Pokémon TCG: Sword and Shield—Brilliant Stars

A Child's Thoughts on Pokemon

M

Maverick Hunter Zero

New Member
Howdy folks! Haven't been here in a while, but I saw this over on Penny Arcade, and might be worth posting over here. (My apologies if it's already been posted, only did a quick sweep once to see if it's been posted.)

Gabe said:
I just got this email and I had to share it with you all.


Dear Mister Gabe,

Hi! My name is Nausica (gnaw-sik-ca), I am twelve years old and I love pokemon. My mom got me the Pokemon Pearl for my DS and I love love love it, it is probably my favorite game. I heard about the pokemon tournament at Gamestop and really wanted to go, but I am really shy so I wasn't going to, but my parents talked me into it and said it would be a good for me and I would have fun.
So I went and it seemed at first like it would be fun, there were alot of really nice kids there who all loved pokemon like me, it was really fun showing off my team of Evee's and seeing what other people liked too.
Then the older guys came, I dunno how old they were but they were much older then most of the other kids there, they pretty much ruined the fun of it for everyone else there. I guess they weren't really mean, but how they acted sounded alot like the boy you described, that you had a chance to beat. But unfortunately for the kids at the tournament I went too, there wasn't a nice guy like you to set an example for them. Needless to say most of us there didn't have a good chance against them, (I never knew what the special point things were even), and they never really told us nice job or anything. The guy that got me laughed when he saw my line up of Evees.
So afterwards I really didn't wanna play pokemon very much, and I thought I was gonna stop playing, cause I only really play to have fun, not to beat everyone else. Then today my mom (who is a big fan) showed me what you wrote, and it made me feel a million times better!!! :D
I couldn't believe I almost let some jerks take away my love of pokemon!

So I really just wanted to tell you thank you Mister Gabe! What you said ment alot to me and my evees!! You are a great person and I wish I could have been at your tournament to meet you!

Have a great day!!

Sincerely

Nausica


ps! I'm naming my next boy evee after you ^_^

I think I'll probably be smiling for the next week thanks to this.
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Interesting food for thought. I know I stopped participating in Pokemon TCG tournaments a while ago because of the 'l33t' crowd. The event being referred to in the e-mail can be found on the Penny Arcade website.

Just goes to show you the kind of impact some of you older players can have on the kids. Good AND bad.
 
Pokémon simply needs more age brackets.

That said, the point of the event was to have fun. But if you join a tournament, you have to understand that there's a focus on winning there. A team of Eevees may be fun to show to your friends or battle casually, but you really don't have much of a place to be complaining that it's not going to win a competition. Stomping on people when they're just trying to have fun casually is one thing, and is quite scummy to do, but stomping on people in a tournament is just one player playing to win and his opponent playing to have fun.

"Pokémon Tournament", not "Pokémon Casual Social Gathering".
 
Winning and losing wasn't the point here.

Attitude was.

edit: Rather, one can be a very dedicated tournament-goer (Who intends to win) without the belittling, bullying attitude that turns people off from the game.
 
That's pretty decent.
Watch, that was probably Chucky doing that.
Well, it's inspiring, to say the least.

I wish I was at that stuff...
I still need to get PBR.
 
If I played against a team of Eevees, I would laugh. It's not to be mean, it's just funny stuff. You know when in the pokemon games where you battle a fisherman with a team of magikarp that only know splash?
 
^Yeah, sometimes you cant help but laugh at stuff like that(personally i would have gone with charmanders) but after the match is done the right thing to do is to say gg reguardless of the outcome
 
I don't think this is true at all I think little kids are intimidated just because someone is older is there. i am not saying there aren't people who act "1337" and to say it isn't like illegal to dress a certain way.

If you have a line up of Eevees and someone laughs I mean i would have a hard time keeping that in myself. But I would be like cool Eevees. Anyway I try to be courteous. But seriously I was at PBR tournament and some of those Parents are mean to you (to the older crowd) after you beat their kid and shake their hand and TRY to do the courteous thing. And I didn't even say anything else I beat them shook their hand and left. The mom was like you could't LET my KID win!? and she was mad I was like letting someone win? Sorry i don't do that
 
I wouldn't ever patronize a kid by letting them win. I'd show them actual respect and play like normal.
 
What kind of crowd is seriously mean enough to drive someone away from a game?

I mean, as far as the masters don't mess with 14- like that. I don't think I've ever really seen true belitting of someone under 14.

If they're 15 or over, it's usually caused by something or has some kind of grounds. If it was 15+ attacking 15+, then I really doubt it was the leet crowd. Meet any good player in person and they are FUN and FUNNY.
 
I think a lot of it depends on the format of the tournament. Many people and stores ran this as 'show and battle with the team that you built.' Now, ignoring those that cheated to get the teams, not a lot of little kids can really be expected to win that. I know that my kids are limited on the amount of video game time that they play, etc. But other stores seemed to run the tournament as more of a showcase for PBR and 'show us your skills in the Pokemon arena.' The store that we went to did this. Everyone 'rented' the store's Pokemon to create their teams and battled with those. This required an understanding of the different types and attacks, etc. and not just the God moves you have given your own personal team. Only one participant complained about this set-up and he lost to my 6 year old. No right or wrong just different ideas. If they hold them in the future maybe they can have a variety of formats.

Back to back posts merged. The following information has been added:

Oh, and we told our 9 year old who ended up winning the tournament how proud we were of him because every match he started by saying hi and wishing his opponent good luck and ended with a hand shake and good game. I think this in sincerity is what should be expected of every player regardless or age and skill.
 
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Heatherdu said:
Oh, and we told our 9 year old who ended up winning the tournament how proud we were of him because every match he started by saying hi and wishing his opponent good luck and ended with a hand shake and good game. I think this in sincerity is what should be expected of every player regardless or age and skill.
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i agree i made sure that i did this before every round.I mean i dont want to make people think im a jerk lol
 
Do you suppose that was a team of all different evolved forms of Eevee (so one Flareon, one Vaporeon, and so on), or a team of all unevolved Eevees? If the second team, I can't see how it's much fun.
 
before the start of every game I always steal my opponents dice and throw them in the air. I then slap their hand when they reach to cut my deck and say "Bad dog, sit!" to which they usually comply.

During the game, I will often sneeze or make other funny noises, perhaps even lick their card when I ask them to see it.

After the game, if I won, I will jump onto the table and scream "TACO TACO TACO BELL".

If I lose, they will "find" the "opponent" in a "secret" "place" when the tourney is over.

If you follow those steps, you too can win a regional!
 
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