Analyzing Twitch Plays Pokémon and the Effect on Society

[Arras]

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. ._.

There isn't a person streaming himself, the whole chat is controlling the game at the same time.

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

Spoilers: it's not over.

 

[Foxi4]

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. ._.

Not "some guy" - anyone who logged on could play. It was 90.000+ people playing one game on one emulator at the same time - that's what makes it "historic".

 

[DSoryu]

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. ._.

It's not a single guy... well, did you read the whole thread? Because I guess not. It was a game played by thousands of people behind their PC's. You can input commands in the chat box, for example, "left", then the game will input that button. It's like streaming an emulator and thousands of people playing the same emulator online.

EDIT:

 

[DeMoN]

Democracy mode made this kind of pointless, it felt like such a cheat. Without it they might never have finished the rock puzzle in Victory road.

 

[Fishaman P]

We all watched and shed tears of grief when the Charmander and Rattata were released

You, sir, may be under the influence of Flareon and his Dome Fossil.

ヽ༼ຈل͜ຈ༽ﾉ ANARCHY OR RIOT ヽ༼ຈل͜ຈ༽ﾉ

 

[Creqaw]

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. ._.

So some people cannot even properly read a short article anymore?
What has this world come to?
First tl;dr everywhere...
and now this. ._.

 

[jonthedit]

So some people cannot even properly read a short article anymore?
What has this world come to?
First tl;dr everywhere...
and now this. ._.

I like your style

The article was a tl;dr in my eyes since it does not discuss what "twitch plays Pokemon" is, but rather the 'effects on society'.

 

[liamash3]

First I've heard about this, and it's quite...surprising. The internet is sorta known for being odd so the various memes and cults springing up over this aren't a bother to me (but they are funny!).

 

[tatripp]

If this is the kind of thing that "changes the gaming landscape" then my respect for the gaming landscape just plummeted a great deal. It's a passing curiosity, absolutely, but "the biggest gaming moment in 2014"? Give me a break.

That sounds like something a member of the Church of the Dome Fossil would say.

 

[Sterling]

It's the most pivotal moment in gaming that will happen this year. Those of you who say otherwise should go take a look at all the games out there with the tried and true formulas and say that again. TPP is truly something different, not just a passing curiosity.

I'll agree it was fairly boring to participate, but when I did, I felt like I was making a difference each time. I can tell others agree with me. The stream has kept a lot of watcher (67k as of now). It isn't going anywhere.

I'm extremely happy to say that I participated in that final run. When ATV took down that dragonite I cheered, despite the fact that it was due to gen wun programming.

 

[Costello]

Democracy mode made this kind of pointless, it felt like such a cheat. Without it they might never have finished the rock puzzle in Victory road.

I agree with you and I think it would have been a lot more interesting to see where this led.
Sure some parts would have lasted ages.
But then: some people would have lost interest => the number of active players would have decreased => the number of people going against actual progress would have decreased => without these people, progress would have been made.

So eventually, we would have gotten there. And that's what I was most looking forward.
Now with democracy mode the game was beaten within days. Too short.

 

[Ryukouki]

I agree with you and I think it would have been a lot more interesting to see where this led.
Sure some parts would have lasted ages.
But then: some people would have lost interest => the number of active players would have decreased => the number of people going against actual progress would have decreased => without these people, progress would have been made.

So eventually, we would have gotten there. And that's what I was most looking forward.
Now with democracy mode the game was beaten within days. Too short.

There's a whole new stream for Pokemon Crystal at the same page.

 

[Sterling]

I agree with you and I think it would have been a lot more interesting to see where this led.
Sure some parts would have lasted ages.
But then: some people would have lost interest => the number of active players would have decreased => the number of people going against actual progress would have decreased => without these people, progress would have been made.

So eventually, we would have gotten there. And that's what I was most looking forward.
Now with democracy mode the game was beaten within days. Too short.

True, but democracy mode was a really great idea. I think the way they have it now is actually the better implementation. The flipping modes every hour now puts the sole interest on playing the game rather than keeping a status quo.

 

[FAST6191]

Video games and rock are fine, but anyone who doesn't look both ways before crossing the street shouldn't contribute to society.

I don't know. If psychopaths can continue to exist/contribute to society then I would hold people untroubled by mundane risk assessment could probably be of great use where other people that can not suppress the "there might be a lion behind that bush" part of their brain frequently send us down the wrong path.

As for the subject of the article... I ignored it like I try to do all for all passing fads (mobile phones, myspace, twitter, facebook, personal hygiene, human contact.....). There might be something to be drawn from it, I am not sure it does for the infinite monkey thing though -- sure we are all monkeys apes but the idea was surely to have those monkeys have no idea of higher level concepts like writing, if even the internet can play pokemon.... most of the rest I will dismiss as in jokes (hrth) as I usually find given a long enough length of time things will tend towards that anyway (see also the development of language).

 

[Ryukouki]

I don't know. If psychopaths can continue to exist/contribute to society then I would hold people untroubled by mundane risk assessment could probably be of great use where other people that can not suppress the "there might be a lion behind that bush" part of their brain frequently send us down the wrong path.

As for the subject of the article... I ignored it like I try to do all for all passing fads (mobile phones, myspace, twitter, facebook, personal hygiene, human contact.....). There might be something to be drawn from it, I am not sure it does for the infinite monkey thing though -- sure we are all monkeys apes but the idea was surely to have those monkeys have no idea of higher level concepts like writing, if even the internet can play pokemon.... most of the rest I will dismiss as in jokes (hrth) as I usually find given a long enough length of time things will tend towards that anyway (see also the development of language).

You aren't supposed to ignore my articles!

 

[PolloDiablo]

I'm kinda addicted to this shit... I leave the stream running on my second monitor while I'm studying

 

[Pedeadstrian]

I don't know. If psychopaths can continue to exist/contribute to society then I would hold people untroubled by mundane risk assessment could probably be of great use where other people that can not suppress the "there might be a lion behind that bush" part of their brain frequently send us down the wrong path.

Of course they can, but I said they shouldn't. Logic dictates that if you're crossing a two way street, then there are two ways of being hit by vehicles. Now, maybe if it were in a place where it's only one way, I can see how that'd be okay, but two way streets? Come on.

 

[duffmmann]

I just wanna say... this was amazing. Seriously, not only did this come out and amaze me, but it changed my life and the way I think about things. This was actually really special for me. Not only was it amazing to see what we could accomplish as a community but also it was amazing to see the lore and artwork it inspired. I loved everything about this. So happy that it was here and influenced my life

 

[Taleweaver]

Perhaps I shouldn't be commenting here as I never played pokémon, nor heard of this twitch thing till now. But on the other hand, the view of an outsider may be convenient (in other words: take the following as you want)...


This article is assuming the reader already knows what this is about, which makes it at least subjective (honestly: snailface and paedeadstrian do a much better job at explaining what it actually is than the OP...sorry, Ryu ). And as much to my own shock, I find myself agreeing with Calmwaters on this one: why the hell is everyone going ape over pokémon right now? I get it's a hype-thing, but the idea that one event changes the gaming landscape is flat out laughable. It's not even anything new: google foldit for a prime example on how the force of the masses is used to accomplish something through gaming. And I've heard of chess masters playing chess online against a crowd that determine a move by voting in a similar way, so that idea isn't new either.

On the plus side: the magnitude is (probably) unparrallelled. And with clones already being launched, it could very well be that this sort of thing may be picked up by game developers and used in future turn-based games. Like a new sort of co-op where you and your buddies (either offline or online) determine the best move, or where everyone's invited to (attempt to) steer whatever or whomever needs to be steered. Then we'll have innovation in the gaming industry. For now...it's hard to predict whether this will take off or fall flat due to "not being new anymore".

 

[osaka35]

...It's not even anything new: google foldit for a prime example on how the force of the masses is used to accomplish something through gaming. And I've heard of chess masters playing chess online against a crowd that determine a move by voting in a similar way, so that idea isn't new either...

It's new to them, and I guess they like thinking they were part of something new. Band wagon thinking I guess. If they push the hype enough and force it for long enough, something will come of it. Something fun though? who knows.