Twitch Plays Pokémon: Difference between revisions

The stream celebrated 500 days of near-continuous running in June 2015 followed by 1,000 days in November 2016 and 1,500 days in March 2018.

Twitch Plays Pokémon is often referred to as a 'social experiment', to see if it is possible to create order from complete chaos. Parallels have been drawn with {{wp|chaos theory}}<ref>[http://www.sparknotes.com/mindhut/2014/02/20/twitch-plays-pokemon-is-either-the-best-or-the-worst-thing-to-ever-come-out-of-the-internet "Twitch Plays Pokemon" is Either the Best or the Worst Thing to Ever Come Out of the Internet - SparkNotes]</ref> and the {{wp|infinite monkey theorem}},<ref>[http://www.thechiefly.com/culture/digital-notes/twitch-plays-pokemon-infinite-pokemon-theorem/ The Infinite Pokémon Theorem - The Chiefly]</ref> but since the latter would require completely random inputs the comparison remains speculative.

Both Anarchy and Democracy have their advantages and disadvantages, and are often a source of controversy in the community as to which system "should" be used. Generally speaking, Anarchy is ideal for situations that require speed, such as the [[Noble Pokémon]] battles of [[Pokémon Legends: Arceus]]. Democracy is optimal for situations that require finer control, such as navigating through menus.

Sidegame is a currently disabled feature of PBR seasons. Starting after the conclusion of the first run of [[Twitch Plays Pokémon/Season 2|Season 2]] (known as [[Twitch Plays Pokémon/Season 2#R01: Anniversary Red|Anniversary Red Version]] by fans), a run of the [[ROM hacks#Pokémon Vietnamese Crystal|Pokémon Vietnamese Crystal]] [[ROM hacks|ROM hack]] was started as filler in between betting matches. Chat commands operated similarly to Democracy, where the command with the highest number of votes would be selected. Unlike Democracy, however, players were able to vote for only one command at a time, after which the game was paused and only resumed after the next betting match. At the end of each vote, a player was randomly selected to receive a token. Players also could choose to donate tokens to a pool, increasing the number of tokens distributed after an input was selected. This was nicknamed a 'token storm'.

After the completion of Pokémon Vietnamese Crystal, a run of [[Pokémon Trading Card Game (video game)|Pokémon Trading Card Game]] was started in its place with the same format. This was changed to an intermission game in the run-up to [[Twitch Plays Pokémon/Season 3|Season 3]], and completed just before the season began.

Intermissions usually occur prior to a run and tend to be played on the same system as the upcoming run's game. For example, Dragon Quest XI S was played prior to the stream's [[Pokémon Brilliant Diamond]] run, as both are Nintendo Switch games. Similarly, a variety of Wii U games were played prior to the stream's playthrough of [[Pokkén Tournament]]. If a game is not completed during an intermission, or a substantial amount of content remains to be done even after beating the game's final boss, the game may be revisited at a later time. While it is common for intermissions to feature games not connected to Pokémon, they may at times feature short Pokémon ROM hacks (particularly during or after Holiday themed PBR seasons), or official games that have not been played to completion or 100% (such as [[Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Rescue Team DX]] or [[New Pokémon Snap]]). The stream may also broadcast AI controlled matches of Mario Party games, which users can bet on using Twitch Channel Points.

The exposure the stream brought helped launch the platform into the "mainstream" (sometimes called the "CNN moment"), becoming the defacto standard in video game streaming used by gamers and major games publishers alike. Its rapid expansion was also seen as the catalyst for Google to launch its competing platform, YouTube Gaming. Twitch’s staff have praised and thanked both the stream and its community numerous times for their achievements,<ref name="Victory Twitch Blog" /> and presented it with the Innovation Award at the first TwitchCon event in 2015.<ref name="TwitchCon 2015 Award">[https://redd.it/3mjafg Twitchplayspokemon won Most Innovative Award at TwitchCon! - Reddit]</ref><!--For lack of a better reference - please change if Twitch actually posts the winners as a results page-->

Twitch Plays Pokémon has arguably had an impact on [[Pokémon]] as a whole by introducing new users to the games as well as rekindling interest from older fans. While it is yet to be specifically acknowledged by [[Nintendo]], [[Game Freak]], or [[The Pokémon Company]], the channel has been referenced by regional parts of the Pokémon group. The channel's name was used as a [[Pokémon Trading Card Game Online|TCGO]] redemption code during the [[2014 World Championships|2014 Pokémon World Championships]], enabling up to 10,000 players to redeem the [[Furious Fists (TCG)|Furious Fists]] [[Booster pack (TCG)|booster pack]]. A direct reference also exists in the French language version of [[Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire]]; before being battled, [[Brawly]] says, "J'ai découvert le secret de la vraie puissance en fixant un [[Helix Fossil|Nautile]] pendant des jours et des jours..." (English: "I discovered the secret of true power by staring at a Helix Fossil for days and days..."), [[List of references to popular culture in Pokémon|referencing]] the popular meme in the first run. A further potential reference is seen in [[Mr. Stone]]'s [[Devon Corporation]] office in the same games, in which the player receives the [[Pidgeotite]] [[Mega Stone]] with a framed portrait of an {{p|Omanyte}} in the same room, possibly referencing the stream's Bird Jesus character (a {{p|Pidgeot}} who represented the Omanyte god).

Game Freak's official Facebook page made a potential reference to the stream on February 11, 2016 (one day before the stream's two-year anniversary), posting about {{game|Red and Green|s}}'s then-upcoming [[Virtual Console]] release but accompanying the post with large artwork of {{p|Omanyte}}.<ref>[https://www.facebook.com/gamefreak.official/posts/847916635335000 赤緑の思い出　～若手編⑦ - Game Freak Official Facebook Page]</ref>

On February 27, 2016 (the 20th anniversary of the Pokémon franchise), The Pokémon Company International ran a 24-hour livestream of the [[Pokémon anime]] on a Twitch channel titled [http://www.twitch.tv/twitchwatchespokemon Twitch Watches Pokémon!].

On March 1, 2023, the official Pokémon TikTok account tweeted a video with the caption "Rate this team", with the video displaying a [[Hall of Fame]] entry of the original team that cleared the first Twitch Plays Pokémon playthrough.<ref>[https://www.tiktok.com/@pokemonofficial/video/7205670319602928942?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc&web_id=7182628232152532526 Post by @pokemonofficial on TikTok]</ref> The same video was posted to the official Pokémon Twitter account.<ref>[https://twitter.com/Pokemon/status/1631025805445791745?s=20/ Tweet by @Pokemon on Twitter]</ref>

Apart from the stream's Twitch channel page and chatroom, there are no other locations that are considered "official" to the channel. However, several of the more popular hubs do act as the community’s main location to gather; the Twitch Plays Pokémon Reddit site being a prime example as the closest analogy to the stream's official discussion forum. Documenting the channel’s events, lore and statistics is split over multiple sites and contributed to by the community; examples include the stream’s TV Tropes page, Helixpedia (a Wikia-hosted wiki encyclopedia) and even this [[Bulbapedia]] page. Video and screen captures of the stream are often taken by members of the community and posted on sites like YouTube. This has been expanded upon with sophisticated capturing systems designed to automatically record and upload video of the stream in very high quality;<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCskjCXK_u4EvFvXiPgezsEw Twitch Plays Pokémon Capture Bot - An automated high-quality system, created by the community, designed to capture and upload video from the stream]</ref> community members have even set up dedicated computers to perform these tasks.  

Players will often use community channels to propose plans, strategies and tips in order to progress in the current run. These are sometimes referred to as "operations" (although this term has since expanded to include community creative collaborations). For example, if a certain [[Gym Leader]] is causing problems, a plan may be proposed on how best to deal with them. If a certain map is proving tricky to navigate, a player may post a full map of the area for easy reference, sometimes with a proposed route superimposed over it. Whether a proposed plan is carried out or not is dependent on how popular it is with other players, as well as how much publicity the plan gets. Sometimes, conflicting plans may be proposed with players siding to the plan of their preference; generally speaking in these situations, the plan with the most amount of support is the one that is carried out. It should be noted that not all plans are proposed as formally as this; an idea simply proposed in the chat, even if originally intended as a joke, may take hold. A plan may also not be executed fully; players can quite easily change their minds en masse part-way through.

Execution of strategies and other forms of co-ordination are sometimes performed by certain key players, known in the community as '''chat leaders'''. They indicate to the chat which command to use at a given time in order to progress, and often identify themselves by using an emoticon prior to any message they post. Chat leaders are not in control of the chat, nor do they have any influence over the commands in an official capacity, but are often utilized by other players to co-ordinate and progress in particular parts of the game. The effectiveness of a chat leader is entirely dependent on the mix of players who are online at the time and whether or not they choose to follow the suggestions that are posted.

Character names are sometimes romanized versions or interpretations of their in-game nickname. For example, a {{p|Pidgeot}} on RED's team in the original run named "aaabaaajss" was translated as "Bird Jesus". Other characters were created in response to freak events. For example, the [[Helix Fossil]], somehow at the top of the [[Item]] list was inferred as some kind of consultation in hardship, as since it was in the first item slot it was constantly being selected. This was compounded when the fossil was revived at the [[Cinnabar Lab|Pokémon Lab]]; fans interpreted this as a 'resurrection', transforming the character into a kind of god. Other pivotal characters, such as the False Prophet (a {{p|Flareon}} 'blamed' by players for the unintentional release of a number of Pokémon, including the run's [[first partner Pokémon]]), were created in similar ways. Lore is still created today under similar circumstances.

| [[Pokémon Trading Card Game (video game)|Pokémon Trading Card Game]]

* Several members of the channel's staff are associated with specific Pokémon. For example, the channel's creator is associated with [[Slowpoke]].  

** The channel's current streamer and host, M4_used_rollout, is associated with [[Azumarill]]. This is because his username references [[Twitch Plays Pokémon/Season 1#Pokémon 3|the runmon M ---/'/'4]], an Azumarill from the channel's [[Pokémon Emerald]] run.

* The stream broadcast almost always has the channel's name located at the top of the screen. The appearance of this logo may change, however, depending on the time of year, and on what is being played. When a Pokémon game is not being played, the word "Pokémon" will be crossed out where the channel's name is displayed. During Halloween seasons of PBR and Halloween-themed intermissions, the "T" in the logo will be crossed out (e.g. "witch Plays Pokémon"), with the remaining letters colored alternatingly in purple and orange.