Reactions by players to MissingNo. has been studied by sociological studies regarding individuals and games. Sociologist William Sims Bainbridge said in a study that Game Freak "spawned one of the most popular glitches ever in game history", due to the good and bad results of it and players' interesting use of it. The book "Playing with video games" studied the effect of MissingNo. deeply, studying players' curious actions as a result of its appearance and examining their own notes along with individual "sightings" reports, studying and criticizing other people's findings. The book further describes the extent to which gaming communities revolving around "Pokémon" have attempted to make it a real aspect of the game's world through elements such as fan fiction and fan art, adding that this in turn inspires creativity. It also says that people were celebrating and publicizing glitches in the game while trying to make it canon, and adds that MissingNo. popularity was an unusual case.