How 'Fish Plays Pokemon' gathered an audience of thousands
Right now, thousands of gamers are waiting for Grayson Hopper, a live fish in a tank on a dorm room shelf, to make his move so that a vintage Pokemon video game can progress. Grayson鈥檚 owner, Patrick Facheris and Catherine Moresco, rigged up special controls so that the fish鈥檚 actions steer the game. More than 30,000 viewers have 听to watch the fish and his journey to become a Pokemon master.听
鈥淚t started a week ago听Thursday听with just six people watching and blew up overnight,鈥� says Mr. Facheris, a senior computer science and math major at Columbia University. He started the live video stream, titled Fish Plays Pokemon, with听Ms. Moresco, a junior physics major at the University of Chicago. 鈥淐atherine called me at, like, 3 a.m.听one night and said she had this dream about a fish playing Pokemon.鈥�
Facheris and Moresco created the project in just 24 hours to create the game as a part of听hackNY's听2014 fellowship program, which is organized by New York University and Columbia University.听听
Today, the reddish-orange betta fish is unwittingly 鈥減laying鈥澨齈okemon Red, the first title in the听Pokemon听franchise. Grayson is in his bowl, on camera. The camera screen is divided into nine sections, eight of which are command buttons 鈥� up, left, right, down, A, B, start, and select. The ninth is a 鈥渞andomize鈥� key.听When the fish听swims in one of those sections, a program registers the button command and inputs it into the game.
鈥淚鈥檓 really shocked that it鈥檚 getting so huge, but I guess I shouldn鈥檛, because I recently heard听Jonah Peretti, [chief executive officer] of Buzzfeed, say in a lecture that to make something go viral you had to be willing to make it something you鈥檇 talk about at a party,鈥� says Facheris. 鈥淲hat could be a better conversation starter than a real fish playing Pokemon?鈥�
The game is also clearly a riff on听Twitch Plays听Pokemon, in which viewers voted on their next move. The mad dash between anarchy and democracy听went viral听back in February. It attracted more than 200,000 players at a time collectively playing the vintage game.
The game screen turns black for about eight hours each night when Facheris goes to bed. He cannot afford a night vision camera or a tank light. The team has turned down two sponsorship offers, he says, but have collected about $175 in donations from viewers.
鈥淏ecause we are moving into our new dorms today, App Nexus here in New York has offered to host Grayson so he will now have light at night and hopefully there will be no more lapses in game coverage,鈥� Facheris says. 鈥淚f we get more donations, we would like to get Grayson a bigger tank and a night vision camera.鈥�
Facheris says that any amount collected beyond what Grayson鈥檚 needs will be donated to hackNY and the National Wildlife Federation.
Fish Plays Pokemon has no music or sound 鈥� and viewers have no control over the game at all. Grayson is fed at 9 a.m. and 9 p.m., which is about the only constant in this game, because it ensures the fish will come to the top of the tank at those times and, in so doing, 鈥渟elect鈥� functions in that area.
听
听While Twitch Plays Pokemon allowed players to vote on their next move, Fish Plays Pokemon has stripped away the game play. It has turned a popular video game into a spectator sport 鈥� or maybe an art installation. It鈥檚 now a statement about the mesmerizing, unifying power of gaming culture. A fish can hold the community's attention 24/7. Even when the lights turn out, the online chat room keeps talking.
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听It reminds me of the kid who gets a huge gift for his or her birthday and chooses instead to spend the next week playing in the cardboard box the gift came in.
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听In fact, that could well be the next big thing 鈥� cardboard box. Just overlay the game panel and let a room full of toddlers at it on camera.
