Twitch Plays Pokemon is an online experience where you are able to play the original Pokemon via commands entered in the chat on the Twitch stream. It seems like an interesting concept at first, until you realize that over 70,000 people are currently trying to play at the same time. From Twitch:
TwitchPlaysPokemon is stream that lets you play Pokemon with a lot of other people by typing commands into chat.
It was created as an experiment to test the viability of this format, the way people interact with the input system and the way they interact socially with each other.
The gameplay allows for two modes, Anarchy and Democracy. Democracy plays up the vote and allows the users to put forth the best choice for the group. But it’s anarchy that really allows for the most interesting portion of gameplay, where thousands of people attempt to navigate a roadway all at the same time.
The experiment has spawned memes, cultivated a pretty serious fan base with over 19 million views, and is an interesting experience at its core. It ranks up there with QWOP and Desert Bus as Internet games you have to experience in some manner.
I’m very interested in creating automated Twitch streams with a strong focus on user interaction.
I would like to do something similar with other games and I have a few in mind already.
The biggest obstacle to overcome is the method of input, while crudely saying the buttons into chat works well enough for Pokemon and its turn-based gameplay it wouldn’t work for games that expect a relatively (< 20 seconds) reaction from the player. I don’t think this obstacle is insurmountable but it will require further ingenuity. (via)
You can check out the live feed on the next page (it autoplays) and even join in on the fun with the cat. At the same time, every major event is cataloged in this handy Google doc and you can even peruse an entire sub-Reddit devoted to the game.