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Recently, a Twitch sensation has appeared, instantly appearing in the top 5 games being played on Twitch, overtaking even games such as Starcraft, and Dota 2. A game we all know and love, but may have not played in some time, and that is the wonderful Pokemon Red/Blue for the original Gameboy.
But why, so suddenly, has it made it's comeback in the world of video games? Why has it turned into such a massive phenomenon? How come it's up the top of the charts so fast and so consistently? And why the heck is my news feed filled with comics about using a Helix Fossil at the wrong time?!
One simple answer to all of these questions is the ridiculously insane channel that is TwitchPlaysPokemon.
Now, I'm not entirely sure of the origins of this channel, it's owners, or who came up with the idea, but it's absolutely ridiculous. The basic idea behind the channel is that the viewers get to control the game, by typing in the inputs into chat. While this sounds like a bad idea, it seems to be slowly but surely working. It might have taken 4 and a half days, but the hivemind that's made up of the 40k+ viewers have managed to get the first 4 badges in the game. While to anyone else's standards (especially speedrunners such as Werster, ExtraTricky or Shenanagans_) this would be incredibly slow, and dreadful, and painful to watch, it seems to be producing some good results. However, as with any hivemind, there are going to be trolls...
The creator of the channel has stated in the FAQ below the chat that he's been forced to throttle the start button, as it was constantly being spammed (and even after being slowed down immensely, it's still happening..) and the troll part of the hivemind have even managed to release not one, but two pokemon (including the nearly fully evolved starter, Charmeleon, just before the Grass gym...) to the wild, a move that was met with much dismay and hatred towards the user who made the fateful A button push, Rgary.
It's also produced a number of other issues, such as naming a Pokemon Jay Leno, and spending the first 24 hours or so having Rattata spam Dig, to the point where the infamous website 4chan's Pokemon board, /vp/ got involved and released Rattata to end the torment once and for all. Imagine, getting through to the end of Rock Tunnel after hours and hours and hours, only for a troll to be like "Well, better dig and go back to the beginning!" Imagine the rage, the hatred, the fueling passion to find them and destroy them. Imagine that, in over 40k people watching, and you'll see just how much of a bad move that was.
But in my opinion, it's produced the biggest evil of all. It's completely ruining Twitch for everyone who isn't involved, and even more so for the smaller streamers. Bigger streamers don't really have to worry about messages being cut out randomly, since they might not notice them through the flood of over messages as it is, but a problem I faced recently was that I couldn't even read any messages sent to me in my chat, to the point where someone on a TS I was on told me that they were messaging me for most of my stream asking something important, and I didn't see it. And it's ruining the chat experience for myself on other streamers channels, as it makes it near impossible for streamers to interact with their viewers properly, and the viewer might not even be aware of it, and just think that the streamer is ignoring them for no reason while other people are getting a response because their messages are somehow getting through.
The problem itself, though, has been somewhat diverted, as the chat has been moved across to the Event server that Twitch has for such an event, but it sure took them long enough to do so, after having a 3 day period where nobody could chat to their viewers even slightly.
So, in summation, is Twitch Plays Pokemon the best thing to happen to Twitch in a while? Or is it the worst thanks to it's massive chat blackout that it caused? I'm actually interested to hear everyone's thoughts on the matter, so make sure you comment below!
Also, in the next few days I'll actually be posting a new edition of The Green Split! Yay! It's been far too long, so I think it's time we had a new one. Plus, great idea floating around my head for it, so make sure you keep an eye out!
And if you haven't done so already, check out the latest edition of The Gold Split, where we interviewed SpikeVegeta, Kingdom Hearts Speedrunner and WR holder! You can find that right here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CYw7OAygJ0s
But for now, I'm RoryExtraLife, this is Lzuruha, and you've just been reading an article about crowdsourced video gaming. Until next time, stay green!
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