explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

1333: First Date

2014-02-21T06:26:52Z

Zedadex: /* Explanation */ more spelling errors... I thought I had spell check enabled... :/

{{comic
| number = 1333
| date = February 21, 2014
| title = First Date
| image = first_date.png
| titletext = I sympathize with the TPP protagonist because I, too, have progressed through a surprising number of stages of life despite spending entire days stuck against simple obstacles.
}}

==Explanation==

'TPP,' or 'Twitch Plays Pokemon,' was the first of a creative and radical new variant of streaming gameplay videos created in early 2014.

With the increasing popularity of watching video games be played (usually by 'popular' gamers known for entertaining gameplay), streaming sites dedicated to streaming gameplay were created; twitch.tv was one such site.

Whereas traditional video game streams involved the channel broadcaster or other personality playing the game, the channel "Twitch Plays Pokemon" recorded a bot playing an emulated Pokemon game. The game was given inputs by the bot based on players' messages in the video stream itself; meaning that for all intents and purposes, the watchers of the stream were playing the game, using chat "commands." The player behaved incredibly erratically, frequently getting "stuck against simple obstacles" (as mentioned in the title-text) and moving about in a strange manner ("Why are you up there?"/"Bye...Okay, coming back now"). TPP surged in popularity rapidly from its inception, reaching 80K channel viewers within a mere 5 days. Derivative channels (such as 'TwitchPlayers') soon arose, turning "Twitch Plays..." into an idea rather than a single channel - the idea of crowd-sourcing a task, such as controlling a single person (as in the pokemon games) for erratic and often hilarious results.

In the above comic, Cueball and Megan are on a date, however, Megan is behaving very erratically. Cueball determines that Megan is being "controlled by Twitch," as her behavior matches well with that of the "TPP Protagonist" (whose name, canonically, is Red). Megan loudly declares at one point that she is "SAVING" her 'game progress.' Her fascination with the "cool spiral" is an allusion to TPP players' fascination with the "Helix Fossil," an in-game item regarded with a near-religious reverance by TPP players for its constant appearance (because user input often leads to the checking of the in-game backpack, where the Helix fossil and other items resided, the players jokingly decided that the protagonist was "looking to the Helix for guidance;" this quickly led to its regard as a "religious symbol.")

The title-text, as explained above, simply is a light-hearted joke from xkcd, empathizing with TPP as he has also "spent days stuck against simple obstacles."

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript}}

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]

1333: First Date

2014-02-21T06:18:00Z

Zedadex: /* Explanation */ spell check -.-

{{comic
| number = 1333
| date = February 21, 2014
| title = First Date
| image = first_date.png
| titletext = I sympathize with the TPP protagonist because I, too, have progressed through a surprising number of stages of life despite spending entire days stuck against simple obstacles.
}}

==Explanation==

'TPP,' or 'Twitch Plays Pokemon,' was the first of a creative and radical new variant of streaming gameplay videos created in early 2014.

With the increasing popularity of watching video games be played (usually by 'popular' gamers known for entertaining gameplay), streaming sites dedicated to streaming gameplay were created; twitch.tv was one such site.

Whereas traditional video game streams involved the channel broadcaster or other personality playing the game, the channel "Twitch Plays Pokemon" recorded a bot playing an emulated Pokemon game. The game was given inputs by the bot based on players' messages in the video stream itself; meaning that for all intents and purposes, the watchers of the stream were playing the game, using chat "commands." The player behaved incredibly erratically, frequently gettign "stuck against simple obstacles" (as mentioned in the title-text) and moving about in a strange manner ("Why are you up there?"/"Bye...Okay, coming back now") TPP surged in popularity rapidly from its inception, reaching 80K channel viewers within a mere 5 days. Derivative channels (such as 'TwitchPlayers') soon arose, turning "Twitch Plays..." into an idea rather than a single channel - the idea of crowd-sourcing a task, such as controlling a single person (as in the pokemon games) for erratic and often hilarious results.

In the above comic, Cueball and Megan are on a date, however, Megan is behaving very erratically. Cueball determines that Megan is being "controlled by Twutch," as her behavior matches well with that of the "TPP Protagonist" (whose name, canonically, is Red). Megan loudly declares at one point that she is "SAVING" her 'game progress.' Her fascination with the "cool spiral" is an allusion to TPP players' fascination with the "Helix Fossil," an in-game item regarded with a near-religious reverance by TPP players for its constant appearance (because user input often leads to the checking of the in-game backpack, where the Helix fossil and other items resided, the players jokingly decided that the protagonist was "looking to the Helix for guidance;" this quickly led to its regard as a "religious symbol.")

The title-text, as explained above, simply is a light-hearted joke from xkcd, empathizing with TPP as he has also "spent days stuck against simple obstacles."

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript}}

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]

1333: First Date

2014-02-21T06:16:58Z

Zedadex:

{{comic
| number = 1333
| date = February 21, 2014
| title = First Date
| image = first_date.png
| titletext = I sympathize with the TPP protagonist because I, too, have progressed through a surprising number of stages of life despite spending entire days stuck against simple obstacles.
}}

==Explanation==

'TPP,' or 'Twitch Plays Pokemon,' was the first of a creative and radical new variant of streaming gameplay videos created in early 2014.

With the increasing popularity of watching video games be played (usually by 'popular' gamers known for entertaining gameplay), streaming sites dedicated to streaming gameplay were created; twitch.tv was one such site.

Whereas traditional video game streams involved the channel broadcaster or other personality playing the game, the channel "Twitch Plays Pokemon" recorded a bot playing an emulated Pokemon game. The game was given inputs by the bot based on players' messages in the video stream itself; meaning that for all intents and purposes, the watchers of the stream were playing the game, using chat "commands." The player behaved incredibly erratically, frequently gettign "stuck against simple obstacles" (as mentioned in the title-text) and moving about in a strange manner ("Why are you up there?"/"Bye...Okay, coming back now") TPP surged in popularity rapidly from its inception, reaching 80K channel viewers within a mere 5 days. Derivative channels (such as 'TwitchPlayers') soon arose, turning "Twitch Plays..." into an idea rather than a single channel - the idea of crowd-sourcing a task, such as controlling a single person (as in the pokemon games) for erratic and often hilarious results.

In the above comic, Cueball and Megan are on a date, however, Megan is behaving very erratically. Cueball determines that Megan is being "controlled by Twutch," as her behavior matches well with that of the "TPP Protagonist" (whose name, canonically, is Red). Megan loudly declares at one point that she is "SAVING" her 'game progress.' Her fascination with the "cool spiral" is an allusion to TPP players' fascination with the "Helix Fossil," an in-game item regarded with a near-religious reverance by TPP players for its constant appearance (because user input often leads to the checking of the in-game backpack, where the Helix fossil and other items resided, the players jokingly decided that the protagonist was "looking to the Helix for guidance;" this quickly led to its regard as a "religious symbol.")

The title-text, as esplained above, simply is a light-hearted joke from xkcd, empathizing with TPP as he has also "spent days stuck against simple obstacles."

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript}}

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]