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THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
TUESDAY, MARCH 25, 2014
PAGE 3
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TECHNOLOGY
Twitch Plays Pokemon gains unexpected following
DUNCAN MCHENRY news@kansan.com
Video games are traditionally played solo, with a few friends in front of a single screen, or online in competitive multiplayer. In each case, every player has their own avatar. But a recent social experiment, Twitch Plays Pokemon, has handed thousands of gamers the same controller and challenged them to work together.
CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
Twitch, an online video game streaming service, started the experiment pioneered by an anonymous Australian programmer last month on Feb. 12. Since then, the crowdsourced game feed in which players enter commands through a chat window has moved successfully through the Pokemon Red and Crystal versions. The feed is now in day three of the Emerald version, hovers at around 10,000 viewers at any given time, and sits at more than 50 million total views.
The chaotic game model, constantly flooded with typed commands corresponding to the Game Boy buttons "up," "down," "right," "left," "a" and "b," has developed a nearly cult-like following. After users defeated the Red version in just over 16 days, Twitch announced it received an anonymous note slipped under the door at its headquarters. A small excerpt reads: "All praise helix! On the 16th day the final prophecy has finally come true."
Mike Marcus, a junior from Shawnee, followed the game with residents of his scholarship hall. Although he soon gave up playing it, he enjoyed watching the stream
and found it to be more than just a trivial time-killer.
"Looking online, I was really interested, as a religious studies major, in how it had developed a pseudo-religious state kind of like 'the flying spaghetti monster," Marcus said. "People come up with scriptures and songs, etc. There is a site with three or four songs dedicated to the helix fossil. That's what really sparked my curiosity."
Mike O'Donnell, a senior from Salina, has participated in the stream at times
From a psychological perspective, Twitch Plays Pokemon has also explored what a collective, mob-type group can accomplish. To make gameplay more doable in certain parts that require more precise movement, Twitch introduced a "Democracy" mode, in which players could vote their way out of "Anarchy" when necessary.
and enjoyed watching notable moments in the group progress. He said it's not surprising Twitch chose to experiment with crowdsourced gaming using a Game Boy game like Pokemon.
"With video games...it's gotten to be like, 'Here this, shoot this.' This kind of just produces a new challenge."
MIKE MARCUS
A junior from Shawnee
"That's the thing: It's a Game Boy game, so it's pretty simple," O'Donnell said. "It's not a lot of different inputs, just directions, 'a' and 'b' and start. It's like monkeys and typewriters and Shakespeare
— eventually you're going to beat the Elite Four."
For Rodrigo Chavez, a sophomore from Lima, Peru, the fact that so many users have been able to progress in the game and work toward a goal is the most telling part of Twitch Plays Pokemon.
Marcus added that while Twitch Plays Pokemon has been a fun change, he doesn't think it will be a new model for future gaming.
“[Thomas] Hobbes said we create institutions because we can't work in total anarchy,” Chavez said. “This basically proved him wrong, because it's a game that gives you its own difficulties that you have to surpass. Just like real life, there are random things that you don't know when they're going to happen. But, even with all those things, people were able to work together and finish the game. I think it can apply to our real lives in that people can cooperate in the end and do cool things.”
video games where it's gotten to be like, 'Here this, shoot this,' Marcus said. "This kind of just produces a new challenge."
Edited by Emily Hines
Twitch Plays Pokemon Red by the numbers:
"We've reached a point with
Time taken to beat the game:
16 days, 7 hours, 45 minutes and 30 seconds.
Users who "mashed their keyboards:" 1,165,140
— Commands issued: over 122 million
Peak users watching at once:
121,000
Onlookers: over 9 million
— Minutes watched: over 1 billion
Source: blog.twitch.tv
Total views: over 36 million
KU⁁１nfo
It was 102 years ago today that the campus power plant steam whistle began marking the end of each hour's classes. Before March 25, 1912, it was used as a 7:45 a.m. wake-up call and a nightly announcer for security.
of curfew.
POLITICS
Tension between lawmakers, University evident in budget
ASSOCIATED PRESS
TOPEKA, Kan. — Longstanding tensions between some Kansas lawmakers and the University of Kansas have been evident in recent negotiations over the higher education budget.
The Lawrence Journal- World reports that some university defenders say the disagreements stem from the perception of the Lawrence community and campus as liberal in an otherwise conservative state. Some legislators say the university has hurt itself by being slow to recognize the reality of the state's budget problems.
The tensions have been evident as the university tries to convince legislators to increase funding for certain projects, including a new building at the medical center campus in Kansas City, Kan.
Mike O'Neal, a former House speaker and now president and CEO of the Kansas Chamber of Commerce, is a KU alumnus and supporter of the university. However, he believes KU leaders have hurt their credibility by not recognizing a change in political climate in the Statehouse.
He said the perception is KU will do what it wants with spending regardless of what
the Legislature authorizes, such as salary increases.
"Unlike K-12, the state in terms of its relationship with higher ed is not the sole source of funding anymore," he said. "The mindset of the Legislature right now is, with limited resources, what is the state's role in higher ed in terms of the funding it does provide? And, as to the percentage of funding it does provide to higher education overall, what is the return on investment?"
University spokesman Tim Caboni said the message isn't lost on KU, but disagrees that relations are fractured.
The University of Kansas School of Business Departments of Economics and Philosophy
DATA & DEMOCRACY WHAT IS FREE SPEECH IN THE AGE OF SOCIAL MEDIA? PANEL DISCUSSION
Amid a changing social landscape of connectivity and communication, the legal and societal landscape of what is meant by 'free speech' may be shifting as well. The First Amendment guarantees free speech, but what are the substance and forms of that protection in the age of social media? As the use of social media in daily life grows exponentially, we consider what free speech and privacy mean in an era of immediate and unfettered access to wide dissemination, and whether there are new rules that characterize social engagement and free expression today. Sponsored by The Commons, The William Allen White School of Journalism, and The Office of the Provost.
FEATURING
FRANK LOMONTE
Executive Director, Student Press Law Center
AMY GAJDA
Associate Professor of Law, Tulane University Law School
STEPHEN R. MCALLISTER
E. S. & Tom W. Hampton Distinguished Professor of Law University of Kansas School of Law
DEANELL REECE TACHA
Moderator
Duane and Kelly Roberts Dean of the School of Law, Pepperdine University
7:00 PM - MARCH 25 THE COMMONS AT SPOONER HALL
THE UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS
For more information go to www.thecommons.ku.edu