Look, I might not be a Policy Review-head, but even I can tell something needs to be done here.
Everyone knows that falling asleep is significantly harder with electronics. Anyone who's played this meta competitively knows of the exploit where an opponent in a different time zone can message or even call you, potentially waking you up and ending your run right there. This is as blatantly uncompetitive as it gets. You can have your match ended instantly through absolutely no fault of your own, and there's no way to directly patch this out, as the game is implemented right now.
Going against cart accuracy is a no-go. To bypass cart accuracy, we would have to have detailed information about how the game runs, which would require hacking, which is ILLEGAL. Modding the game to remove notifications is a step too far and sets a dangerous precedent. If we could hack the game willy-nilly, what's stopping us from creating entirely new metagames around these hacked rulesets? Doesn't that go against the point of Pokemon (Sleep) as we know it? It's a slippery slope.
Here's my proposal: Competitive Pokemon Sleep needs a Do Not Disturb Clause. The majority of Smogon players communicate on Discord, and as such, the majority of awakening exploits occur through Discord. By mandating all players to abide by Do Not Disturb clause, as opposed to Invisible or Idle, we remove the most problematic aspect of awakening exploits, while still making it possible for players in different time zones to communicate over Discord.
I know this is a controversial conversation, and I want to be careful about the precedent we set, lest we end up like those Smogon users with their "Balanced Sleepmons" or "Mix and Melatonin", but something needs to be done.
Darkrai
Drowzee
Hypno
Loudred
Insomnia
Vital Spirit
Worry Seed
