Game & Watch: Are "Let's Play" Gaming Videos as Immersive as Playing Games?

Let's Play videos, where players record themselves playing games, are a new and popular way of experiencing game content. To investigate the experience of watching Let's Play videos, we had 40 participants watch a video of someone playing a racing game. The same participants also played the racing game and watched footage of an actual racing event. After each media experience, participants completed a modified version of the Immersive Experience Questionnaire (IEQ). Results show that IEQ scores were highest after participants played the game, and lowest after passively watching the non-gaming content; watching the Let's Play video was in between. When watching the Let's Play video, participants who were familiar with the game had lower IEQ scores than participants who were new to the game. These results show that actively controlling a game generates a deeper immersive experience than passively watching others play - watching is not as immersive as playing.