Why I quit TPP runs

I'm making this text post to save from repeating myself many times over if I'm explaining why I dislike TPP runs or why I've stopped playing in them. I'd also to share the conclusions that I've drawn from my long history in TPP and provoke other people to consider what aspects in particular they enjoy in TPP and how to make those a greater part of their experience (or if there is nothing, to simply leave).

I'll begin with some background. My name is Addarash1. I first viewed TPP Red at Rock Tunnel and my first inputs were when attempting to get the Swift TM for Bird Jesus on around Day 6. Since then, I've been an active presence in TPP for over 2 years with no more than around 2-3 months in that span of time of outright inactivity. Some know me for my playstyle during runs. Most know me for being the richest PBR player. But I've been consistently in the midst of TPP, no matter the game, and I have among the most hours of any user overall in the stream, perhaps even the most (not counting bots, which I've never used, since pretty much everyone who is extremely active in runs has missed significant sections of PBR, and vice versa). I say all this to make the depth of my experience with TPP clear, and therefore add credence to the conclusions I've drawn over this span of time and the unlikelihood that I'll find myself swayed from them.

The main thing I've realised is that TPP runs (and probably extending to other variants of the "Twitch Plays" format) are really bad from a gameplay perspective. Being a player in TPP really is not a good experience. You have to repetitively spam inputs every 5 seconds and this is the essential mechanical skillcap. The other parts of individual skill basically consist of knowing what to do in a given moment, and this isn't particularly hard either (pick the appropriate move in battle, b+direction for movement in the overworld and closing menus, etc). Spamming inputs is a tedious experience with little challenge or engagement, not providing fun like in attempting to play other games. This only worsens with the fact that you, as an individual, are one user out of many that are influencing the game at a given moment, and your personal inputs have extremely minimal impact on the game.

I'll examine the "value" of a single person's inputs from both a progress-spamming and anti-progress (often known as troll) perspective. For a progress spammer, there are usually huge numbers of other users often inputting the exact same command as you are. It is highly unlikely that your individual input is going to be pivotal in a given scenario. Additionally, progress in TPP is taken as an expected thing. Anything that looks difficult usually has democracy mode entered and it is easily solved from there. So these twofold attributes essentially render inputting for progress to be essentially trivial gain (helping towards outcomes that are highly likely to be accomplished). There is no incentive to play, as spamming every 5 seconds gives almost no marginal benefit in return for the time that is put into it. This is probably why so many people "quietly" support progress or discuss the game without notable inputting; in fact, the majority of people probably do such a thing as a natural consequence of the minimal impact of input spamming.

So perhaps attempting to input against progress would make your individual inputs more meaningful, inducing actions that are otherwise unlikely? This is true to an extent, but most of the time anti-progress inputs serve merely as a nuisance or a delay to the run and make little true impact on the game. Even actions such as overwriting party pokemon's moves or switching order will have democracy used in order to change the set (particularly if about to face a hard opponent like the Elite 4), and once more the action is trivialised. The biggest exception to this is PC-related actions, such as depositing and especially releasing pokemon. As a whole, though, anti-progress inputs also end up having little meaningful impact on a run. Not only that, they are much harder to achieve than progressive actions thanks to the much lower numbers of people to help accomplish these actions. It doesn't matter how individually skilled you are if you are drowned out in a sea of inputs opposing yours. The most impactful actions on a game (such as release) also generally have the most opposition to them, so attempting to accomplish anti-progress action, like progress, has the player work hard in inputting for minimal chances of it mattering.

Thus as an individual, there is very little return for the effort of spamming inputs. What makes the real difference in TPP runs is the actions that the hive mind wants to accomplish. People can try to argue in favour of their requested course of action but it overall is extremely difficult to influence this. The biggest exceptions are probably "chat leaders", but for anyone else it's an inordinate amount of effort for what is likely going to be a small change on the stream (even for them, they need to put in so much effort to obtain such a status). An individual really doesn't have a good overall experience in TPP as a player, then, with minimal ability to control things compared to the effort or skill that one has.

What does anyone do in a run, in that case? As I'd mentioned previously, most people seem unconsciously aware of how little reason there is to be a "player" in TPP runs. It explains the consistent lurking that goes on in the stream, and people focus on interacting with the chat, on art, on lore, or many other reasons. But lore and art can mostly be appreciated from a casual perspective (pretty commonly too on Reddit), while group chats exist in Twitch for friends that one may have made in TPP chat. As for me, personally, I don't care about lore and I only look at art occasionally. I use group chats to speak to people while in other streams; there are a lot of users whom I can't interact with in anything other than the TPP stream, but it's not a large enough draw from my perspective. I have little to no reason to remain a presence in the TPP chat during runs, like I used to.

PBR is a lot better from a gameplay perspective, as you have return for individual skill/effort (money) and using this can allow you greater influence in more games and in climbing the ladder. As of now, I think I will essentially only be in TPP to play PBR, at least unless or until I end up losing interest in it. Then, I'll likely quit TPP entirely. For future runs, I may be there for the first day or two but other than that, I probably won't have anything to do with them other than occasional appearances in the stream. It's been a good 2 years but with me finding essentially no draws to watch runs, I think it's time that I removed them from my life. I think that a lot of other people could similarly use a deeper examination of what they are interested in or enjoy in TPP, and attempt to maximise this quality and remove the negative ones. And I think for most people, input spamming is indeed unenjoyable whilst providing little meaningful impact. If they are on TPP for factors outside of gameplay, that is something to be acknowledged and a factor that might need to be improved upon.

TL;DR: Acting as a single individual spamming inputs is both extremely tedious and provides little to no change to the game in return. Gameplay in TPP runs is therefore an unfun time sink and induces mere "watching" or loose following of progress from the vast majority of viewers. So why stick around in TPP? Some like the chat or users in them, some the lore/art. None of those require one to follow the stream particularly closely. I also personally am not interested in lore, look at art on a casual basis, and I can use group chats to talk to people whom I like. In essence, I have nothing to gain from staying in TPP chat during runs. I hope that this can prompt other people who are still in TPP to more deeply examine their reasons for playing.