From Chaos to Creativity: Storytelling Practices in TwitchPlaysPokemon

Abstract

TwitchPlaysPokémon should have failed. With thousands of players trying to control a single-player game, participants could have quit in frustration, but they didn’t. Instead, the community created a rich story around the game. This use of creativity in the face of chaos meant that the TwitchPlaysPokémon community adopted several key practices which enabled them to create a story far beyond even the original programmer’s imagination. In the initial storytelling approach, the community developed a scaffolding structure to support their work. This structure was aided by emergent leadership in a community that still retained communal control. Expanding beyond the community’s original written account, visual artists used conceptual ideas, specific forms of adaptation, and accessible knowledge and spaces to continue the spread of TwitchPlaysPokémon’s story. Building from our understanding of these storytelling practices, we propose a three-part lens through which the community’s motivations can be better understood. Focusing on the human tendencies to seek understanding, use imagination, and replicate what is enjoyable, this final chapter addresses the question of “Why did the community use creativity instead of quitting?”