TheDancingPeanut
New Member
So I've been thinking a lot lately; about the past season, between nationals last year and this year; about some (posts) I've made that I regret; about things that have been said about me. I have been on both the giving and receiving end of some pretty nasty stuff.
And I have been thinking about the 'gym - an odd little creature, in that such a large majorty of the PTCG community comes together here.
And in regards to the 'gym, I've been thinking about how it seems like almost every thread I click on here has either arguing, flaming, ganging or complaining.
I've been thinking about some players who take the game so seriously that they lie, cheat, backstab, etc. Not all. But some.
And I've been thinking about where we go from here.
I've long held the belief that the PTCG will only survive as long as the demand for Pokemon as an entity survives. The cartoon, the games, the movies, it is all tied together. Without those outside forces bringing pokemon fans into the fold, where do the new players come from?
Because it seems to me that there are only a very, very few people who are going to say to themselves, "hey, I think I'll play Pokemon!" if they don't already have a basis for understanding and LIKING pokemon on a broader level.
And those players who do randomly pick up the game...why would they? Some, maybe, because of their friends. Others, many more, I'm afraid, for the prizes.
And that really scares me.
My mom said something to me not too long ago that really struck me hard. She's been playing the game for a little over a year and really started to enjoy it and enjoy the time she spent at tournaments. But she said to me, and I paraphrase some of this, that she was starting to feel like Pokemon wasn't fun anymore.
She said to me that everything was fine when she was a poor player. Everyone was nice to her. But when she started winning more...when she started competing, that changed. The attitudes of the teenagers she played changed, and the attitudes of the adults she played changed. She even got acused of cheating.
That makes me sad. And I know that many will say, "well, if its not fun, don't play." Or, they will say, "maybe you need to take some time off away from the game." Still others will offer that if you can't take the heat, you shouldn't dace by the fire.
But I disagree with that. I disagree with the whole attitude behind that train of thought. I feel like our community, in some ways, has come to expect poor behavior and immaturity; I feel like we've come to accept that as normal, and to expect kindness and compassion as something only a few special people are going to personify. And isn't that also true of our society as a whole? The ME generation? GenerationI?
And what makes me even sadder is knowing that I, for a little while, fell into the trap. That I, for a while, was exactly the same as what I'm speaking out against.
I've been thinking a lot, lately. About many things, as you can see. But all of these seemingly random thoughts lead to a single place.
I don't understand why we can't be nice to each other.
What is on the line here? A $7,000 prize?
Is that really worth all of the bitterness? Is that worth all of the smugness I feel from the game's top players? Is that worth all of the resentment I feel from the games lesser players?
I don't know when the Pokemon Trading Card Game will end. I worry about it, but then I realize one thing: it doesn't matter.
As important as any of us might try to make ourselves at any given time, we cannot control what happens to this game. We are powerless, in that regard.
So I've made a decision to change the way I think about being involved in this game. I've decided to get back to the reasons why me and my family started.
We actually like Pokemon, and are not ashamed of it. We like the cartoons. We like the games. We think Pikachu is cute, not annoying. And we miss Misty.
We like traveling together and spending time together.
And yes, we like competing and trying to become a pokemon master.
But for pete's sake, people...it shouldn't be a matter of life or death.
So my goal this season is to simply be nice to people.
My goal is to compete, but to do so with a certain amount of respect.
My goal is hold myself to a higher standard than I've been holding myself to.
Because I can't control what happens to this game.
Nor when the season starts.
Nor when the whole shebang is over.
But I absolutley can control my own actions even when it is difficult to do.
And I'm posting this not because I hope to change minds but so that others out there will know that there is at least one like mind.
And I have been thinking about the 'gym - an odd little creature, in that such a large majorty of the PTCG community comes together here.
And in regards to the 'gym, I've been thinking about how it seems like almost every thread I click on here has either arguing, flaming, ganging or complaining.
I've been thinking about some players who take the game so seriously that they lie, cheat, backstab, etc. Not all. But some.
And I've been thinking about where we go from here.
I've long held the belief that the PTCG will only survive as long as the demand for Pokemon as an entity survives. The cartoon, the games, the movies, it is all tied together. Without those outside forces bringing pokemon fans into the fold, where do the new players come from?
Because it seems to me that there are only a very, very few people who are going to say to themselves, "hey, I think I'll play Pokemon!" if they don't already have a basis for understanding and LIKING pokemon on a broader level.
And those players who do randomly pick up the game...why would they? Some, maybe, because of their friends. Others, many more, I'm afraid, for the prizes.
And that really scares me.
My mom said something to me not too long ago that really struck me hard. She's been playing the game for a little over a year and really started to enjoy it and enjoy the time she spent at tournaments. But she said to me, and I paraphrase some of this, that she was starting to feel like Pokemon wasn't fun anymore.
She said to me that everything was fine when she was a poor player. Everyone was nice to her. But when she started winning more...when she started competing, that changed. The attitudes of the teenagers she played changed, and the attitudes of the adults she played changed. She even got acused of cheating.
That makes me sad. And I know that many will say, "well, if its not fun, don't play." Or, they will say, "maybe you need to take some time off away from the game." Still others will offer that if you can't take the heat, you shouldn't dace by the fire.
But I disagree with that. I disagree with the whole attitude behind that train of thought. I feel like our community, in some ways, has come to expect poor behavior and immaturity; I feel like we've come to accept that as normal, and to expect kindness and compassion as something only a few special people are going to personify. And isn't that also true of our society as a whole? The ME generation? GenerationI?
And what makes me even sadder is knowing that I, for a little while, fell into the trap. That I, for a while, was exactly the same as what I'm speaking out against.
I've been thinking a lot, lately. About many things, as you can see. But all of these seemingly random thoughts lead to a single place.
I don't understand why we can't be nice to each other.
What is on the line here? A $7,000 prize?
Is that really worth all of the bitterness? Is that worth all of the smugness I feel from the game's top players? Is that worth all of the resentment I feel from the games lesser players?
I don't know when the Pokemon Trading Card Game will end. I worry about it, but then I realize one thing: it doesn't matter.
As important as any of us might try to make ourselves at any given time, we cannot control what happens to this game. We are powerless, in that regard.
So I've made a decision to change the way I think about being involved in this game. I've decided to get back to the reasons why me and my family started.
We actually like Pokemon, and are not ashamed of it. We like the cartoons. We like the games. We think Pikachu is cute, not annoying. And we miss Misty.
We like traveling together and spending time together.
And yes, we like competing and trying to become a pokemon master.
But for pete's sake, people...it shouldn't be a matter of life or death.
So my goal this season is to simply be nice to people.
My goal is to compete, but to do so with a certain amount of respect.
My goal is hold myself to a higher standard than I've been holding myself to.
Because I can't control what happens to this game.
Nor when the season starts.
Nor when the whole shebang is over.
But I absolutley can control my own actions even when it is difficult to do.
And I'm posting this not because I hope to change minds but so that others out there will know that there is at least one like mind.
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