Let me put it this way my man, you compared the Twitch streamers to sports and cable TV and asked me what the difference was. My short answer is the entertainment value is a lot different. There's a huge difference between watching a pro athlete or a top paid actor as opposed to watching someone streaming video games out his house. I could watch leaves blow around in my neighbor's yard and be mildly entertained, but I wouldn't donate money to him for such a low level of entertainment lol

Ahhh but that's subjective, what's entertaining to you maybe isn't entertaining to me. You might not pay to go see Metallica but I would in a heartbeat.

I could however associate the value in you wanting to go. They are a high level music group that pour a ton of money into a show to entertain you. There's a value there. It's something you wouldn't get to see or do each day, and not everyone could put on that show. Thus there's value in it. I wouldn't think you a fool for paying. Streamers and their shows have very little value IMO. I fail to see the value in it or why anyone would give them money. It's my opinion however. That's all my post is and was.

Alright then how about going down to a local music venue and catching a new band. You might not see value but plenty of other people do. I get plenty of entertainment value in watching streamers (for example goths team and their world first kings fall run) Have to admit I don't like square dancing, ballet, skiing or stamp collecting but I can see how people get value and joy out of it. Why is it so hard for you to understand?

I just don't see the value in it when it comes down to paying for the entertainment. The value of what they do is next to nothing. That's why 98% of these streamers make absolutely no money. It's not hard to click a few buttons and start streaming to Twitch, or whatever. Playing a video game at a high level really isn't all that compelling either. Tons of people do that. How many people you know that can play basketball at a Lebron James level, or even at an average NBA player's level though? Not too many. For good reason. How many people can act on a Robert De Niro level? Not many. For good reason. The value for that entertainment is thus higher. value in watching some neckbeard playing a video game from Mom's basement? Eh, not so much value. Like I said, I can be entertained by watching water drip down the side of a cup, but there' no REAL value in it. Not monetary wise anyways. And as I mentioned before where do you draw lines at before you start to feel stupid for donating money to meager forms of "entertainment? Heck, go start paying your friends because they entertain you then. Go start paying your Mom for talking to you on the phone. Just start giving everyone your money for drawing your attention for 20 minutes. It's silly.