passive play

Personally, I don't believe that video games lend themselves particularly well to being experienced as a spectator. Games are the most interactive form of media we have, and as such, are intended to be played and not watched. Speaking from personal experience, there is nothing more boring than sitting and watching someone work their way through a Legend of Zelda-type game.
That being said, there is the chance that people could get more used to watching, and consuming video games in a passive manner as we venture further down the path of photorealism in our games. While I loathe watching someone play an adventure game, watching two buddies duke it out in a sports game can actually be fairly entertaining. Maybe this is due to the familiarity that I have with watching sports on TV (and these games tend to be really realistic mock-ups of the real things), or maybe its the head-to-head, two person trash talking that is the real draw.
I know that I found myself groaning a few months ago when I discovered that my favourite TV Sports channel, The Score, had added "Major League Gaming" to its programming lineup.
That's right. Major League Gaming.
I was able to put up with about three minutes of stereotypical video game dorks "fragging" each other--whatever that means--complete with team hierarchies, code lingo, and "action shots" of the players sitting there...playing the game that was onscreen. I believe they were playing Halo or Counterstrike or something. Needless to say, the whole thing is just about as exciting as it sounds.
As in, not very.
So, are viewers of games consumers, or are they passive players? To me, the only real answer is that they are passive. As noted before, the interactivity of video games is what makes them unique; without that interactivity, its hard for me to argue that they are consuming anything. If they gain a passive enjoyment out of watching someone play then eventually, they may become consumers themselves. Until then, they are passive members of a very active community.