STACK #136 Feb 2016

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What happens when you let theTwitch.TV viewership control - and attempt completion of - Pokémon Red ? Is it Anarchy or Democracy?

What is Twitch? Twitch.TV is the internet’s home for video game live-streamers around the world. What began back in 2007 as Justin.tv, following Justin Kan as he conducted his daily life with a camera attached to his head, now has an insane viewership with millions of viewers and a dedicated community. The addition of console-enabled streaming and the acquisition of the brand by Amazon has

only widened the scope of Twitch, and with its eSports coverage and exclusive content, the platform has already begun taking the world by storm. “Spectatorship is in our DNA”, notes Chase, PR Director at Twitch.tv. “People enjoy watching people with a shared interest. Some argue that ‘Oh, why don’t you just play video games instead of watching other people play them if you like them so much?’, but that’s

like saying to a chef ‘Why are you watching the Food Network when you should be in the kitchen cooking?’ It’s social video for gamers”. With Twitch.tv being so inherently viewer and community central, it’s easy for small projects/streamers to become popular within a number of days, hours even. This is what happened when someone decided to boot up Pokémon Red .

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