, non-generally-horrible videogame streamers! I have enjoyed the occasional video game stream on Twitch or YouTube, but there are so many of them, and my standards are apparently so high, it is nearly impossible to find ones that I like. In general, I am looking for folks that use games as a way to tell stories and have fun, as opposed to minmaxing and dominating their opponents. I'm particularly interested in anyone doing Death Stranding, if that is a possibility. Some further examples of streams and qualities I like inside.

Here are some of my favorite streams in no particular order:
1. Polygon's Awful Squad (PUBG)
2. Austin Walker & Rob Zacny's Tactical Tuesdays (XCOM 2)
3. Griffin McElroy's Nuzlocke Run (Pokemon Y)
4. Jack De Quidt and Kat Brewster's Devotion (Devotion)
5. Nick Robinson & Griffin McElroy's Car Boys (BeamNG.Drive)
6. Griffin McElroy & Justin McElroy's Monster Factory (Various)
7. Patrick Klepek's One More Run (Dead Cells)

Here are some attributes that some of the above appear to have in common:
1. Emergent storytelling - Making a compelling narrative out of sometimes literally nothing
2. Emergent gameplay - Awful Squad's weird "rules" and minigames, for example
3. Roleplaying - At least some amount of getting into the characters they create/inhabit
4. Joy - They love playing videogames and it shows
5. Focus on fun - Not afraid to make mistakes, not obsessed with cheevos or speedruns or whatever
6. General chillness - Not too intense or aggro, no hate or cruelty
7. Teamwork - The dynamic of a duo or group appeals to me more than a single person talking constantly
posted by Rock Steady to Media & Arts (18 answers total) 8 users marked this as a favorite
 
I assume you're aware of Patrick Klepek's Mario Maker Mornings but just in case...
posted by EndsOfInvention at 5:53 AM on November 26, 2019 [1 favorite]


Oh, and this is very rarely updated nowadays but you can still watch the archives: Cool Ghosts.
posted by EndsOfInvention at 5:58 AM on November 26, 2019 [1 favorite]


Christopher Odd is a Canadian gamer who focuses heavily on story-telling in the gameplay - I've watched probably 100s of hours of him without anything problematic coming up. I'm catching up with his Death Stranding on Youtube, but it looks like it's more fun to follow on twitch as there's quite a lot of wandering about when general chatting happens.
posted by AFII at 6:25 AM on November 26, 2019 [3 favorites]


OK one more: Giant Bomb has some really good streams - a lot of them require a premium subscription BUT that does work out pretty cheap over the year and there's a Black Friday sale on right now.
Some of my favourites:
Project BEAST - Giant Bomb East (including Austin Walker) try to figure out how Kerbal Space Program works and occasionally succeed.
13 Deadly Sims - Abby Russell recreates her co-workers in The Sims and then sets about murdering them all.
Mass Alex - Alex and Vinny play through the Mass Effects (Masses Effect?).
Six Crazy Frights - Abby Russell plays spooky video games at Halloween.
VinnyVania - Vinny plays through various Castlevania games.
Die Another Friday - Dan Ryckert tries to finish GoldenEye64 on 007 difficulty.
posted by EndsOfInvention at 6:36 AM on November 26, 2019 [1 favorite]


My spouse is a fan of TaliesinAndEvitel, a couple who play World of Warcraft and other games.
posted by neushoorn at 7:31 AM on November 26, 2019 [1 favorite]


Twitch has a LGBTQIA+ tag that many streamers choose to use. It is no guarantee of any sort of quality, but might serve as a springboard toward finding less objectionable streams to watch.

There is also one streamer who I make a point of watching, even though I am on the east coast of the U.S.A . and he is in Australia and watching him means setting my alarm for two or four in the morning, and even though I rarely give a damn about the games he is streaming, because his show and his community are so welcoming and so relentlessly positive: his name is Digital Psychosis, and he is the captain of the U.S.S. Psychosis, the best Akira-class vessel that Starfleet never commissioned. His streams are decidedly not work-safe... but they are wonderful. You can find him (us) at twitch.tv/digitalpsychosis.
posted by WaywardPlane at 7:35 AM on November 26, 2019 [1 favorite]


...And I missed the edit window, alas! but if you'd like to catch a preview of Capt. Psychosis' streams without braving the funky timezones, you might want to check out this video, here. Content warning: much good-natured profanity within.
posted by WaywardPlane at 7:48 AM on November 26, 2019 [1 favorite]


Bob Fitch
posted by humboldt32 at 8:58 AM on November 26, 2019 [1 favorite]


Penny Snapcube and friends! very casual playing, they clearly have lots of fun together, if you like the storytelling and roleplaying you might love her real-time fandub games which are that to a delightful extreme
posted by gaybobbie at 9:08 AM on November 26, 2019 [1 favorite]


Bryan Dechart
posted by xris at 10:31 AM on November 26, 2019 [1 favorite]


The Press Buttons and Talk Let's Play (by Youtuber ProZD and his buddy and occasionally his wife) is pretty fun. Occasionally leans a little hard on bathroom humor for my taste, but ultimately very pure of heart, no blatant -isms. They play a lot of older games. Try a few of the Family Feud run (yes, I said Family Feud) and you'll see whether you'd like it or not.
posted by praemunire at 11:54 AM on November 26, 2019 [2 favorites]


Arvan Eleron
posted by koucha at 12:31 PM on November 26, 2019 [1 favorite]


Seconding Press Buttons 'n Talk - they've done whole voice acted playthroughs of the Ace Attorney series (they're both voice actors so the acting is actually very good). There are one-off jokes and characters they make up who end up becoming basically a part of the story. I also enjoyed their Undertale playthrough for similar reasons. I'd skip the Kingdom Hearts one since they didn't enjoy the game that much. Oh, and they're generally pretty chill and definitely good on the not-horrible, sexist, racist, homophobic, transphobic, etc front.
posted by zima_lengneui at 12:49 PM on November 26, 2019 [1 favorite]


I've very much enjoyed Many A True Nerd. He does edited videos as well as streaming on the weekends.
posted by caphector at 3:19 PM on November 26, 2019 [1 favorite]


I've been on and off watching theRadBrad since his Amnesia and Dead Space runs back in 2011, and I've always enjoyed him because 1) he's generally pretty chill, and more importantly 2) doesn't talk through cutscenes. He's also currently doing Death Stranding.

Youtube is his full-time job now, and it's just so obvious how much he enjoys doing it and exploring the story through the game. I also don't recall any instances where he's said something cruel or offensive (and I probably wouldn't keep watching his stuff if he had).
posted by lesser weasel at 4:29 PM on November 26, 2019 [1 favorite]


I've also been enjoying Christopher Odd's Death Stranding playthrough! He visibly enjoys playing the game and takes it seriously, including reading and piecing together the lore. Normally I'm also a group LP person but I think the sprawling, gameplay-loop-heavy nature of DS really rewards a calm playstyle by a focused player. (He's also pretty good about reacting appropriately to Kojima's more Kojima choices.)

I do recommend catching the VODs on Twitch—the pacing of 5-hour sessions feels more natural to me than 1-2 hr Youtube chunks, and it's fun to glance at chat from time to time.
posted by brieche at 7:55 PM on November 27, 2019 [1 favorite]


LoadingReadyRun are a Canadian comedy troupe that are also very funny, very non-problematic, and quite prolific streamers. In addition to video game streaming, they do board games, TTRPGs, Magic the Gathering and comedy content. Highly recommend checking them out.
posted by Aleyn at 7:43 PM on November 28, 2019 [1 favorite]


Lollujo streams Football Manager, but his conversations and community engagement are really great. He's a dad of three, married, lives in the UK and has a very autistic teenager he vlogs about (on Youtube) periodically. So you get some gaming, but a lot of good wholesome conversation - never rude - along the way.
posted by GamblingBlues at 8:24 AM on October 29, 2020


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