Pokémon TCG: Sword and Shield—Brilliant Stars

The State Of The Game

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Dear Pokemon friends;

I may not be the most qualified person to make this statement, yet I feel it must be made none the less.

I believe we are at a very important stage in the development of the Pokemon TCG, as a game, and as a community. We are at a crossroads, and the direction we chose will shape who we are for a very long time. So it goes without saying that we should take every effort to make our choices in those matters wisely, and only after carefully weighing both sides of the equation.

The state of the game is very strong. We are recruiting new players at a more rapid pace than we have done in some time. We are seeing an increased number of players who have left the game, returning. We are even seeing that we can draw players from the Yu-Gi-Oh pool. We are building a reputation as a good, community, a strong community, a community which is here to stay. We are finally beginning to earn the respect of our peers we have so long desired.

This is all very well and good, but it must be approached with caution. And thus, we go back to our crossroads. We must decide, if we are going to be the type of community who will allow ourselves to fall victim to politics and immaturity. We must ask ourselves if we, as the leaders helping to develop this community, are going to allow ourselves to be susceptible to petty attempts to distract us - or, in contrast, if we as a community and specifically as the leader's of that community, will remain constantly focused, constantly working forward to advance the game.

We simply cannot allow ourselves to have public conflicts, even when we disagree - period. It is detrimental to the game when outside players see that. We can not allow ourselves to become narrow minded about our local area, but in contrast, we must remind ourselves to think about the big picture, and to believe in what the community can be. This, is not an idealist or socialist attitude. it is simply a positive attitude. It is an attitude of maturity.

I believe, if the game, and organized play are to continue growing and survive in the long run, these are the things we must do:

1) We must be welcoming to all new players, young and old. This, seems obvious, but it is not always the case. I have traveled to a number of different leagues over the past year and have witnessed numerous cases of new players being taken advantage of condescended upon. As leaders, it is our job to stop this. You may ask,"how can I keep a child from taking advantage of another", and my answer to you is this: Simply demand it. I believe we must EXPECT a certain level of behavior from ourselves and our community. A code of conduct if you will. True, some will not accept this, but others, the majority, will appreciate it. As leaders, we must be strong, we must be mature, and we must not allow bad attitudes and immaturity to be present becasue it spreads like a disease.

2) We must make sure that tournaments and premier events are scheduled, located, staffed, and promoted for the good of the community, not for the good or enjoyment of a single person or a single body of persons. If we are doing this for personal gratification, then I must ask ourselves if we really ought to be doing it at all.This, ties in to number 3.

3) We must work as community leaders to achieve exemplary communication between state PTO's, TO's, Judges, and players. Too many states which I have interviewed and visited (my own included) are fragmented and thus, have fragmented communication. We must open the networks of communication so that every leader and every community member in any given area knows every details of the events which are happening. An example of this, is that there were recently two somewhat high-profile events in my state, both within a reasonable driving distance. Out of the 10 players that I polled, 7 of them knew nothing about either of the events.

How can we expect to survive, let alone grow as a community, if we do not use the resources we have? We can't just say "oh, those players should have checked the pokegym". That does not cut it in the real world. If we cannot accept that we must work harder at keeping these communications open, than we are surely lost.

I would go so far as to say that I believe this, communication, to be the single most important thing we must improve upon.

4) We must change our attitude. We must be warm and open, strict, yes, but open. That goes for the way we treat people at leagues, at tournaments, at the pokegym, EVERYWHERE, ALL THE TIME. If we are forced to reprimand, we must explain the reasons why, or we cannot expect that person to change. We must change our attitude so that we do not seem burdened upon when new players come to us, but rather, so that we seem genuinely excited about their presence. And more so, we must actually learn to be genuinely exited about their presence. Every single person who comes to us is one more valuable community member.

Once again, it my utmost confidence that we are standing on the verge of something amazing. But we simply cannot allow ourselves to get caught up in any bit of negativity. We must purge ourselves of all negative thoughts, actions, and attitudes.

That is my opinion about the state of the game.

~ Jim
 
In a non-sarcastic way, that sounds a lot like the KDE fiscal report I got in the mail a few months ago @_@

Seriously, well done! The leagues caught up in the "politics" you mentioned should take the Texas/Oklahoma area as a shining example. The three main leagues in the North Texas area, Creative Gift Baskets, Y2 Komics, and Texas Game Company, are all familiar with each other, and the Houston and Dragon prereleases enjoyed nice numbers due to group support, and I think, with such an AWESOME group of judges running things down in OKC, that event will be successful too! (Although I won't be able to go, gosh darnit!) >_<
 
I would have to say the community as a whole is healthy, but I know what you're referring too seeing as how Im being dragged in the middle of it by both sides. Unfortunately, the politics is turning Florida into the illegitimate cousin in the Pokemon family.

PLEASE use the 'add reply' or 'quick reply' buttons/windows rather than the 'reply' button in the previous post; using that one quotes the entire previous post within the new one!
 
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Jim,

I do agree with your topic, and the fact that the attitute of the people you call 'the leaders' of the community, like the attitude of everyone representing the game, one way or another, is very important and must be positive.

I would just give a little word about the following :

We simply cannot allow ourselves to have public conflicts, even when we disagree - period. It is detrimental to the game when outside players see that. We can not allow ourselves to become narrow minded about our local area, but in contrast, we must remind ourselves to think about the big picture, and to believe in what the community can be.

If the way things are discussed takes a bad direction, like IMO it has been the case on a topic about 'Outside the US', it is sure that limits have to be put and email or AOL used instead of the boards.
BUT that doesn't mean that we all must agree with everything.
If we take the same example (Outside the USA topic), I do understand what some people wanted to say, and even if the way it has been said was probably not the best, we must respect the message they want to give.

As you know, I'm from Europe, and I absolutely don't want to reply like 'You have that in the US and we don't have it ! '. But when you talk about becoming narrow minded about our area, I would better say that beeing narrow minded about our area is perfect if it makes the game going forward in that area without negative aspects for other places.

So, in addition to your post, I would add that one of the main roles of the community, and of the people deeply involved in the game, is to do everything they can in order to promote the game, and to have the same level of game in terms of releases, POP, ... everywhere in the World.

I don't believe in a 'US game only', I prefer to believe in Pokemon as a game played by people everywhere in the World. It is possible, PUI are working on it, and we, as a community, have to push in that direction.

I've been lucky enough to play many tournaments all over Europe, 2 STS, 1 World and 1 TMB. I may assure you that the best time I've had in the game has been at these tournaments, when I've met people from other countries, other cultures. We may not forget the league or local activities from where everything starts, but the game is also there to connect people from different countries.
If you ask to my daughter or to me what's the best thing we've found in the game, the answer would be very clear : meeting people and making friends from Italy, Holland, UK, Norway, Spain, Germany, Denmark, USA, Canada, Japan, ...

This said, once again I do agree with your excellent post.
 
Yep, there are friends in US. Michel, your family and other European players, are always welcome in our home ;) Hope we get to see each other soon.
Dave
 
PhoenixSong:

A Very poignent and intelligently thought out post. Very well done.

I wholeheardledly agree with all your points. Nicely done! :)

Take Care,

Skywolf1
 
Nice to bring it back Phoenix Song. I also think that this is one of the best times for the game to flourish. With the GameBoy aspect as well as the TCG. Cant wait for more places to start holding sanctioned tourneys.
 
The post also reminded us that we are players of one vision and one that promotes a prosperous community. It feels good that the game is slowly getting back to its tracks and we are there to accelerate it.

I agree that not all can agree on some things involving OP, TO etc., that is why we must settle this the mature and "professional" way as possible which could not shake us.

We here have felt some card holders getting interested in the game. But we let them come, sit, enjoy, make friends and welcome them openly. :)
 
Very inspiring speech. (Crowd starts chanting PO-KE-MON, PO-KE-MON!)
I definately agree that if the word can be spread about tournaments and league then the new players will stay in the game. For the first time in almost 2 years there are others interested in tournaments at my league besides my friend and I who have been competitive the whole time. Things are definately looking up and if we all take responsibility in helping out new players, getting out info that we receive from the gym etc., and just plain promote the game good things will happen. Nice Job Phoenix Song.
 
Nice. I don't think I could have said it much better. I definitely agree with the communication and welcoming new players.

It is nice that we are on an upswing again, especially after the whole deal of changing companies earlier this year. Just a few months ago, it appeared that there was no recovering, but now, for some reason or another, players are coming back, interest is rising, and tournaments are spreading.

Although I can't deal a whole lot with a number of things you mentioned, I definitely know what you're coming from. :)
 
This has been President PheonixSong delivering his State of the Union address.

OK seriously, you make some very good points, but I doubt Nintendo will change that much.
 
Cooltrainer Aaron said:
OK seriously, you make some very good points, but I doubt Nintendo will change that much.
It's not about what Nintendo does. As far as Nintendo is concerned, our only responsibilities are:

A) To publicly support their staff and programs in every aspect ad with every ounce of effort we have to devote.

AND

B) When we disagree with something Nintendo is doing, to approach them in a mature and professional, and PRIVATE manner. If we don't like the way something is moving, we must not start posting in the pokegym and running our mouths at our leagues about why Nintendo is ruining things. All that does is breed contempt and negativity.

The things I talked about in my post are not things we must rely on Nintendo to change - they are things we must change about ourselves and our own attitudes. We must acknowledge our shortcomings in order to improve them.

~ Jim
ps. Thank you every one for the kind words.
 
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