an apple of discord, or rather a pear of friendly debate: in terms of "you should engage with the original story before having fandom takes" (ie reading a book, watching a movie/show, etc)ādoes watching let's plays of a video game (assuming they're not skipping large chunks of story) count as engaging, or does the fan need to play the game herself?
Depends on the take and on the style of game.
The only fandom I've really gotten into via let's plays is Detroit: Become Human.
From watching "the movie" (i.e. someone's complete playthrough where they got the happiest ending possible... well, aside from failing to save the fish) but also a bunch of the alternate routes, I think I know enough to write fic of the characters. I definitely know enough to say that I like the buddy cop plot, think the freedom fighter plot is flawed but could be used for interesting fic, and never want to hear about the godawful Women Protect Children and underground railroad with speeches about robots and black people plot again.
However, a friend who got into the fandom via playing the game was butthurt at the time about how many people found Kara's plotline boring. Yes, it starts with her washing the dishes, but in a game context, that's the tutorial section that eases you into gameplay. It's way less boring as a video game than as a video.
I don't think you can critique that scene effectively if you aren't engaging with the fact that it's a tutorial.
I would still find every single thing about Kara's sections tedious and obnoxious even if I'd played the game. I hate every part of her plotline. But it's true that I can't really write meta about the nuances of some of these choices without experiencing the gameplay.
Sometimes, the act of choosing within the game does make the dialogue trees or whatever feel different. It could affect one's ability to really understand the authentic vibe of a character...
But... like... are we talking a game that's practically all cutscenes? How much do different routes meaningfully affect the feel of the game or the outcomes. Are you personally someone who reacts very differently to having to make the call to get a character killed vs. watching the protagonist make that call?
In my experience, the hot takes by people who haven't played the game are less about them missing the vibe of gameplay and more about them watching one let's play of an ideal route and then getting Big Mad that somebody else doesn't think their fave is pure of heart.
In DBH, for example, you can break Hank's heart and get him to kill himself. You can even make him do it on screen if you kill Connor off at the right point. How many of the "Connor is my baby uwu" idiots acknowledge that that's in the game? (Granted, the ones who played the game also don't since it seems to be the kind of pain-in-the-ass achievement people do specifically so they can get the video for youtube.)
If you just want to write fic of a version of the character or make some vids of other people's footage, a let's play is sufficient engagement. (Assuming one thinks engaging with canon matters.)
If you want to write an academic paper on why a particular character doesn't work, you need to actually play, preferably a few times with different versions of whatever the game does (different styles of decision, different difficulty levels, whatever).
But I could analyze the visual language of DBH and how it's designed to look like live action cinema without playing because the relevant material is cutscene stuff and not affected by either one's emotions about making decisions or by game mechanics.
But really, it boils down to:
The more of a blowhard you are, the more you had better have experienced every single aspect of canon as much as possible.
