Pokemon, The Social Destroyer.

Ok guys I'm not sure how to introduce this post. So I'll just say... Pokemon kills social lives.
Now its not an epidemic, its a confined disease apparently restricted to those who do not enjoy friends. Note most pokemon players are happy socializable intelligent individuals.
This post is only in relation to the fact of one horrible day at toys r' us I remembered when at the manaphy egg event. The image I saw nearly scared me from pokemon forever.. in hopes of never becoming one.
What did I see is what you must be asking yourself... well imagine the following sequence of events..

You drive to best buy, excited for the manaphy.. if only to fill your pokedex.. or maybe you like manaphy, whatever your reason, your going with your DS. You get out lock your car (if you live where I do lol) and proceed to the entrance.
Your linking up now to mystery link... slower than usual.. guessing the heightened traffic when you here a raspy, disgusting voice.. "You here to get manaphy too?." So I turned, hoping, praying it would be a sick man that at least could restore faith that normal people besides myself played the game. To my dismay, I have never been more wrong about anything in my life.

Standing before me, at 5'10 I'm guessing, at least 300 pound man. His hair greasy and matted, sticking almost endlessly to his unshaved side burns. The acne attacking his pores seemed as if and endless lake of lava bubbling and exploding in his unbathed skin. His teeth looked as if he had just bought a fresh bag of gravel, and enjoyed the taste so much he would chew the pieces into diamonds.

Nevertheless, the worst part of it all, was when I noticed his hands. His dirty unwashed hands, with yellow bitten fingernails holding a Nintendo DS Lite. Behind his hands I noticed over his mrest, moobs, or however you want to phrase "man chest of fat," the man dubbed a Halo t-shirt. Dirty sweatpants, smelling as if their name should be literal, covered the base of his dusty white new balance sneakers.

The whole ride home. I contemplated thrusting my DS lite threw the window. Leaving that fear of what I could become behind. But I didn't. I decided a name for the person I saw before me. Aptly named I believe, a Victimon. A victim of the addiction of pokemon. In this advanced state I must assume it is irreversible, and at this point he most likely resembles Cartman, shrilly screaming to his mother that his kitty is trying to eat his potpie.

So how do we avoid this insufferable fate? Simple. We play the game. But we don't avoid life for it. While the game is fun and addictive (I myself put in an hour or two every couple days) we mustn't turn into the image the public automatically views us in.

Don't become a Victimon. Live life. That is my story. --KingofCarnage

If he had a Halo shirt, wouldn't you assume he plays games other than Pokemon and his problem is just too much time on video games in general?

So your saying if I go to receive a Pokemon at an event that I will end up as an overweight, poorly groomed, have poor dental hygiene, over acned, that I choose not to habitual bathe, that I don't wash my hands? Wow cause I want to complete my dex legitimately my life is apparently ruined. Might as well stop enjoying the pokemon franchise since it will turn my life to shambles.

I wouldn't say the average fan is like that. I have been to Toys R Us/Gamestop events and there is no people like that. So too say all "fans" are like this archetype of a person you have is definitely not true. Riveting story none the less.

It's another human. He has poor hygiene, and he plays Pokemon.

You may see a correlation, but it doesn't imply causation.

I would've laughed at such an event if I was there. :D

That's the same correlation that the overly religious mothers make when they see grown men playing any type of videogame.

I've played the games since they came out when I was 10. My friends have too. None of us are like that. Most overweight person I know that plays Pokemon was overweight before introduced to Pokemon and refuses to get in shape cause he just doesn't want to.

Guys JSYK, it was meant to be a funny thing. Im aware most of us aren't like that. Trust me. Stop being angry. No harm meant. Also Kenshin thank you, Im thinking of becoming a writer. Not sure yet tho

No one's angry. o_O they just don't agree that the reason that person is disgusting is because he plays Pokemon. In fact I would argue that Pokemon has a much lower chance of creating people like that because while it's fun to play, there's only so much you can do for it and I don't know anyone I would consider "addicted" to it, like other games.

I don't really think it impacts us either way. I believe maybe a couple people take games as a whole way to far, not just pokemon. However the story is entirely true and it honestly did ALMOST scare me from pokemon. But only 1 out of like 30 players are like that I think. Its just weird to me how someone could turn into that from video games. I myself must shower and have clean clothes everyday. Like I said I dont believe pokemon does it on its own. I think this man must have been in his house for years without much else but video games.

I'm adorable and play Pokemon tho. 8( Anyway, I agree with Audy. I think Pokemon can help us become more social. I have social anxiety, and you know, it's a big help when I see someone else playing Pokemon or wearing a Pokemon shirt or whatever cause it gives me a chance to talk to someone and potentially make a friend, which I'm really bad at doing. Heck, when I first met my boyfriend, we were at a mutual friend's apartment and he was playing Pokemon. I used that to my advantage to get to sit by him on the plane on our London trip and I beat him in a battle. 8) Dating for almost 9 months now! Plus, I think it's fair to say there's plenty of fans of almost every game that are greasy and large haha. People come in all shapes and sizes, no matter where their interests lie.

As a geek/nerd(is there really a difference between the two?), I grudgingly accepted a long time ago that I have work twice as hard to have social life compared to non-geeks/nerds whether I'm a Pokemon fan or not.

This reminds me of a Mitch Hedberg joke where he said casinos that always show people winning in their commercials is false advertising because no casino is full of people winning all the time when most people in casinos are losing money. He also said it would be like advertising a hamburger with a picture of someone choking with the caption "This is what happened...once".

I think it's just like any group of people, you can't judge them all because of the actions (or appearance) of one of them. And blaming it on the game wouldn't be fair. Millions of people play Halo and Borderlands and Gears of War and other shooting games and never hurt anyone. When some crazy does it and they find a shooting game in their house, they like to point the finger and say "Video games caused this!!".

I'm sure there are some Pokemon fanatics in the world that live, eat and sleep Pokemon. But Pokemon is supposed to encourage interaction with others, not the opposite. Maybe this guy was just in a hurry to get Manaphy, though I personally like to be clean when I'm in public!

I completely agree with all post. If you read the final paragraph it says "We play the game. But we don't avoid life for it. While the game is fun and addictive (I myself put in an hour or two every couple days) we mustn't turn into the image the public automatically views us in." This is in correlation with the fact that I know 99% of us ARE NOT like the man I described. It was meant to be a funny spirited post. It was entirely true I really did meet a man like that. And I really did think about quitting playing. But things are not always as an adolescent seems to believe. We link things automatically and jump to invariable conclusions, only to discover later, that it is ourselves, who we are, not what we do, that define us. Social standpoint is that if you play pokemon, above the age of 15, that you are the proverbial "black sheep." In no way do I believe such way. I still play. Am due to be married. Work. Drink with friends ect ect ect. So from here on out anyone who reads the post; please understand I am not relating pokemon to social disintegration.. merely stating a funny moment of my life. To anyone who may have thought otherwise, I apologize and hope this clears the air of the dense fog that seems to cloud me everywhere I go. I often speak in terms that I think are nice and well put... usually having the opposite effect. Forgive and forget I say.

You know, whenever I see someone at the Pokemon league, I have to think, "Who is this person? Should I really be talking to them?"
There are so many fans of Pokemon that you can't expect them all to be similar (by "you" I mean mostly me). I've seen cute little kids who don't really know how to play, jerky 9yr olds who think they know more about Pokemon than me, people who are confident, people who are not, etc. Some of the people there scare me a little.
I love your story- it sounds like my worst case scenario. :)
Keep playing forever! I'll admire that for sure.
But seriously, in this situation you were really lucky to be an adult. I would've hightailed it to my mom. O_o

addiction doesnt just apply to pokemon. addiction to just about any game in general, hell it doesn even have to be a game.

Gambling addiction? drug addiction? All these can take plenty time away from social life and worst, ruin your health/career/family that if you dont change or seek help soon, can be destructive.

I don't really see how the big fat guy wearing a Halo shirt equate to pokemon, I mean hello he plays halo...or did I read that wrong...anyway, Pokemon doesn't really ruin social lives I mean it's the one that kick started my high school social life, it got me friends and surprisingly they aren't acne filled-fat guys wearing Halo T-shirts...

Pokemon isn't a "social destroyer," imo. It's your choice if you want to get addicted to it or not.