Scyther_trainer
New Member
Over the past 5 years I've made a lot of friends.... I owe a lot of that to LittlePichu and EeveeTrainer... this game they played....
As I look at my friendlist I see over 20 names.... people I've come to know and regard as friends. It takes a lot to close a chapter of your life and move on. I know that some of you have faced that problem at least once... sometimes more than once... but as our lives move on, and we grow and mature, we come to realize that the things we once held as dear and paramount to our lives suddenly seems less so. And so it has been with me.
In the time since mid-August I have stepped away from a game that I once eyed cautiously, then came to love, and eventually controlled.
In the early days, when EeveeTrainer was just teaching LittelPichu and I to play, I was cautious. I had been burned by a TCG before (MTG). Spending lots of money I didn't have and then being left high and dry when the people I played with disappeared. I realized then that a TCG is only as good as those you play it with.
I remember the first time I came to league. I felt so out of place. Here I was a 21-year-old and looking at all the 10-year-olds playing.
With coaxing I was finally able to overcome my trepidation and I began to play. Eventually, EeveeTrainer and I came to run the league and the young players began to look up to me as an authority figure. I loved this! I like kids. I like teaching.
Then we discovered the tournament scene and everything changed... It was no longer a game where you just put things together to see if they work. Now you were studying the web pages. Learning what the top decks were. Putting out the money to get four copies of the most important cards. Try to get on top!
Suddenly, we were exposed to whole communities of players as roughly 4-5 different leagues in the area came together for all the major events.
Then we had problems at home. The wotc store was closing and our league was in jeopardy. Pokemon was being taken over by Nintendo and none of us knew if league would even continue. This was when I decided to run the league myself. This move saved our league while the wotc store closed and allowed us to move (eventually) to our new location (Gamer's realm) intact. This worked for 1 year and then GR closed and we were left high and dry again. But we didn't care so much anymore. We were all heavily involved in the tournament scene. (Go Team Eevee!) We eventually found a new home at All Things Fun and league continued there. Finally we had a location with store owners that actually care about the game and want to see it succeed. I was finally able to turn league responsibilities over to the store owner.
We had a few problems though. The location was much to far for our Riverside area players and therefore a good 40% of our league had problems attending. This caused some to quit.
Then in the last year, things happened that turned my world upside down. My parents moved far away in November, EeveeTrainer left in August, and hurricanes in the Gulf caused gas prices to soar. All this accelerated what I felt was an inevitable process.
It pains me so much to have to do this....
I must quit Pokemon. I cannot afford to maintain the game. I need money for airplane tickets to see my parents (whom I love very much) and I need to conserve my gas,
I attended the EX
elta Species Pre-release last weekend, because of the money spent there, I now do not have enough money to get through the week. This has been proof enough that I cannot continue to play this game.
Good Bye, and to those who still play, good luck!
P.S. - If this is the wrong place for this, then move it or whatever. I don't care since I won't be back.
As I look at my friendlist I see over 20 names.... people I've come to know and regard as friends. It takes a lot to close a chapter of your life and move on. I know that some of you have faced that problem at least once... sometimes more than once... but as our lives move on, and we grow and mature, we come to realize that the things we once held as dear and paramount to our lives suddenly seems less so. And so it has been with me.
In the time since mid-August I have stepped away from a game that I once eyed cautiously, then came to love, and eventually controlled.
In the early days, when EeveeTrainer was just teaching LittelPichu and I to play, I was cautious. I had been burned by a TCG before (MTG). Spending lots of money I didn't have and then being left high and dry when the people I played with disappeared. I realized then that a TCG is only as good as those you play it with.
I remember the first time I came to league. I felt so out of place. Here I was a 21-year-old and looking at all the 10-year-olds playing.
With coaxing I was finally able to overcome my trepidation and I began to play. Eventually, EeveeTrainer and I came to run the league and the young players began to look up to me as an authority figure. I loved this! I like kids. I like teaching.
Then we discovered the tournament scene and everything changed... It was no longer a game where you just put things together to see if they work. Now you were studying the web pages. Learning what the top decks were. Putting out the money to get four copies of the most important cards. Try to get on top!
Suddenly, we were exposed to whole communities of players as roughly 4-5 different leagues in the area came together for all the major events.
Then we had problems at home. The wotc store was closing and our league was in jeopardy. Pokemon was being taken over by Nintendo and none of us knew if league would even continue. This was when I decided to run the league myself. This move saved our league while the wotc store closed and allowed us to move (eventually) to our new location (Gamer's realm) intact. This worked for 1 year and then GR closed and we were left high and dry again. But we didn't care so much anymore. We were all heavily involved in the tournament scene. (Go Team Eevee!) We eventually found a new home at All Things Fun and league continued there. Finally we had a location with store owners that actually care about the game and want to see it succeed. I was finally able to turn league responsibilities over to the store owner.
We had a few problems though. The location was much to far for our Riverside area players and therefore a good 40% of our league had problems attending. This caused some to quit.
Then in the last year, things happened that turned my world upside down. My parents moved far away in November, EeveeTrainer left in August, and hurricanes in the Gulf caused gas prices to soar. All this accelerated what I felt was an inevitable process.
It pains me so much to have to do this....
I must quit Pokemon. I cannot afford to maintain the game. I need money for airplane tickets to see my parents (whom I love very much) and I need to conserve my gas,
I attended the EX
elta Species Pre-release last weekend, because of the money spent there, I now do not have enough money to get through the week. This has been proof enough that I cannot continue to play this game.Good Bye, and to those who still play, good luck!
P.S. - If this is the wrong place for this, then move it or whatever. I don't care since I won't be back.
