Over a matter of a few days, thousands of people were simultaneously watching this fish named [Grayson Hopper] float around a bowl of water as a webcam recorded its every move and translated the directions it took into a working gameplay of Pokemon Red. Each section of the tank was split into partitions, with each section acting like a button. So when the fish swam over a specific area, the main Pokemon character [Ash] was told where to go.
It was created during a hackNY hackathon within 24 hours when the fish started its journey in to the world of Pokemon. Already, a subreddit popped up documenting the adventure. Amazingly enough, [Grayson] chose Charmander as its starting Pokemon and has defeated its rival Squirtle.
This project was great for watching hours on end, especially at work, as the cute little fish went about its life unaware that it is becoming a popular internet star.
Check out the link above to stream the video. There is even a chat bar on the side, which allows anyone to jump into the fishy conversation. If the fish looks dead though, it’s probably just sleeping.
[Thanks for the tip Bailey!]
Also, Pokemon was reborn some vintage hardware recently which allows the player to game via the web. Check that out too!
“plays”
Yeah, a better name would be FishControlsPokemon
Or white noise randomly affects pokemon.
White noise would at least be faster and less cruel than a fish in a tiny tank.
It is a fish. Fish do not experience suffering, or anything else for that matter, as they do not have consciousness.
As a fish owner I beg to differ. They have personalities and memories, they don’t deserve to suffer any more than you do. A beta in a tiny tank is an unhappy beta.
@spacecoyote
Fish are pretty dumb, but they absolutely experience fear, pain, etc. I have no idea whether they suffer for lack of swimming space, or if they do at what point it’s a problem. People seem to hear “betas naturally live in puddles” and then turn off their ears right before “in rainforests,” which you’d think would be a hint that these aren’t like puddles on the side of the road. Even that aside…animals regularly starve to death in nature; that doesn’t make it ok to deny a pet food.
That said, I don’t think this is *that* small a tank, certainly not enough so to warrant claims of outright cruelty.
The best part of Fish Plays Pokemon is that he’s actually made decent progress, all things considered. Mind->blown.
Meh, call me when the fish can play COD (no pun intended)
What a world we live in!
THEY TOTALLY STOLE MY IDEA FOR HACKADAYSPACECONTEST!!! I was going to use a similar fishtank, but have the fish’s movements correspond to actions that the government could take so that the fish could rule the world. The buttons could be “free healthcare” or “legal weed” or “criminalize multinational corporations’ tax evasion”….
This is truly a thinking outside the box, revolutionary idea that could really change the world.
*evil laugh*
The main character from Pokemon Red & Blue is named Red, not Ash. Ash is the main character from the cartoon, not the game.