Playground Battlers Club ~ Communicating, please stand by...

[Kip]

THIS IS NOT A COMPETITIVE BATTLING GROUP
PokéCommunity has an entire forum dedicated to that, which you can find here.

THIS GROUP IS NOT AND NEVER WILL BE
INTENDED (OR USED) AS AN ATTACK ON COMPETITIVE BATTLING
We respect competitive battling and do not think either standard is "better" or "worse". If you want to debate your opinions on which is better, please take it somewhere else.

Welcome to PokéCommunity's group for Playground Battlers!



This is a group that has been set up for people who like to battle using the Playground Battling standard instead of the more widely-used Competitive Battling standard.

It has also been set up to promote the standard itself, as a lot of people think that to battle online against other people one must adhere to the Competitive standard. To put it another way, many believe that Competitive is the only way to battle online. This is not the case.

If you're a little confused or want more info, feel free to read this blog entry. It should clear everything up.



Simply put, it's battling with your favourite Pokémon that you've raised in-game. There are no level restrictions, nature calculations, number crunching or EV/IV training involved. If you've battled in-game, you can battle Playground without needing to learn anything.

The spirit of the Playground standard is that it's not about winning, it's about meeting new people and battling your Pokémon. If you win, you win. If you lose, you need to train some more, level up and give it another go. The fun comes from the battle itself and not the victory.



Though it's far less restrictive than Competitive, Playground still has some rules for fair play
(to stop people abusing it).

1. There are two types of Playground Battles:

Non-Legendary
A standard battle without using any Legendary Pokémon.

Legendary
A battle only using Legendary Pokémon.

Legendary Pokémon count as the following:

Spoiler:

Arceus Articuno Celebi
CobalioDarkrai Deoxys (all formes)
Dialga Entei Genesect
Giratina (all formes) Groudon Ho-oh
Keldeo (all formes) Kyogre Kyurem
Landorus Latias Latios
Lugia Manaphy Moltres
Meloetta* Mew Mewtwo
Palkia Rayquaza Raikou
Reshiram Rotom (all formes) Shaymin (all formes) Suicune Terrakion Thundurus
TornadusVictini Virizion
Volcarona Zapdos Zekrom

*Since Meloetta is not yet legitimately available, anyone who is using them has been hacking. If you see them, report the user at once via. PM to either myself or Shining Raichu.

So to summarise, you can either battle only using these Pokémon, or not using them at all.

2. You must be completely open as to what level each member of your party is.
Convention dictates that you should also keep all of you Pokémon around about the same level (within 10-12 levels of each other). Most people do this anyway when training and it's a good habit to get into even when battling in-game.

3. All battles must be totally unrestricted.
Battles can be single, double or triple, be between 2 players or a tag battle between 4, and must have no level restrictions or special settings. You can use whatever moves (including HMs) and held items you want, but you're not permitted to act like a jerk with them. Play nice.

4. Each party must be the same size.
Your team can be any size you like, from 1-6. However, if you have a 6 Pokémon team and go against someone who has a 4 Pokémon team, you're obliged to take two of them out. Which two is up to you.


5. No Competitively-raised/bred Pokémon are permitted.
This is a no-brainer, since a Pokémon bred and raised to the Competitive Standard will have a huge and unfair advantage over Playground teams. Once again, if you want to battle Competitively or care more about winning, visit the Competitive Battling Center.

6. Have Fun, Stay Safe.
Keep everything friendly, remember winning and losing are somewhat irrelevant here. Also - be very careful about battling someone that doesn't reveal any info before asking you to PG Battle - they may be trying to catch an easy win with a Competitive team or a Legendary team. Some people will try to take you for a ride.

Playground Battling is often shortened to 'PG' because none of us can be bothered to type it all the time. :) When asking someone, you have to either specify the number of Pokémon on your team and their Level Range (e.g."Wanna battle PG six on six? Lv. 50-52"), or link you to their team profile which specifies this information.

Now if you ask someone to a Playground Battle, and they respond with 'What's PG?', then on the whole it would be best to link them to this thread, as it can answer any question they may have on the subject rather than try to explain it yourself.

Since the Playground standard isn't really widespread, it's likely that if people don't specify that it's a PG Battle, they mean a Competitive Battle. However, if you really want to specify that it is a Competitive Battle you want (and we encourage this), then it can be shortened to 'Comp' or 'CB'. (e.g. "Hey - wanna battle CB? *clauses etc.*")



Neither is better or worse.
Everyone has their own preference in the way they battle, and everyone should respect that.

We won't condone any out-right or flaming attacks of Competitive or Playground from either side (e.g. don't go saying 'Competitive ruined Pokémon' or 'Playground is for babies').

This group is for discussion of Playground battling and that may stray into members' feelings about Competitive Battling - this is fine, but please keep it friendly.



Well, now that you've read all of that and understand what the Playground Battling standard is, you have two options.

You can sign up to this group here and meet other Playground Battlers, discuss your feelings and experiences with it and, if we get a good membership, maybe even participate in a few events.

Of course, you don't have to sign up to the group in order to PG Battle now that you know all about it. You don't have to go through this group in order to PG Battle someone - it's entirely optional.

[B]Trainer Title:[/B] (optional)
[B]Name:[/B]
[B]Favourite Pokémon in your team(s):[/B]

Usernames will link you to a profile

Name • Favourite Pokémon in their team(s) • EVENT: BW2 Badges

CO-FOUNDERS
Kip • My Quilava, Flamie :3 • 5
Shining Raichu • Raichu, like Pikachu but less conformist

MEMBERS

♪Twiggy♪ • Not done setting up yet...
AlexOzzyCake • My purple beauty Muk!
GolurkIsDaBomb • Either Janice the Heracross or Wyatt the Seismitoad
Lapras • My Pidgeot name Soar, he's pretty cool.
Zac (Ninjagon) • DarkDemon my Hydreigon and MetaBoss my Shiny Metagross.
NecrumWarrior • Tyranitar, she will destroy you! • 2
TechnoEK • Scizor. Grim as I like to call her.
Rainbow Arcanine • Blitz my amazing Arcanine :3
Rainy Garden of Fire • Electivire and Magmortar from PBR.
Brianna • Wigglytuff. Cuz, ya know, it's wiggly. And tuff.
CourageHound • Krush, the Muk. An incredible force of nature.
Syltti • Yui the Gardevoir & Serenity the Lilligant • 8
Orange • All of them! No, really its probably my Azumaril. Or Lucario. Or Servine. • 3
Pvt Tamama • Glalie, the most beautiful Pokémon if them all!
Icy Burn • Snivy - It's slick, fast, sexy, and could run rings around some Tepig or Oshawott. c:




If you write a blog or post about Playground Battling, be sure to let us know! Drop us a PM.

28/08/2011 BLOG (Kip) Competitive Vs. Playground
01/09/2012 GROUP Group submitted for scrutiny by the glorious Moderators and accepted!
01/09/2012 BLOG (Kip) Playground Battling Club Launches
10/10/2012 EVENT BW2: Rival Battles

Do you want to help promote Playground Battling? Firstly, thank you! :3 We have a lovely banner you can put in your signature right here!

Spoiler:

[URL="http://www.pokecommunity.com/showthread.php?t=287792"][IMG]http://img835.imageshack.us/img835/5980/pguserbar.png[/IMG][/URL]

Fancy making your own banner? Post it, and we'll add it here!

This club is not a place for you to organize battles. Organizing battles should take place in VM's or PM's, whereas the club itself is solely about discussing Playground Battling and anything related to it.

[♪Twiggy♪]

Name: Twiggy
Favourite Pokémon in your team(s): I'm not done setting things up. Hmm... Things might get interesting come this October.

Aaaaaaaaaand finally a battling club that I can get behind, Kippity Kip! Think we're going to have a great fun time when I get my copy of White 2 in the mail? I think it might be a good time for me to reenter the entire thing.

Also... y'know, the "PG" shorthand sounds weird. You know why?

[AlexOzzyCake]

Name: AlexOzzyCake
Favourite Pokémon in your team(s): My purple beauty Muk!

I laid off joining until now since I didn't think the concept would really work, but after playing a Pokémon MMO with countless PvP battles exactly like the ones you're describing, I now think it's an excellent idea :D At the moment I'll mainly be battling on HG and Black since my other games have all been restarted recently, so if anyone wants a battle on these games then I'm game!

Can't wait for BW2 to come out in English, this club will be perfect for rivals to develop :D

PS: That's an insanely good-looking banner.

[GolurkIsDaBomb]

Name: GolurkIsDaBomb
Favourite Pokémon in your team(s): Either Janice the Heracross or Wyatt the Seismitoad

I'd like to join this club! I haven't really done any battling that's not in game, but I want to! I like having a relaxed kind of battle idea, as I don't quite understand EV training/too lazy. I can battle on White and Diamond (my teams are in their 40's) and possibly on Heartgold, but I have fewer pokemon of lower levels. I'm probably willing to battle whenever I'm on! :D

[AlexOzzyCake]

Originally Posted by GolurkIsDaBomb

Name: GolurkIsDaBomb
Favourite Pokémon in your team(s): Either Janice the Heracross or Wyatt the Seismitoad

I'd like to join this club! I haven't really done any battling that's not in game, but I want to! I like having a relaxed kind of battle idea, as I don't quite understand EV training/too lazy. I can battle on White and Diamond (my teams are in their 40's) and possibly on Heartgold, but I have fewer pokemon of lower levels. I'm probably willing to battle whenever I'm on! :D

Welcome! I completely agree with you about the too lazy to EV train thing, which is why this is a perfect place to organize battles - on which note, how about we have a battle some time soon? n.n It'd be useful if we're not too far apart strength wise though so I'll check the levels in my teams first. xD

How many Pokémon do you guys tend to use in a team? I love the idea of raising a team of six in the story and using them for the battles (sort of anime style :3), but it takes waaay too long to train six at once. D; I think most of my teams at the moment are 3-4 Pokémon so just a heads up for any battles!

[Lapras*]

Name: Lapras
Favourite Pokémon in your team(s): Idk, I really like my teams as a whole, since I spend too much time (probably) creating them than I should. lol I'm weird like that. Right now I can think of my Pidgeot name Soar, he's pretty cool.

Yes! Now I can finally battle real people with my non-competitive teams :3 edit; eek, BW2 rival battles? yesyesyes! If I don't rush through the game lmao. Also, six, Ozzy! I like to make them all work well together or just shove a bunch of my favorites in there so that there aren't blaring weaknesses, idk, like I said, kinda weird.

Since I spend most of my time thinking of the team first, I don't really actually train them too much. Maybe a little bit then I use rare candies. xD

[Kip]

Oh wow - I'm so chuffed people are joining. :3 Thanks guys, and welcome!

(Been having trouble posting at PC at the moment, so sorry for the delayed welcome ')

Originally Posted by ♪Twiggy♪

Also... y'know, the "PG" shorthand sounds weird. You know why?

As in 'Parental Guidance'?

Originally Posted by AlexOzzyCake

Can't wait for BW2 to come out in English, this club will be perfect for rivals to develop :D

^ This. Has. To. Be. Done. :D I do think I've done anything like that since my brother and I were playing FR/LG.

Originally Posted by AlexOzzyCake

How many Pokémon do you guys tend to use in a team? I love the idea of raising a team of six in the story and using them for the battles (sort of anime style :3), but it takes waaay too long to train six at once. D; I think most of my teams at the moment are 3-4 Pokémon so just a heads up for any battles!

I try to train 6 all at once and keep them at roughly equal level. It's a bit more work, but it stops me rushing through the game and doing lots of little grinds here and there means I don't have to do one big one just before the E4. o.O

If you guys need to know my team levels, they're in the sidebar on my blog where I update every so often. My Black team at the moment are all at Lv. 90 exactly, and my SoulSilver team are between Lv. 93-95, with one at Lv. 60 in training (that's my Vaporeon, Aaron :3 ).

Lookin' forward to battling you all!

EDIT: Golark, you're name is in the list but it's not showing up. PC seems to be really screwing up for me at the moment.

EDIT EDIT: The glitch on PC has now been fixed, so Golark you're now on.

[Ninjagon]

As much as i'm a competitive battler, I miss the old days when we did pretty much what you explained.

Trainer Title: Zac
Name: Ninjagon
Favourite Pokémon in your team(s): DarkDemon my Hydreigon and MetaBoss my Shiny Metagross.

So I can battle with my Platinum, Soul Silver and White. On Platinum, my pokes are from Lv. 73 - 79 I have six team members in this game, On Soul Silver they are like in the 50's but I only have four and on White I have Lv. 100's- six Lv. 100's. So yeah that's pretty much it.

[♪Twiggy♪]

Originally Posted by Kip

As in 'Parental Guidance'?

There ya go.

Less than a month or so before B2W2, huh? Man, I am still thinking how to go through the game...

[roosterman]

i did EV train my pokemon but i can't avoid that since they get EVs every time they battle. can i still battle with them?

[GolurkIsDaBomb]

BW2 Rivals? Omg, I want this to happen so badly. Perhaps a battle after every 2 or 3 gyms or something? Ahhh it just sounds so fun!

As for how many pokemon I usually train, it used to be 6 as I wanted to use as many different pokemon as I possibly could. Now, I go with 5: (unless I'm doing a nuzlocke or something and don't have 5) 5 pokemon and 1 HM slave (except for in gen V where I go with 6) I also never use the same pokemon that I've ever used before. (unless it's a nuzlocke or something)

[Kip]

Originally Posted by Ninjagon

As much as i'm a competitive battler, I miss the old days when we did pretty much what you explained.

Welcome Zac! Thanks for joining!

Originally Posted by ♪Twiggy♪

There ya go.

Yeah I thought so.

Originally Posted by roosterman

i did EV train my pokemon but i can't avoid that since they get EVs every time they battle. can i still battle with them?

When we say EV training, we mean when you have specifically exploited the EV system to make your Pokémon the best it can be in a certain area using guides on the Internet and checking stats all the time. Of course 'normal' training (in this context) always raises EVs, but we don't really pay much attention to it.

Essentially - if you've raised your Pokémon specifically by EV training using tutorials from Smogon etc, then you can't use it. If you've raised your Pokémon regularly without checking the stats all the time and leveling up normally, then you can use it.

Hopefully that made sense. '

Originally Posted by GolurkIsDaBomb

BW2 Rivals? Omg, I want this to happen so badly. Perhaps a battle after every 2 or 3 gyms or something? Ahhh it just sounds so fun!

That's a great idea! Though we have to bear in mind that BW2 is released on different days in different territories (here it's out on 12th October, my birthday :3)... so I don't know if that will have any bearing on it. I'm still looking forward to it though! :D

[♪Twiggy♪]

I wonder how many battles have occured in our style since the club's inception.

[NecrumWarrior]

Username: NecrumWarrior
Favorite Pokemon in Team: Tyranitar, she will destroy you! That's right, my Tyranitar's a girl, got a problem with that?

This is great! I've been wanting to play competitively without "playing competitively." I hate Smogon's tier system, and IV/EV training is such a hassle (even though I am experimenting with it.)

In regards to BW2 rivals, I would be all in on that. I love that idea.

[TechnoEK]

Username: TechnoEA

Favorite Pokemon in Team: Scizor. Grim as I like to call her.

As Necrum said not really into Smogon or all that and their odd tier list and clause rules.

For now I only have SS, in a few days or soo I'll have B and W 1 and 2.

Don't expect much of a challenge, I'm not really all that great unless I gain confidence.

[Kip]

Originally Posted by NecrumWarrior

This is great! I've been wanting to play competitively without "playing competitively." I hate Smogon's tier system, and IV/EV training is such a hassle (even though I am experimenting with it.)

Hi Necrum! Nice to have you on board.

Originally Posted by TechnoEK

For now I only have SS, in a few days or soo I'll have B and W 1 and 2.

Don't expect much of a challenge, I'm not really all that great unless I gain confidence.

Not to worry, we take anyone with a Wi-Fi enabled game (or any other game for that matter if any of us meet up randomly with a GBA and a link cable ). And don't worry about it - it's all part of the training.

[Rainbow Arcanine]

Username:Rainbow Arcanine
Favourite Pokemon in Team(s): Blitz my amazing Arcanine :3.
I don't like EV Training personally, it's tedious and boring. Raising a good team from scratch is also really hard,so I prefer using Pokemon I've already raised. My HG team you can find in from Lv.61-67. Platinum is 78-89, most Pokemon though are in the mid 80's. Eh I'm not far into my White my highest is like 33 xD.

[TechnoEK]

My SS got erased, so I have to start all over.

Doesn't mean the team has changed though with the exception of Feraligatr and Charizard ( was only using for Pokedex).

[Rainy Garden of Fire]

Name: Rainy Garden of Fire
Favourite Pokémon in your team(s): Electivire and Magmortar from PBR. It helps a lot for the Battle Frontier, so it should help with normal battles as well. In truth, from both of them, Electivire's used the most. It hits many Pokemon easily.

Well, I'll be looking to battle with a few people here!

[Kip]

Massive hi to our two new members, Rainbow Arcanine and Rainy Garden of Fire (epic names, by the way :D )

Originally Posted by TechnoEK

My SS got erased, so I have to start all over.

Doesn't mean the team has changed though with the exception of Feraligatr and Charizard ( was only using for Pokedex).

Aww that sucks. Hope you get up to speed soon!

Originally Posted by Rainy Garden of Fire

Well, I'll be looking to battle with a few people here!

Looking forward to battling you too.

EVENT NEWS! BW2: Rival Battles

Black and White 2 are already out in America, and they are due out in Australia tomorrow (11th) and in Europe (that's me) on the 12th. We've been talking about this for a while, so who would be up for rival battles as we play our way through BW2?

Obviously you guys in the US have a big head start on the rest of us so it may be an idea to do battles based on the number of badges you've obtained. For example, if you each have 4 badges, you'd battle each other and so on and so forth.

The names in the memberlist will link you to members profiles, so get in contact, ask how many badges and get battling! If you like, you can update me by PM on how many badges you've obtained so far and I can add it to the memberlist for quick references.

Good luck!

[TechnoEK]

I also have Black 2 :D.

My main is Ampharos.

[AlexOzzyCake]

I very much wish to take part in the rivals event, but I currently don't own a copy of B/W2 and I won't have that much time to play it whilst at uni :( If there's someone in a similar position that'll be getting the game soon and playing through it somewhat slowly then that'd be perfect, but I'm not counting on it haha. I can't wait to get started though, hopefully I'll be able to catch some of you up when I get it and we can do some sparring! :D

[`Brianna]

Oh, god this is awesome. I love PG.

Name: Brianna
Favourite Pokémon in your team(s): Wigglytuff. Cuz, ya know, it's wiggly. And tuff.

Would anyone wanna battle with me on a gen IV game? Most of my pokes are on there, and I'm feeling up for a battle right now.

And it would be absolutely fabulous to do rival battles!~

[GolurkIsDaBomb]

Ooh rivals! I want to do this, so if you want to just VM me. Unlike I should have done a week ago, I haven't started yet. I was/am waiting for a friend so we can play through together, but my patience is wearing thin, so we shall see. Gah, I'm so excited! :D

[NecrumWarrior]

Sorry for getting a head start, but I currently have 2 badges in White Version 2, so anyone who's that far and wants a rival, I'm ready! I would prefer someone with Black 2 if possible, but another White 2 wouldn't be horrible. Also, I'll be running 4 Normal since my other two are Keldeo and Genesect...

Also, why is Rotom considered Legendary? That doesn't make sense to me.