Competitive Pokémon on Facebook

Up until the release of Pokémon X and Y, many Pokémon fans held their triumph over the Elite 4 and their completion of the Pokédex as their greatest accomplishments and most daunting goals in each game, but not much else beyond that.

At least from my own observations as someone who has been playing competitively since the twilight of the 4th Generation, before the 6th Generation games came out, players who were even aware of mechanics such as IVs and EVs were a loud minority at best, and even fans who were aware of such mechanics often didn't care due to how inaccessible and tedious manipulating IVs and EVs could be in the 3rd, 4th, and 5th Generation games outside of RNG abuse or straight up hacking. Most activity regarding competitive Pokémon was limited to the simulator community pioneered by simulators like NetBattle, a predecessor community to Smogon, anyway. Eventually, other forums such as Nuggetbridge for VGC began appearing, but most of the fanbase still remained oblivious to them.

This all changed with an explosive phenomenon after the release of the 6th Generation.

In X and Y, Individual Value breeding and Effort Value training have never been more accessible or easy, and the way some of these mechanics are presented in X and Y is so transparent compared to how obscure they were in the 3rd Generation games for example.

This lead to a huge growth in the number of competitive players and while Smogon itself grew exponentially following the release of the 6th Generation, another medium for the fanbase began growing: Facebook.

Pokémon already had some presence on Facebook in the form of "Like" pages and even some groups existed before X and Y, but the post-XY Facebook groups that began appearing would forever change the way a majority of the fanbase played Pokémon, and not just strictly for competitive players.

Keep in mind these Facebook groups are not specifically tailored towards competitive players; the names of these groups are not "Pokémon X/Y Top of the Ladder MLG" and fans of all ages and demographics are included.

Yet these groups are absolutely flooded with trade posts with reference to IVs and natures, and members not oriented with such mechanics are few and very quickly oriented by fellow members. I myself am the administrator of a few such groups including "Pokémon X/Y Battle and Trade Community," one of the pioneers of the Facebook phenomenon, and we are heading towards 30k members. Here at Smogon University, such an environment doesn't seem bizarre at all, yet how many casual fans did you know in 4th Generation with extensive knowledge of EVs and IVs? Very few, I'm willing to bet. Now, even the less competitive community on Facebook has become filled to the brim with collectors seeking "5/6 IV, flawless nature, shiny, Kalos-born" Pokémon. Players aware of competitive mechanics are now becoming the majority, and I've gathered a few key figures from both forum-based and Facebook based communities to provide their perspective on this phenomenon regarding a possible future in which competitive players become the majority, not just players aware of competitive mechanics, and the distinction between those two made relevant by the rise of the Facebook communities.

I had the pleasure of interviewing Scott Norman, Daniel Song, and Eli Ingwerson for some further insight regarding the diverse nature of the Facebook fanbase. Scott is the founder of the largest active Pokémon Facebook group, "Pokémon X/Y Battle and Trade Community", at over 28,000 members, and is one of the pioneers that helped truly spark the popularity of Pokémon on Facebook.

Daniel and Eli are both also administrators of the aforementioned group and are also very involved competitive battlers. Eli specializes in Smogon Doubles and Daniel is very involved in the VGC community, being close acquaintances with accomplished VGC players such as Enosh Shachar and Matt Sybeldon.

Darke: First of all, how long have you been battling competitively yourself?

Scott: I've been playing competitively since 4th Generation.

Eli: 5th Generation for me.

Daniel: I actually did not start competitive battling seriously until 6th Generation, believe it or not.

Darke: How did you come about creating your group, Scott?

Scott: I decided to create this group because a lot of the major existing Pokémon groups at the time were being mismanaged and were playgrounds for people to spam, troll, and other things of that sort.

Darke: What is your opinion regarding the "competitive shift" among the majority of the fanbase towards IVs, EVs, natures, etc.? Was there a point in the past in which you felt competitive players where a minority among the fanbase?

Scott: I believe that the introduction of the 6th Generation made a big difference in the competitive shift in the Pokémon community. I believe that at one point competitive players were indeed a minority but I believe everything changed once players were able to battle each other over Wi-Fi so easily.

Eli: Well yeah before, stuff like natures and IVs were pretty obscure to the casual player, whereas now, the system is very transparent and anyone can learn how the game ticks a lot easier than in previous games. Another friend and I in particular did feel a little entitled last generation being among the few really good battlers just locally. Now though it seems we're not so "special" anymore.

Daniel: I never really knew too many competitive Pokémon players growing up until this generation, so I would say that competitive players were probably the minority in the past.

Darke: How does Smogon's atmosphere differ from the Facebook community's?

Scott: There are similarities between the atmosphere of Smogon and the Facebook community. But I believe the majority of the Facebook community is more about playing casual and just enjoying the game. A lot of people on Facebook just want to battle and trade (casually) with their favorite Pokémon, and many members are simply collectors too. But the similarities are that there are some pretty good competitive players that can be found on Facebook as well.

Eli: I'm not very active on Smogon's forums but I do the occasional lurking just for information and education purposes, and while this isn't necessarily a "bad" thing it can be easy to feel like there's an invisible hierarchy between newer and older members on the site as well as between the staff and ordinary members or between badged members and unbadged members, for example, regardless of what a member can do or has done in Pokémon outside of the forums. In the Facebook community less of this hierarchy exists except obviously regarding the administrators of the group, who pretty much run the show but mostly from behind the scenes in our own private chat and decide what goes on and what the group is going to be all about, but that's pretty much essential for any Pokémon community including Smogon in my opinion.

Darke: Daniel, what about VGC?

Daniel: I think depending on which Facebook group you are in, most people tend to shy away from VGC because it is a doubles format whereas most people on Facebook who are new to competitive Pokémon feel more drawn to playing singles because it's the format that they're used to since however long they have been playing Pokémon. However, the VGC community is growing ever larger and I would say that the resources that are available for anyone who wants to learn the VGC format is readily available to them to access.

Darke: What do you think caused the shift leading to competitive mechanics becoming common knowledge among the majority of the casual fanbase?

Scott: I think the shift that led to competitive mechanics becoming common knowledge came in Pokémon X and Y. It made things so much easier with things like Super Training and the ease of access to IV breeding using the Destiny Knot item along with the availability of the IV judge to check your IVs. I feel it made things a lot more simple for the casual fanbase to join in on the competitive scene.

Daniel: I think it's a mixture of a couple factors: 1) Pokémon YouTube channels such as PokeaimMD, Haydunn, JustinFlynn, chimpact, shofu, CybertronProductions, Pokeman Academy, and others. These channels produced by many wonderful members of the competitive Pokémoncommunity from both the Smogon and VGC sides of the spectrum have helped a lot of casual players learn about the world of competitive Pokémon. 2) IVs, EVs, and natures are much more accessible in the game, which compels a lot more people to create competitive teams and the Facebook community is definitely the forefront of that where a lot of people seek knowledge from fellow members of the community.

Eli: In addition to what Daniel said, I feel like Facebook is also probably the best and most popular/reliable medium at this point for actually making trades over Wi-Fi or really doing anything on the actual game. I feel like Smogon is more inclined towards the actual battling alone and do all their stuff on simulators as a result, which is fine too, don't get me wrong. I like Showdown!, but in my opinion there's really nothing like playing on the actual gamecard. Lots of fans feel this way too, especially with how nice the visuals are in X and Y, and let's face it, the Wi-Fi forums are a mess at Smogon, partially due to the heavy favor Smogon gives Showdown! over battling on the actual games so hardly anyone worries about actually breeding in-game or doing any of that. So that really just leaves the Facebook community for doing Wi-Fi battling and trading for the people who want to construct their teams and battle on the gamecard.

Darke: How would you bridge the gaps between casual players aware of competitive mechanics and actual competitive communities?

Eli: What gaps? Some people simply don't care to be competitive, regardless of how much they know about EVs and IVs. A lot of the Facebook community can also get turned away from Smogon because, oh Blaziken is banned and its their favorite Pokémon or their favorites get crushed in OU. A lot of the time I like introducing different formats like Smogon Doubles (in which Blaziken is legal) or RU to get those kind of people involved in competitive battling anyway.

Daniel: I think bridging the gap between casuals and competitive players involves a mutual understanding that we are all enjoying the game that we love. What made me want to start playing VGC as a new competitive player was the people that I met in the VGC community who helped me learn the art of teambuilding as well as battle mechanics in a very different format than I am used to playing. I think bridging the gap requires an open mind from both the casual player and the competitive player as well as the willingness to learn.

Darke: In general, what do you think is the Facebook community's attitude toward Smogon right now?

Scott: I think everyone has their preference. I do believe the majority of Facebook supports Smogon. A lot of people view it as not being official, but I think the majority of the people support Smogon and its rules/tiers etc. because to most people they seem fair and balanced.

Eli: I've seen a little bit of backlash usually around the time something new is banned but typically those people have no clue what they're talking about and the majority of the battling community over here generally understands what Smogon does and why.

Darke: Daniel, how about VGC and Nuggetbridge?

Daniel: As for the Facebook community's attitude towards VGC and Nugget Bridge, it seems that in my experience in both communities, I think the Facebook community has more singles players and is less inclined to play VGC due to the doubles format. I think for the most part there is more respect for the VGC format since it carries the title of Nintendo's official competitive format and because Nugget Bridge is one of the premier places to seek information regarding VGC teams and tournaments.

Darke: To close this interview off I would like to mention the importance of introducing new battlers to the simulator community, specifically Pokémon Showdown!, due to the variety of metagames they can practice there, not just Smogon formats, and for these battlers to experience real and relevant competitive formats with real competitive communities as to not get stuck among the plagues and mires of "pseudo-competitive" players practicing with either very limiting or competitively irrational custom rules (I'm talking specifically about the torrents of people asking for "no legend" or "mixtier" single battles among others) when exploring Facebook.

Emphasizing simulator play, I think, is the key to breaking the ice with the new generation of aspiring competitive battlers and I think Smogon's influence on the Facebook fanbase has already helped expand the Pokémon Showdown! fanbase and has helped unify all competitive players under one standard.

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