Analyzing Twitch Plays Pokémon and the Effect on Society

[placebooooo]

Guys, I seem extremely interested in this. Could someone please elaborate on what this is? I have seen it on reddit as well but I have absolutely no idea what this is. I also read ryukouki's article and still dont fully understand what this pokemon game is and whay everyone likes it so much.

 

[Snailface]

Guys, I seem extremely interested in this. Could someone please elaborate on what this is? I have seen it on reddit as well but I have absolutely no idea what this is. I also read ryukouki's article and still dont fully understand what this pokemon game is and whay everyone likes it so much.

Its a massively single player mmo. Thousands of people inputing commands in an irc chatroom to control a single game of pokemon.

Here is one that is going on right now (its not twitch though) if you want to get a first hand idea.
http://htmlplayspokemon.qoid.us/ (comex's html version of TPP)
just enter keyboard keys

 

[placebooooo]

Its a massively single player mmo. Thousands of people inputing commands in an irc chatroom to control a single game of pokemon.

Here is one that is going on right now (its not twitch though) if you want to get a first hand idea.
http://htmlplayspokemon.qoid.us/ (comex's html version of TPP)
just enter keyboard keys

lol. I still dont get it. dont know what twitch is either. never heard of it.

 

[Pedeadstrian]

lol. I still dont get it. dont know what twitch is either. never heard of it.

Think of a regular game. You input commands via the buttons, right? Well in this case, it's potentially thousands of people all trying to push those buttons for one game. But, since they're playing online, instead of buttons, they type out the buttons, like a, b, etc.

 

[calmwaters]

What the fuck: isn't this just about the largest, most disgusting display of Pokenerdism there is? Seriously, a Pokemon stream changed the lives of 33 million people? You have great skill as a writer, Ryukouki, but I was disgusted reading this article. Also, religions and other such shit were inspired by this stream? I think this has been the shortest rant ever written. But on a more pleasant note, I finally understand what they meant by Lord Helix. There is the Dome and the Helix Fossil in the lab in FireRed. I also recognized Flareon's and Pidgeotto's designs as being from that particular game too.

 

[Ryukouki]

What the fuck: isn't this just about the largest, most disgusting display of Pokenerdism there is? Seriously, a Pokemon stream changed the lives of 33 million people? You have great skill as a writer, Ryukouki, but I was disgusted reading this article. Also, religions and other such shit were inspired by this stream? I think this has been the shortest rant ever written. But on a more pleasant note, I finally understand what they meant by Lord Helix. There is the Dome and the Helix Fossil in the lab in FireRed. I also recognized Flareon's and Pidgeotto's designs as being from that particular game too.

If you've wandered around some of the Pokémon communities, you'd realize that there is an insane amount of discussion regarding this stream. I knew people that were actively invested in the stream, both in real life and on this site. There are many who followed this stuff religiously and many took the new memes and culture things in stride. You are welcome to disagree with what I have presented. I respect your opinion, but based on what I have personally observed, this stream has become a viral phenomenon that got a LOT of people talking; I merely wanted to put out some thoughts of what I felt about the whole thing. At the end of the day, it's a bigger piece to something.

http://www.kotaku.com.au/2014/02/the-goofy-religions-of-twitch-plays-pokmon-explained/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helix_Fossil_(Twitch_Plays_Pokémon)
http://www.joystiq.com/2014/02/22/twitch-plays-pokemon-its-history-highlights-and-bird-jesus/

Start reading those. It's some goofy stuff, but it really happened. I wrote the piece as a way of openly exploring a topic of interest that's captured communities, that's all. It wasn't to rant, it wasn't to display Pokémon "nerd herd" behavior.

 

[calmwaters]

If you've wandered around some of the Pokémon communities, you'd realize that there is an insane amount of discussion regarding this stream. I knew people that were actively invested in the stream, both in real life and on this site. There are many who followed this stuff religiously and many took the new memes and culture things in stride. You are welcome to disagree with what I have presented. I respect your opinion, but based on what I have personally observed, this stream has become a viral phenomenon that got a LOT of people talking; I merely wanted to put out some thoughts of what I felt about the whole thing. At the end of the day, it's a bigger piece to something.

http://www.kotaku.com.au/2014/02/the-goofy-religions-of-twitch-plays-pokmon-explained/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helix_Fossil_(Twitch_Plays_Pokémon)
http://www.joystiq.com/2014/02/22/twitch-plays-pokemon-its-history-highlights-and-bird-jesus/

Start reading those. It's some goofy stuff, but it really happened. I wrote the piece as a way of openly exploring a topic of interest that's captured communities, that's all. It wasn't to rant, it wasn't to display Pokémon "nerd herd" behavior.

Nerd herd or not, it's just plain creepy (and disgusting). And I'm not really disagreeing with anything; what is there to disagree with? I'm more or less grossed out because millions of people devoted portions of their lives to this stream. I've never seen people this passionate about Pokemon. It's the equivalent of going to Tibet with the monks and finding your true purpose in life. But I can understand how people could have fun with this. I mean, Pokemon is cool. And watching 10,000 people randomly typing "a" and "l" is, um, probably funny. I wonder if people were m****rb****g during this; it did take up good portions of people's lives. I was talking about my rant, not your rant; you didn't have a rant anyway.

 

[Ryukouki]

Nerd herd or not, it's just plain creepy (and disgusting). And I'm not really disagreeing with anything; what is there to disagree with? I'm more or less grossed out because millions of people devoted portions of their lives to this stream. I've never seen people this passionate about Pokemon. It's the equivalent of going to Tibet with the monks and finding your true purpose in life. But I can understand how people could have fun with this. I mean, Pokemon is cool. And watching 10,000 people randomly typing "a" and "l" is, um, probably funny. I wonder if people were m****rb****g during this; it did take up good portions of people's lives. I was talking about my rant, not your rant; you didn't have a rant anyway.

OH. I feel silly now. I blame studying for physics too long.

But yeah, honestly, I think its kinda funny that the stream got as hyped up as it did. ;P And it was like a hundred thousand people playing at once. It's definitely interesting to see the responses that it has gotten from people.

 

[calmwaters]

OH. I feel silly now. I blame studying for physics too long.

But yeah, honestly, I think its kinda funny that the stream got as hyped up as it did. ;P And it was like a hundred thousand people playing at once. It's definitely interesting to see the responses that it has gotten from people.

Oh yeah; physics combined with the art of writing English papers; that can yield enormously long yet logical articles if done right. Hey, isn't that what people who get their PhD's in physics do?

Actually, I think I've gotten over the shock of this whole stream thingy already.

 

[Xzi]

To quote something somebody said on the stream's chat,

"this was Nintendo's very first successful online game."

Sad but true I feel. And definitely an accomplishment none the less. I wish I had thought of this first...the stream's creator is probably set for at least a year just based on the subscribers he netted.

I didn't spend a lot of time on it personally, although I did check in a couple times a day to catch a few battles. And it was definitely fun in those short bursts.

 

[Blindfoldedchaos]

I have to be the one who says i hope if it grows it dies down a bit as a ton of other streamers can't properly interact with their viewers, even when tpp got the esport chat servers it still lagged the rest of twitch, and there is already RNG plays, Twitch plays will become more and more of a thing,

With that said, i'm off to salty bets

 

[Xzi]

I have to be the one who says i hope if it grows it dies down a bit as a ton of other streamers can't properly interact with their viewers, even when tpp got the esport chat servers it still lagged the rest of twitch, and there is already RNG plays, Twitch plays will become more and more of a thing,

With that said, i'm off to salty bets

IMO that would be an issue that Twitch needs to resolve, not an issue with TwitchPlaysPokemon itself. All the popularity and word of mouth that channel generates isn't exactly bad for Twitch as a service, after all. They simply need to adapt as they grow.

 

[pyromaniac123]

In a way, I could compare the Pokémon journey to that of real life.

ryu, please

 

[ßleck]

This was an amazing event that completely changed my life... For about a week. I had some real fun watching and contributing to this, but that's really all there is to it. Some people took the way society reacted to this way too seriously. Anyway, I think this stream is, like others have already stated, very underestimated. I'm pretty sure it will get the attention it deserves in the next game... Which is about to start. Praise Helix.

Also,

Twitch Plays Pokemon proves this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infinite_monkey_theorem

"Man. This isn't a thousand monkeys at a thousand typewriters. It's twenty thousand monkeys at a single typewriter, and half of those monkeys are screaming and desperately trying to progress while the other half throw shit everywhere. It's wonderful."

 

[Black-Ice]

Right now, i'd rather worship the Helix than any other religion.
The Helix promotes truth, progression and unity.
Other religions have only oppressed and sought to control the human race and force us into 1 way of life. They also have the benefit of causing loads of wars and division between humanity.

Helix > Religion
Come at me

 

[CompassNorth]

Saying it "changed the video game landscape" is too much.

Its a massively single player mmo.

It's a massively single player massively multiplayer online game?

So! Looking back at the viral success of the stream, what did you guys think about it? Do you guys have high hopes for the future in regards to a stream of another title? How did the stream change you as a person? Did you like the event overall? Sound off in the comments below!​

I think the event was alright and pretty cool, the community was stupid and the main reason it ruined my interest with it's forced memes.
I'm not sure if I'd want another one, I really don't want this to become as cancerous as Let's Plays.

 

[Arras]

It's a massively single player massively multiplayer online game?

Also saying it "changed the video game landscape" is too much.


I think the event was alright and pretty cool, the community is stupid is what ruined my interest in it with it's forced memes.
I'm not sure if I'd want another one, I really don't want this to become as cancerous as Let's Plays.

Shame because another one just started 20 minutes ago.

 

[cearp]

effect on society, lol, i don't know anyone who has been affected.
not even me.

 

[Hyro-Sama]

I found the whole thing to be extremely mundane and uninteresting. Glad it's finally over for the time being.

 

[jonthedit]

So people actually consider watching some guy streaming himself while playing pokemon over the internet a historical event?
What has this world come to?
First lets plays...
Then the minecraft obsession
and now this. ._.