Direct Democracy in Action! Or Inaction! A.K.A.: 9000+ monkeys with typewriters...

[Cheetah]

Not sure if anyone else have heard of this yet, but 70,000+ people are currently playing Pokémon Red/Blue at Twitch Plays Pokemon.

At the same time.

In the same game.

Red is the fastest route, while blue is the actual travelled route...

You might think this will simply lead to complete chaos, but the players have currently defeated 4 of the game's 8 bosses, and are over halfway through the game.

I haven't joined the playing myself yet, as it seems to require far more patience and tolerance for frustration than I can ever hope to muster, but I find it fascinating that the players are actually able to get anywhere at all.

Anyone else here who have tried participating? Or have any comments?

And of course: Could this work with a Civ-game??

 

[Antilogic]

So how does this work? Everybody presses a key in sequence to make a move or is there some kind of averaging method?

 

[Cheetah]

I think I figured it out a bit...

When the game is ready for a command, it takes the first command it sees, but the trick is that typed in commands take about thirty seconds or so before they appear on screen.

 

[Antilogic]

Huh.

This looks annoying and impossible, especially during battles.

 

[sophie]

The game has been stuck in Rocket headquarters for literally the last 12 hours. Haven't been able to get the lift key through a combination of trolls and an already-fairly irritating game mechanic, it would seem.

 

[Rashiminos]

I'm sure the first multi-celled organisms underwent trial and error as well.

 

[Angst]

This is hilarious, if anything.

 

[Rashiminos]

I think I figured it out a bit...

When the game is ready for a command, it takes the first command it sees, but the trick is that typed in commands take about thirty seconds or so before they appear on screen.

Twitch revamped their infrastructure last summer, and as a side effect, almost every stream has a minimum delay of around 30 seconds (where before streamers usually minimized the delay when they wanted to interact with chat, or chose to raise it to prevent sniping/cheating).

 

[Hygro]

Blast from the past, Cheetah

 

[SS-18 ICBM]

You might think this will simply lead to complete chaos, but the players have currently defeated 4 of the game's 8 bosses, and are over halfway through the game.

There's only one way forward, so not that surprising. You can't un-win gym battles.

 

[SuperBeaverInc.]

All praise the Helix!

 

[DroopyTofu]

I tried watching it, and the start button just keeps popping up again and again and again. They'd get alot farther without it enabled for everyone to activate.

 

[sophie]

This is a map of the last 14 hours:

They came just one square short of making actual progress, but then they dug back to the pokecenter

 

[Antilogic]

All praise the Helix!

What does this mean? What is the helix fossil?

I tried watching it, and the start button just keeps popping up again and again and again. They'd get alot farther without it enabled for everyone to activate.

Yeah, that was aggravating for the five minutes I watched it.

 

[Kozmos]

They experimented shortly with democracy before everyone rioted and inputed START9. I think this proves a fine point that it works only on a small level

 

[Antilogic]

So that means the start button is hit 9 times in a row?

 

[Kozmos]

Yes, although now they have systems where people can vote either for anarchy or democracy. This is getting mighty interesting and more hilarious by the minute.

 

[sophie]

What does this mean? What is the helix fossil?

On the origins of the Helix Fossil (Hallowed be thy name)

Red eventually made his way Route 3, where he found, and somehow caught a Spearow. He headed into Mount Moon, where he found a Moon Stone, and a Nugget. Unfortunately, both were tossed and the fans were outraged. RIP Nugget and RIP Moon Stone are common phrases even today. Deeper in the cave, he was given the choice between the Helix, and Dome Fossils. He chose the Helix Fossil. Red, while constantly stumbling through the menus, often times selects the Helix Fossil, as if he is attempting to consult it for advice. Whenever Red attempted to use it, the phrase “This isn’t the time for that” would appear. It was also unable to be tossed, giving it an immortal status. Because of this, the Helix Fossil was turned into a god of sorts by the fans, praising it whenever good fortunes came their way. Praise Helix and Based Helix are common religious cries amongst the fans. If anything that goes against them, it is often times stated to be the doings of the evil Dome Fossil. They made it through Mount Moon, and all the way to Bill, obtaining the S.S. Ticket. Similar to the Helix Fossil, the S.S. Ticket was also consulted on numerous occasions, creating a division between who the true leader of the group is. Most side with Helix, but the Ticket is often praised as well

 

[DroopyTofu]

So right now I'm watching them try desperately to look at Giovanni and challenge him to a fight. They keep getting so so so close, then they walk away. Actually, it's kinda reminding me of when I try to ask out a girl...


EDIT: They're fighting him now if anyone wants to go watch.

 

[mythmonster2]

Interestingly, it seems this works better in anarchy mode than in democracy mode. Pretty much every time democracy is chosen, trolls spam start9 or something else to make progress impossible.