Lately I've really been wanting to contribute to Smogon in any way possible and I have a great idea for an article that I would happily write.
First a little background about me because it's somewhat relevant to the topic.
I've been battling competitively with Smogon for about 3 years now and have become a top of the ladder player since late last generation and continue to nest comfortably in the top 100 on the ladder. But on the forums I've been mostly a lurker until very recently.
About, I'd say just 5 months ago, I discovered the plethora of Pokemon X/Y Facebook groups that had been exploding with popularity at the time due to the mass influx of players new to the competitive scene as of the release of X/Y. As I began to tread around these groups I learned a couple relevant things about them:
1. The vast majority of the members had already self educated themselves on Natures, EVs, IVs, and other such mechanics essential to getting into competitive, despite many of them being brand new to Pokemon at all or some had returned as adults after only playing the first couple generations in their childhoods.
That doesn't seem like a big deal to us here at Smogon University, but it kind of is. Think about a couple generations ago. The vast majority of the Pokemon fanbase were completely oblivious to all the hidden mechanics in competitive play and even some who were aware simply didn't care.
Now, the balance is starting to shift. Keep in mind, these Facebook groups were not intentionally catered for a competitive audience. The group's names are not "Competitive Pokemon X/Y MLG" or anything like that. These are groups meant for a general Pokemon fan audience, and they're absolutely FLOODED with trade posts making reference to certain IVs and Nature and battle posts and even tournaments held citing Smogon and VGC rules. Most do use custom rules though.
2. Many members are using these Facebook communities as an alternative to online forums for competitive battling such as Smogon and Nuggetbridge. This is the point I find especially interesting.
I'll relate this back to me for a second. On Smogon I consider myself just above average in terms of battling. But in the Facebook community it became apparent pretty much immediately that I was a giant among men. Of course this seemed appealing to me and I quickly gained access to the administrations of several large groups (ironically, via mentoring admins).
So as one of the few people I believe so closely tied to both the Facebook Pokemon scene and Smogon University I really want to explore the fascinating phenomenon behind these Facebook groups and the evolution of the competitive scene as we know it. We came from being an obscure minority on scattered Internet forums (one of them being what is now Smogon) to a dominating demographic across the most successful social media site currently.
And finally, discussion on a vision to bridge the gaps between the established competitive communities and the new, budding tribe-like groups on Facebook.
I have connections to several influential figures on the Facebook scene to provide unique perspectives regarding Smogon from an outside view and the similarities/contrasts to the Facebook scene via interview to support my topic, including Scott Norman, one of the pioneers of the Facebook Pokemon X/Y scene and creator of one of the largest general Pokemon groups on Facebook at over 20k members currently.
"Pokemon on the internet", I think we succeeded.
If you actually read all that and considered it thank you very much for your time.
First a little background about me because it's somewhat relevant to the topic.
I've been battling competitively with Smogon for about 3 years now and have become a top of the ladder player since late last generation and continue to nest comfortably in the top 100 on the ladder. But on the forums I've been mostly a lurker until very recently.
About, I'd say just 5 months ago, I discovered the plethora of Pokemon X/Y Facebook groups that had been exploding with popularity at the time due to the mass influx of players new to the competitive scene as of the release of X/Y. As I began to tread around these groups I learned a couple relevant things about them:
1. The vast majority of the members had already self educated themselves on Natures, EVs, IVs, and other such mechanics essential to getting into competitive, despite many of them being brand new to Pokemon at all or some had returned as adults after only playing the first couple generations in their childhoods.
That doesn't seem like a big deal to us here at Smogon University, but it kind of is. Think about a couple generations ago. The vast majority of the Pokemon fanbase were completely oblivious to all the hidden mechanics in competitive play and even some who were aware simply didn't care.
Now, the balance is starting to shift. Keep in mind, these Facebook groups were not intentionally catered for a competitive audience. The group's names are not "Competitive Pokemon X/Y MLG" or anything like that. These are groups meant for a general Pokemon fan audience, and they're absolutely FLOODED with trade posts making reference to certain IVs and Nature and battle posts and even tournaments held citing Smogon and VGC rules. Most do use custom rules though.
2. Many members are using these Facebook communities as an alternative to online forums for competitive battling such as Smogon and Nuggetbridge. This is the point I find especially interesting.
I'll relate this back to me for a second. On Smogon I consider myself just above average in terms of battling. But in the Facebook community it became apparent pretty much immediately that I was a giant among men. Of course this seemed appealing to me and I quickly gained access to the administrations of several large groups (ironically, via mentoring admins).
So as one of the few people I believe so closely tied to both the Facebook Pokemon scene and Smogon University I really want to explore the fascinating phenomenon behind these Facebook groups and the evolution of the competitive scene as we know it. We came from being an obscure minority on scattered Internet forums (one of them being what is now Smogon) to a dominating demographic across the most successful social media site currently.
And finally, discussion on a vision to bridge the gaps between the established competitive communities and the new, budding tribe-like groups on Facebook.
I have connections to several influential figures on the Facebook scene to provide unique perspectives regarding Smogon from an outside view and the similarities/contrasts to the Facebook scene via interview to support my topic, including Scott Norman, one of the pioneers of the Facebook Pokemon X/Y scene and creator of one of the largest general Pokemon groups on Facebook at over 20k members currently.
"Pokemon on the internet", I think we succeeded.
If you actually read all that and considered it thank you very much for your time.
