ShadowCard
Active Member
An occasional update to the front page news would make the site look more lively. The last update was over a month ago. State Championships are going on right now. :smile:
It was a reminder that there hasn't been a news update in a while. People don't come here as much if the news isn't current. Current PokeGym staff should keep up the website they are staff for. There was a post on a previous page that seemed to say the same thing so I'm only echoing that.Are you volunteering to update the front page?
Even after so many of us have mentioned the current look is aesthetically unpleasing? Yes, we cannot go back to the previous look and that response is something we have to accept. However, while acknowledging that it is easier to complain, I'll point out how your rough designs were better received despite their technical kinks. Can't this get the ball rolling for a redesign?3) Gym looks (unwashed? unwished?). That's fine, you are welcome to your opinion. I like the current look. Perhaps we can add something in the future that will be more to your tastes.
The kids who used to hang out here got older and migrated to websites geared toward competitive play.
So I guess a big question I think needs to be answered is how do we get people to start having a public discussion instead of simply retreating to their own groups.
That's a fair question with a difficult to pin down answer. Perhaps part of the answer is to simply ask if any tournament reports you see on other sites could be copied and pasted on here. Some may resist such ideas, but many would like to get some sort of pat on the back for their accomplishments, and may welcome a larger audience. Others may not like the idea, but may be willing to do so if someone starts the ball rolling. It just takes one to start.Except Gym never really diverted away from being competitive. I think Prime got it right in that they wanted to have their own groups to converse with. I agree. There were a number of people who broke off a few years back.
Edit#2: That still didn't seem to halt the growth of the numbers of the gym users however.
Now that I think about it, a few years back (heck almost 5+) there was a lot of business with people being parts of teams. When I was a mod a few years back, I do remember that although there weren't active posts made to say 'No teams allowed' there was some mention of discouraging that type of behavior. It wasn't such that the mods wanted to break teams up, but it may have been perceived as such, so may have precipitated some further splintering off of those who wanted to stick together. The real reason (be it right or wrong in your opinion) behind discouraging team building and advertising was to try to keep things open and fair for everyone - not to keep ideas to oneself or 'my buddies only.' It also helped to disseminate more deck ideas throughout the masses. I think it was around that same time that active discussions started to peter out too. That sounds about right from what I remember. So I guess a big question I think needs to be answered is how do we get people to start having a public discussion instead of simply retreating to their own groups.
Why is this necessary? Smaller testing groups are the places where tangible progress is made. And websites that regularly feature deck breakdowns, metagame analysis, articles on the state of the game, etc. are the new hubs of information for the competitive player.
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"Its user base migrated elsewhere" isn't an indictment; it's a fact. The title of this thread is "What happened to the PokeGym?" so I answered. Sorry if I came late to the party.
Most of the playerbase would say XY is one of the best things that's happened in quite awhile to the TCG.
Besides, I fail to see what that has to do with the dramatic decline of posters here, when other sites are fine and well.
As Dumbledore once stated...
There's always help at (pokegym) to those who ask for it...
So if we want to improve I think we need to start acting more as a community than as a bunch of mods who don't have enthusiasm. Perhaps it is time we open up applications again or do some well needed reevaluations
I think the community is dying down because of poor choices TPi are making. The game is no longer healthy and players are moving on. The game needs a reboot. That should fix this.
And one of the biggest improvements I feel that is needed is more public communication with the members. So, nobody is telling me to do it, but I'm going ahead and being honest and open to the members, because I think that is the right thing to do.