OmegaRuby and AlphaSapphire

It's terrible. :( Words like "rape" and a certain homophobic f-slur get casually tossed around in reference to battles, and people make it a point to only use male Pokémon (outside of female-only species like Blissey). It's also very common to see the games' female NPCs get grossly objectified and treated like pieces of meat. Very unwelcoming community for anyone who isn't a neanderthal.

What makes it really sad is that Pokémon is otherwise a very great community outside of that one section of the fandom. You see an even mix of both genders, and everyone is welcomed and treated fairly. I've met a lot of great people within the large umbrella of "casual" fans, be they ROM hackers, fan artists, writers, anime fans, or whatnot.

It's tragic how much more dominant and vocal the voices of the competitive minority are than the rest of the fandom. I truly think the community would be better off without Smogon and their ilk. What started out as a fun side activity has become a toxic influence on the entire fandom.

Yeah, I think in most gaming fandoms, casual players are stereotyped as dumb/lazy/immature and aren't seen as being "true" fans like the hardcore competitive players.

There's also a strong gender element to this conflict, too. Casual gaming is seen as "girly," which threatens the aggressive, macho world of competitive gaming. A lot of anti-casual talk carries the stench of sexism and manchildren wanting to keep women out of their clubhouse.

(Fandoms for violent shoot 'em ups like GTA and COD are the absolute worst in regards to this, but as I mentioned earlier, competitive Pokémon sadly isn't immune either. I've seen some awful sexist crap posted at sites like Smogon and Serebii, not to mention unmoderated cesspools like GameFAQs and Reddit.)

Right, its getting annoying. I mean they teased 2, the woodpecker/cardinal and the dog/padu padu. I mean, just show officially already, c'mon Coro Coro, don't let us down.

I want my new SuMo Pokemon! D:

That's actually a very good theory. I'm mostly just familiar with the English-speaking fandom, myself. Maybe, the Japanese audience skews more competitive, hence the increasing focus on competitive in the games.

Of course, if that's the case, this strategy will eventually backfire for GF. Pokémon has been rapidly losing its Japanese audience to a little game called Yokai Watch, which has resulted in Gen 6 being the worst selling gen to date, as well as the anime seeing its lowest ratings ever in the XY era. GF is going to have to shift their direction and focus if they want Pokémon to survive.

Competitive was very fun and egalitarian back in the RBY/GSC days, especially if you were doing it through the Stadium games. No natures/EV cap and fewer IVs meant that the bar to entry was far lower and that in-game teams could easily be used to great effect. Competitive was truly about strategy and teambuilding rather than who can devote the most time to hatching eggs and killing Zubats.

It was in the Gen 3 era that competitive battling turned into the toxic sport that it is today. The revamped stat system alone greatly raised the bar to entry, and you saw the rise of Smogon and their elitist clubhouse mentality. The problems that started in Gen 3 only got worse as time went on, especially as GF started listening more and more to that section of the fandom and taking them seriously.

Luckily, Smogonites are still very much a minority in the fandom, even if it doesn't seem that way online. However, they also happen to be the most vocal part of the fandom, which has caused GF to wrongly believe that they accurately represent the entire fandom. The voices of the casual majority aren't being heard, and that's hurting the games, IMO.

I'm not above the influence either, myself. Whenever I play a Gen 3 or later game, I do care about natures and EVs, which is a fact that I hate. :( Luckily, I can just stick to RBY/GSC and avoid most of this stuff, although that's not a solution for everybody, of course.

Competitive battling has had a very toxic influence on the fandom, IMO. All it has done is drive the fandom apart and alienate fans. I also have a ton of issues with the rather misogynistic dudebro vibe that tends to permeate places like Smogon. (It's very common for people over there to use "rape" in reference to battles, which is all sorts of wrong.) Pokémon is supposed to be for everybody, and competitive battling works against that spirit.

Look no further than the natures thread to see why I have such a low opinion of Smogonites. :rolleyes2:

Seriously, why do they get so upset over casual play? I can completely allowed to have no interest in their hobby, and I am even completely allowed to criticize it. It doesn't make me "lazy" or "stupid," it just means I have a different opinion than them. Why does it offend them so damn much that other people aren't spending half the day breeding and EV-ing up "perfect" Pokémon like they are?

I knew from the moment that thread first appeared that it was going to devolve into this. Smogonites just can't let things slide, can they?

Oops, I missed the 'Are you cool with this EV spread?' My bad haha.
Expect to get Ryoko around tmr or the day after tmr (my time zone).

yeah, Ii took a look at the living costs; teachers have to work two jobs. Now I understand why teachers are resigning in Hawaii, as well as the teacher hiring cycle looping forever.

Btw, you haven't answered the EV part. I can't just trade Ryoko away like that, haha.

Spinda sir, you might wanna read this.
http://www.dose.com/news/28328/Unemployed-People-Hawaii-Is-Literally-Begging-You-To-Go-Work-There?

I'll be doing the EV train too. 84 Atk / 216 SpA / 208 Spe
But you should fix her move as you're gonna end up with Draco Meteor, Hydro Pump, Dragon Dance and Dragon Pulse. (:

Btw, I've already hatched the MixBagon. IV spread is 30 HP and 31 for the rest. It's a female one, I'm planning to call her Ryoko or would you like to name her yourself?

What do you think of this?

You're a great person, Spinda. I'm p sure you're a good brother so you have no prob with that! (:

Not really in the best of moods, the adult life really sucks like 80-90% of my time and I don't really like it. I'd also like to go to the beach for a scenery change and relaxation, uh well the time though...

C'mon dude, she's still young, haha. (:
Don't dread on your own future as well. I know how it truly feels when you dunno what's happening next, but fretting isn't doing any help and let's not forget the fact that the future can be exciting too. (:

Try to explore more interests it's gonna help distract your mind. Additionally, your new interests might open new paths for your future! (:

If she's still in her early teens, then let her enjoy the pace. There's no need for her to decide about the future, as long as she isn't involved in anything bad it's already good.

P.S. I thought you're the youngest; I used to think you have 2 elder sisters.

What do you think of this video from Eryizo?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_cDI_7Lm4Lw

I really like the artwork that's shown, especially the Popplio evo. I'd love to see its evolutions go down a magician path, to add to the Psychic-type theory.