Top 10 Twitch Moments That Broke the Internet

“TwitchPlaysPokemon”


In 2014, an anonymous Australian developer launched a groundbreaking gaming social experiment called ‘Twitch Plays Pokémon’. In this stream, a particular coded version of Pokemon Red allowed viewers of the stream to input commands in the chat to play the game, and with an average viewership of 80,000, it was an absolute shock what happened. When the collective effort of viewers finally completed the game, it became a global phenomenon, shattering expectations and captivating audiences worldwide. The moment the game was beaten was viewed live by hundreds of thousands, and the effort went on to win Guinness World Records and various other awards. Turns out, we can collectively join to do something great, when we bloody TRY.

“WashingtonPost”

There was a good amount of eyes on the entire data-sharing scandal that was brought to congress, as Mark Zuckerberg would have to answer some hard questions, and face some realities on the way Facebook functions moving forward. Unfortunately, what came instead was a comical display of congress being out of touch, and unfit to manage this particular trial. One of the many humorous moments from this congressional hearing on the data-sharing scandal occurred when one false equivalence (of many) was thrown at Zuck, and the Twitch clip of this moment has since become one of the top 10 most viewed of all time. The remark not only made Zuckerberg chuckle but also drew laughter from the room, giving sympathy to the person on trial, and actually turning what seemed to be a real, genuine issue, into a circus.

“JurassicJunkieLive”


We’ve all played horror games. When they are perfectly immersive, and the lights are turned down, it can be a terrifying experience that causes even the smallest of noises to make us jump out of our pants. This particular clip, and particular moment from JurassicJunkieLive’s stream has been viewed countless times, and become one of the most heartwarming moments to be caught on Twitch. During a horror game, JurassicJunkie gets hit with the one-two of being scared in the game, and then catching something IRL in the corner of his eye that he didn’t expect to be there, causing him to get scared again and scream. Unfortunately, the thing he spotted was his own daughter, who he seemingly scared with his scream. The reaction, as well as his immediate act of checking in to make sure she was okay was the perfect balance of hilarious, and heartwarming. SOMETIMES the internet can actually be really lovely.

“Doggydogg20”


Nothing is more interesting to viewers than when a celebrity starts a Twitch channel. It has the potential to either be an amazing look into a person, unedited and uninterrupted, as Twitch often is, or to be an absolute train wreck. Weirdly, Snoop Dogg’s introduction to Twitch was both. In a moment that has since been viewed millions of times, Snoop Dogg left his stream on for 8 hours accidentally, and although the final moments of him finally walking into the room to turn his stream off are pretty anticlimactic, it is undoubtedly very funny. Snoop Dogg is obviously the GOAT, but let’s also remember he’s a 53-year-old man, so let’s cut him some slack… And let’s also keep watching this clip.

“SpaceLyon”


It’s always a heartwarming moment when Twitch streamers receive massive donations from their viewers. Even though some might turn out to be fake or fail to process through PayPal, the genuine reactions from the streamer and the excitement in the chat are truly wholesome to witness. This particular instance with SpaceLyon was however not fake, as the person donating was MrBeast. The clipped moment, as well as MrBeast’s video about it, have been viewed 32 million times, and the simple fact that MrBeast was donating because he thought SpaceLyon was just a really nice person, makes the whole thing even sweeter.

“Ninja”


Twitch set a new record for the most-viewed stream by a single player when Ninja teamed up with an unexpected supergroup to play the hugely popular sandbox shooter Fortnite (you’ve probably never heard of it). Ninja started with a few matches alongside Drake before the full squad came together for some team action. At its peak, the stream trended on Twitter and drew an astounding 628,000 concurrent viewers, shattering the previous record of 388,000 for a single-player stream. That’s almost double, but I guess that was just God’s Plan... Nailed it.

“JesseDStreams”


You may not recognise this moment just from the name “The Awakening”, but you’ve definitely seen the clip. The moment came from JesseDStreams’ livestream, where he would stream IRL chat to a very small viewership of 5-10. During his stream, he fell asleep, and this moment titled “The Awakening” sees him waking up, realizing he fell asleep, realizing he’s streaming, and realizing his viewership has gone from 5, to a few hundred, all within about 5 seconds. This cocktail of emotion is heartwarming, and funny, and put a smile on the millions of viewers’ faces who viewed this moment after the fact.

“ZillianOP”


Up until this point, all of our entries have been lighthearted, funny, or heartwarming, but we were bound to have one internet moment that was viewed negatively... And I’m not talking about the bridge. This moment comes from ZillianOP’s stream, a disabled streamer who had been in a car accident, and began streaming to raise money for his treatment. The problem here is that in one particular stream, he failed to turn his webcam off when he stood up and walked off stream... IT’S A MIRACLE!! No, actually it wasn’t a miracle, it was a simple scam... Which I guess most miracles end up being. His defense for standing and walking was explained in the moment as standing and falling, but this didn’t fly with the community who could easily see his reflection in the fish tank behind him. He wasn’t disabled, and neither was his webcam...

“Hbomberguy”


Hbomberguy's Donkey Kong 64 Trans Charity Marathon Stream, also known as the #ThanksGraham Charity Stream, was a livestream hosted by YouTuber Hbomberguy to support Mermaids, a UK-based charity dedicated to helping transgender youth and their families. The reason this stream broke the internet was because it simply BROKE every record, so much so that it was recognised by the government. Over the course of 57 hours, Hbomberguy achieved a 101% completion run of Donkey Kong 64 while raising over $340,000 for the cause. Sometimes, good people can do some really good things, and I’m very happy to be ending on two back to back positive notes, it’s truly… breathtaking.

“Xbox”


What can we say about this moment that hasn’t already been said? It’s truly breathtaking. During Xbox’s conference at the 2019 E3 event, the reveal for Cyberpunk 2077 showed Keanu Reeves as a lead actor in the game. And then in an unprecedented event, Keanu himself appeared in person to explain details about the game, and when he stated the feeling of the game to be “breathtaking”, an audience member shouted out “you’re breathtaking”, to which Keanu responded by giving the love back to this audience member, and the audience overall tenfold... Well, technically twofold, but where’s the fun in that?