[AMA] Arcticblast

Status
Not open for further replies.

Arcticblast

Trans rights are human rights
is a Forum Moderatoris a Tiering Contributoris a Social Media Contributor Alumnusis a Senior Staff Member Alumnusis a Community Contributor Alumnusis a Battle Simulator Moderator Alumnusis a Past SPL Champion

This Ask Me Anything (AMA) thread is a resource provided to you by the Smogon Mentorship Program. In it, feel free to ask this mentor about anything you'd like. They're most prepared to answer Smogon-related questions, but don't be afraid to ask them about their personality and life outside of this site. Have some patience when you post a question in this thread; it will likely take the mentor a few days to reply. If you're looking for our up-to-date list of mentors, check out our Mentor Profiles onsite. Read through their relevant information below, and enjoy!


Username: Arcticblast

Areas of Expertise: Other Metagames, Doubles

Background: I've been around since 2008, although outside of some DPP UU I never really did much of anything until 2011, when I found the fledgling Pokemon Showdown and took up residence there, eventually becoming a server moderator (@). Due to this, I never really made an entry into the community until then and thus consider myself more of a 2011 member. Most of the time. Since then I became a moderator in Other Metagames and basically redid the entire forum, adding new moderators (how else would Joim have risen to power? :O ) and beginning Other Metagame of the Month. When Doubles popped up in OM, I jumped right in, and when the metagame finally broke out I became a moderator there as well. Also, these Mentorship AMAs were my idea!

As for non-Smogon stuff, I'm 18 and currently attending the University of Pittsburgh. I went in thinking of majoring in ecology & evolution (that's one major), but after doing badly in chem so far and realizing I have three more semesters of it I'm not so sure...

Hobbies: Well, Pokemon kind of killed off everything else once I got to college o.o I've been starting to play League of Legends and slowly picking up writing, and I played the violin for about ten years and still love music.

Favorite Pokemon: It was Musharna when I submitted my mentorship application, but now it's probably Tynamo or Pumpkaboo. Maybe Mega Mawile.

Good Questions to Ask Me: "What qualities do successful Other Metagames have?" "What kinds of differences exist between teambuilding in OU and teambuilding in Doubles?"
(try to keep the ratio of non-serious questions to serious questions no higher than 1:1 please)
 

Arcticblast

Trans rights are human rights
is a Forum Moderatoris a Tiering Contributoris a Social Media Contributor Alumnusis a Senior Staff Member Alumnusis a Community Contributor Alumnusis a Battle Simulator Moderator Alumnusis a Past SPL Champion
Kavatika
If you want a badge quick (because really idfk what you do besides be cool on #mentor) you can always start doing a shit ton of grammar checks. At least that's what I hear from other people...

prem
Probably because you suck
 

Audiosurfer

I'd rather be sleeping
is a Top Tutor Alumnusis a Site Content Manager Alumnusis a Forum Moderator Alumnusis a Community Contributor Alumnusis a Contributor Alumnusis a Smogon Media Contributor Alumnusis a Battle Simulator Moderator Alumnus
Why do I not have OM mods when i am the greatest? (even went 3-0 in OMPL what is this stuff)

What first got you interested in the OM forums?

What advice would you give to those looking to make a memorable OM?

Was Doubles the greatest OM ever?

What makes you decide to mod PS?
 

Arcticblast

Trans rights are human rights
is a Forum Moderatoris a Tiering Contributoris a Social Media Contributor Alumnusis a Senior Staff Member Alumnusis a Community Contributor Alumnusis a Battle Simulator Moderator Alumnusis a Past SPL Champion
Why do I not have OM mods when i am the greatest? (even went 3-0 in OMPL what is this stuff)

What first got you interested in the OM forums?

What advice would you give to those looking to make a memorable OM?

Was Doubles the greatest OM ever?

What makes you decide to mod PS?
Because you don't post

It was kind of a growing interest I guess. I liked Middle Cup when it was a thing and I was big on BH early on, and I liked the variance that came about from the neat metagames like Offstat.

Memorable OMs tend to follow these guidelines:
- Submission Guidelines
So you have this awesome idea for a new metagame to post. How can you determine if it's good?
  • Ease of Access: can your metagame be played on the simulator, or can your metagame be implemented with a reasonable level of coding?
  • Simplicity: while some metagames may have one major gimmick, metagames should strive to have an overall simple ruleset. Exceptions will be determined as needed. Is your metagame simple in its ruleset?
  • Playability: Did you think about it before posting it? Does it sound fun? Nobody wants to play a metagame that isn't fun.
See, I have some idea of what I'm doing when making forum rules :3
Really though, the most popular OMs I've seen have all revolved around a central "gimmick" that made them fun. Balanced Hackmons is "everything gets everything," STABmons is "Everything gets moves that share its type," Sky Battles is pretty much "only Flying-types and Levitate" and so forth. This is one of the reasons I'm mostly averse to mods - even if they have a central goal in mind, the changes aren't really constant.

nope Offstat was and still is the best ever

I mod PS because I like helping people. That's really what it comes down to. I got voice way back in private beta because I was helpful, I got drivers because I was still helpful, I got mods because I was also helpful. Heck, mutes and bans are helping people have the best experience they can on Pokemon Showdown (except for the people who get muted/banned). Also, messing with troublesome users is hilarious.
 
Who is you favorite user that you met int he past three weeks?

What are your favorite OMs?

How did you become cooler than a certain other moderator?

How would you recommend play Other Metagames to people who have never played them before?
 

Arcticblast

Trans rights are human rights
is a Forum Moderatoris a Tiering Contributoris a Social Media Contributor Alumnusis a Senior Staff Member Alumnusis a Community Contributor Alumnusis a Battle Simulator Moderator Alumnusis a Past SPL Champion
Who is you favorite user that you met int he past three weeks?

What are your favorite OMs?

How did you become cooler than a certain other moderator?

How would you recommend play Other Metagames to people who have never played them before?
1. when you mod PS you meet a ton of people good and bad so idk

2. OFFSTAT. Seriously, it's perhaps the OM I've enjoyed more than any other in the time I've modded the forum. Middle Cup sans Eviolite is great too, and Tier Shift was pretty fun while it had some popularity.

3. I'm not sure what mod you mean but I'm not cool

4. Other Metagames is like the break room for the official metagames. It's fun and still competitive, but it's more laid back and there's a bunch of quirks that make metagames memorable. The thing to remember is to have an open mind - with different restrictions (or lack thereof), you never know what you'll find.
 
whats your favorite pokemon competitively

do you like pineapple on your pizza if so how much pineapple

have you ever gotten someone to play pokemons or are you a closet pkm trainer

will you ever battle me in vgc on cart (these are all serious questions)
 

Arcticblast

Trans rights are human rights
is a Forum Moderatoris a Tiering Contributoris a Social Media Contributor Alumnusis a Senior Staff Member Alumnusis a Community Contributor Alumnusis a Battle Simulator Moderator Alumnusis a Past SPL Champion
whats your favorite pokemon competitively

do you like pineapple on your pizza if so how much pineapple

have you ever gotten someone to play pokemons or are you a closet pkm trainer

will you ever battle me in vgc on cart (these are all serious questions)
1. I think it might actually be Volcarona. It's fantastic in both OU and in Doubles. In OU it's a kickass sweeper due to 135 base SpA and Quiver Dance, and in Doubles it can support its team with stuff like Rage Powder and Tailwind. All of this while being 4x weak to Rock. Volcarona is basically the "fuck Stealth Rock" Pokemon.

2. I've actually never had pineapple pizza, and I won't be able to have much of it because of a... mishap that ended in a broken front tooth in September. I'll have to try some eventually though.

3. Most of my friends know I Pokemon hard. I rant about Pokemon to my girlfriend a lot and almost got another friend interested in competitive Pokemon once.

4. Once I get a fully trained team that doesn't suck or something q.q
 

Arcticblast

Trans rights are human rights
is a Forum Moderatoris a Tiering Contributoris a Social Media Contributor Alumnusis a Senior Staff Member Alumnusis a Community Contributor Alumnusis a Battle Simulator Moderator Alumnusis a Past SPL Champion
What drove you to hating the community you created?
What happens in Firebot stays in Firebot >:|

It's not really that I hate the community. Hate is probably an exaggeration anyway. It's just that there a few... very vocal and very active users that I disagree with on most things. That said there are a lot of users I met mostly or entirely through OM that I'm glad to have met - Snaquaza, Qwilphish, and many of the PS staff are people are just some of those that I got to know through OM.
 
Can I have dibs on Middle Cup XY thread when you let me post all of my amazing ideas that other people came up with forever ago?

Favorite Kalos Pokemon?

Favorite LC Kalos bunny?

What are some good general teambuilding tips for OMs? I realize that no two OMs are super similar, but whenever I teambuild for new OMs, I spend about an hour theorymonning all of these awesome sets and no time actually constructing a well-rounded team. Specifically, my question is: how do you stay on track when you teambuild for OMs considering how many possibilities there always are?
 

Laga

Forever Grande
is a Community Contributor Alumnusis a Tiering Contributor Alumnus
Why is Doubles included on your list of "Areas of Expertise"?

Do you play any other instruments than the violin?

What kind of music do you like? :)
 
Last edited:

Arcticblast

Trans rights are human rights
is a Forum Moderatoris a Tiering Contributoris a Social Media Contributor Alumnusis a Senior Staff Member Alumnusis a Community Contributor Alumnusis a Battle Simulator Moderator Alumnusis a Past SPL Champion
Why is Doubles included on your list of "Areas of Expertise"?

Do you play any other instruments than the violin?

What kind of music do you like? :)
1. RUDE
2. I have a mouth harp, although that doesn't really count. I basically just play the violin and dabble a bit with the guitar.
3. I know it sounds shallow and lame but I really will listen to just about everything; what I've mostly been listening to recently is classical, pop punk, and a couple hardcore bands. Most of the music I regularly listen to is music that I've either performed myself or seen performed (e.g. orchestra music or local bands) although there are a couple artists I haven't seen that I listen to a lot (Lindey Sterling, TRC, Pathosray).
is jrp the same as he is online irl?
unfortunately yes
 

jrp

Banned deucer.
1. RUDE
2. I have a mouth harp, although that doesn't really count. I basically just play the violin and dabble a bit with the guitar.
3. I know it sounds shallow and lame but I really will listen to just about everything; what I've mostly been listening to recently is classical, pop punk, and a couple hardcore bands. Most of the music I regularly listen to is music that I've either performed myself or seen performed (e.g. orchestra music or local bands) although there are a couple artists I haven't seen that I listen to a lot (Lindey Sterling, TRC, Pathosray).
unfortunately yes

I will say that Arcticblast is adorable irl
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Users Who Are Viewing This Thread (Users: 1, Guests: 0)

Top