Praise Helix! Christian Narrative in Twitch Plays: Pokémon

Abstract

In this paper, we examine the influence of Christianity on the religious narrative of Twitch Plays: Pokémon. Twitch Plays: Pokémon was a new take on a well-known game by allowing over 100,000 players to control the same character simultaneously, which resulted in the character’s chaotic movements and gameplay decisions. In order to derive meaning from the chaos, the Twitch Plays: Pokémon community banded together and developed a sophisticated narrative surrounding the game. This narrative was highly religious in nature. We argue that this sophisticated narrative heavily referred to major religious figures, texts, imagery, and structure in Christianity in order to create shared meaning and experiences of the game among Twitch Plays: Pokémon community members. Having this shared meaning and experiences allowed the Twitch Plays: Pokémon religion to
proliferate.