What happened to The PokeGym?

[ShadowCard]

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:

 

[Prime]

Are you volunteering to update the front page?

 

[ShadowCard]

Are you volunteering to update the front page?

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.

For me personally, I already update a website and keep it current. Thank you for the offer. But I will keep reviewing this thread to bring opportunities in the website to your attention :biggrin:

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.

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?

 

[P_A]

Perhaps another part of the gym's downfall (for lack of a better word or phrase ... possibly the word predicament might have been better), has been the large amount of downtime the users suffered earlier last year. I don't know if my memory is serving me well or not, but wasn't it totally down for a couple weeks during the summer, and when it came back it was just bare bones? I seem to remember that it had something to do with some hacker backdoor ..... maybe I'm not remembering it properly, but something like that was involved. Then promises were made to have everything back in order by the fall, but it was probably late fall when changes finally ground to a halt (mostly, that is). In any case, you can see where that might have an effect on viewership.

So how do you get that viewership back? You continue with innovation. You do the best you can to keep current viewership stable, and entertained, and bring back those you lost by working that much more. Prime, I see you're committed to doing that. We all can tell that by your present level of posts on this thread. Where are the rest of the mods and admins? Is everyone so tired from their daily lives to take the time to comment on the future of the gym? Can't someone else give Prime some help with some comments? I don't mean offense by any means, but there have been few comments from others - other than notably a rant about those who do nothing. Perhaps it is true. I happened to notice during my stint as a mod that people liked to have the mod designation under their name, but precious few really took pride in doing the work involved.

Look everyone, Do you want to have a website you can have pride in going to and participating in .... or not? If you do, then work to show it. If not, .... or you don't care one way or another, what are you gonna do? Continue to complain? Does it really do you any good?

 

[SuperWooper]

The kids who used to hang out here got older and migrated to websites geared toward competitive play.

 

[PokemonTrader]

SuperWooper, but I don't see the difference?
We still have all those forums for competitive play and stuff.


EDIT: Also what happened to the "alerts" about private message inbox getting full?
I used to clear it all the time if it was at 90% or whatever. I totally don't even realize it anymore.

 

[TheRolesWePlay]

The kids who used to hang out here got older and migrated to websites geared toward competitive play.

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.

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. I think it was around that same time that active discussions started to peter out too. 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.

 

[SuperWooper]

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.

Of course, there are things the Gym does well. It's been a while since I've browsed here, but I remember the Tournaments & OP section was always the best place to go if you wanted to know what events were coming up. And there was usually a list of winning decks from each series of tournaments that was handy for metagaming on a national level.

"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.

EDIT: The Ask the Masters section, or whatever it's called now, is another great feature of the Pokegym. If you've got a question about the current format, you can be sure that you'll get a quick, accurate answer. Plus, PokePop has been around forever, so he's a great source of information on how today's cards interact with those from the WotC era.

EDIT 2: While looking at the Tournaments & OP section to see if it was the same as I remembered it, I noticed a big change between the Pokegym I knew during the mid-2000s and the Pokegym of today: there are almost no tournament reports posted to the Pokegym anymore. The amount of reports posted during the Pokegym's heyday was a terrific draw for me. Users wrote about their tournament experiences whether they went 4-3 at a State Championship or won Nationals. Even "T8 at Local CC" reports were fun to read, because you got a sense of that person's voice and playstyle. All of that is gone now. Not a gripe, just an observation.

EDIT 3: Also, the Pokegym Tower is the best place (that I know of) to find scans of old cards. If you've ever wanted to see all the different Qwilfish cards together in one place, go to the Tower, click "Unimited" (not a typo) near the bottom left, ctrl-F "Qwilfish," and there they'll be.

 

[P_A]

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.

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.

 

[TheRolesWePlay]

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.
...
"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.

I don't know about you, but the big appeal for me, (and something I've heard many others like in the past) was the welcoming and open nature of the community. Ever since HGSS (when it seems like groups like Hey Trainer started popping up, although I'll admit I don't really know for certain) it seems like the general tone of the community has been dropping off.

Sure these closed off groups may be where the strongest decks can come from, but IMO the community has been suffering to a degree from it. Weather it be because of the lack of innovation, the lack of conversation, or the lacking card pool (which I don't believe to be the case), or some other factor is hard to pin down. However I will say that I haven't seen active conversations in a while, even at leagues. So I would argue that, yes public discussion is important as it generates discussion, creativity and ultimately a greater sense of community which have seemed to be dwindling in my experience recently.

Again I can't really say anything for certain, I've always been reclusive myself, and my personal experience is certainly absolute. But there certainly seems to be an elitism going on, just look at the status of recent top cuts to see that.

Ultimately this is all food for thought, and hopefully it can help us understand what's happening and how Gym use that to change.

 

[vaporeon]

I feel like it is the lack of a good card pool. I love Pokemon but a lot of choices they made make the game hard for me to play. In the TCG, everything is overpowered. We or at least I was hoping for a fresh new start with XY and looking forward to the changes but we did not get any. Instead, they made basic Pokemon even more powerful, and that mixed with the broken card support from BW to me makes it unplayable. I'm looking forward to Pidgeots card next set but 130 HP is nothing when a basic can deal that damage in 1 or 2 turns. In the VGC, its much of the same, except more focus on fairy types and broken megas.

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.

 

[King Piplup]

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.

 

[vaporeon]

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.

XY is a good start but it exist with BW sets. XY cant be good until BW rotates, which may not happen because of the extended format. Also cards are still based on BW sets, making Pokemon XY just another BW set. Also, players may think PokeGym is too kid friendly and move onto more aged up sites. I never though that was a bad thing though.

 

[P_A]

To be honest, even I was disappointed to notice that a disproportional number of the questions and threads that were posted on the video game portion of the gym since the release of X/Y were threads and questions posed by me - instead of my questions and threads being just a small portion of the greater whole. Sure, X/Y have been great, and it was a huge disappointment that we had to wait so long for Bank, and then wait even longer than originally promised for it to finally be released - so much so that I finally gave up and got bored with the whole mess and haven't picked up the game since. Plus there's the whole "no VGC for Canadians" thing that's rather disappointing as well. It's hard to continue to comment about things in the game if you don't play it anymore. I imagine those things have some bearing on others lack of enthusiasm as well. However if that were the case then other major sites would also be experiencing the same shift. So I suppose there's no one easy answer to any of this, and no easy scapegoat to pin it all on.

I think the biggest portion of the gym's predicament has to do with lack of enthusiasm drifting down from admins to mods to the rest of us users. That's my opinion. You may not agree with me, but I have yet to see anything to change my opinion on the matter. I seriously hope I'm wrong. Seriously. So Gym admins and mods, what are you going to do to help turn this around? I know you have some smart people here. You even have a few very dedicated people here too. Please don't let this fade into the shadows. Here's some advice:

Appreciate contributions as best you can - without going too far overboard of course.
Enthusiasm - get more involved and get caught up in the enthusiasm of others threads and posts.
Innovate with programs and projects that both have and haven't been tried before - and don't be afraid to seek successful ideas from other sites.
Organize some fun activities which bring the community together, and last of all, don't be afraid to ....
Use as many good suggestions as the users can come up with.

The community will return. But you have to do your part to show you want it. Don't just think you are a resource for the community and leave the work for them to keep it going. Your work will continue while pokemon is supported, but the rewards can be good if you really work hard at it.... and for it.

 

[PokemonTrader]

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

 

[vaporeon]

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

What did you have in mind?

 

[PokemonTrader]

About mod reevaluations or about opening up applications to become a mod?

If someone takes the time to apply that should show they care more than the average user who might get a pm saying 'do you want to mod' or something along those lines. For the reevaluation there are some areas of the forum that either need more mods or the mods in those areas are never around. Just what I've noticed

 

[Chompy]

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.

Wanna hop on the bandwagon and we can watch some anime sometime along with reading manga comics?

 

[Absoltrainer]

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.

Where is the rest of the staff?!?!?

Why is Prime the ONLY one really saying much of anything? A few quick one post, single point responses here and there from a couple of other mods and admins. A "thanks" on a post here and there. Where's the communication with your members in a thread that's literally your members trying to communicate with you.

P_A isn't even staff anymore and he's contributing more then most of the staff.

 

[ShadowCard]

Could it be possible the moderating staff is speaking through Prime since he has already paved a path of communication? A lot of moderator's jumping into a thread all at once could give the appearance the staff is presenting an overbearing show of opinion, something they have been accused of in the past.

But even without posts, the lack of thanks by moderators to posts (which Eeveelover appears to be more actively participating with) is interesting.