Hi, I kinda want to get into competitive, but... I just feel so discouraged, and I'm afraid someone out there is gonna make it a bad experience for me. I kinda have this problem where I gotta be good or I won't be accepted. I want to desperately use Pokemon that wouldn't be competitive.

I know there's always those few bad eggs, but I just hope it isn't the vocal minority... Anyways, would anyone who's into competitive battling help me out? I want to try this out so I won't feel alone anymore. Please and thank you!

The thing is you just have to have fun. Yes, i will admit that there are some bad apples on Smogon/Showdown ( assuming that you wish to use showdown), But you should never let that stop you from doing what you want to do. Throughout my time playing i have encountered some of these people and as long as you do not retaliate you should be alright. If they decide to continuously bother you or anything of that nature, a moderator can often take care it. With that being said, I will be blunt, using Pokemon that are not very competitive may not breed a very good experience getting into online play. But if you truly wish to use those types of mons, then i would recommend only using one non-viable mon per team until you can get a good grasp on the online aspects of this game. Also, the "Being good or you will not be accepted" mentality. Try not to obsess over it too much especially if you are new to the comp. scene. I used to have the exact same mentality when i got further into playing mons competitively myself so I can understand how it feels. With that in mind, Getting better at this game will not happen overnight or even in a few months. It takes quite a bit of time and persistence to learn the fundamentals and build cohesive teams and counter plays. So try not to push yourself too hard and make it an unhealthy experience for yourself. Also utilize the ladder to practice. Also utilize Smogon's compendiums and usage data for consulting the general meta game trends. If you need any team building advice or just help in general i can try to help if needed but i have not played in a while so i might be rusty in that regard.

Just to add to what Levea said, it wouldn't hurt to familiarise yourself with the top threats in the meta you want to play because those are mon you're going to see a lot and will most need to be able to check and counter. Luckily for you, there aresome more obscure choices out there that can actually check some of the big threats really well - Alolan-Muk is a good check for Mega Alakazam and Tapu Lele for example or Lanturn is a good check for Tapu Koko or Zapdos. I definitely agree though that you should, especially as a beginner, stay away from building an entire team out of less viable Pokemon like that, they're less viable for a reason.

Generally, I suggest a checklist like this for things you might want to cover in your team as a beginner. It's far from being the only way to build a team, but it can definitely be a helpful starting point.
- Fire/Water/Grass Core
- Stealth Rock (and also other hazards like Spikes and Toxic spikes if you can fit them)
- Defog or Rapid Spin
- Mega Slot and/or Z-move slot
- VoltTurn

That'll generally cover a lot of your bases when you're just getting started and you can branch out from there.

These will help you.

・Introduction To Competitive Battling
・Smogon's Introduction To Competitive Pokémon

https://www.pokecommunity.com/showthread.php?t=397587 then scroll to resources

My post here covers it nicely too; https://www.pokecommunity.com/showpost.php?p=8625189&postcount=9

Hello SilverBell, I hope your time in competitive Pokemon so far has been a pleasant experience. I just wanted to share with you that I too am new to competitive Pokemon and have much to learn in regards to teambuilding and stats and such. However, I have participated in several battles on Pokemon Showdown, and so far no one has made any negative remarks towards me in regards to my lack of knowledge (even when they kill all my Pokemon in one or two hits each). I hope this helps you feel a little more confident about getting into competitive battling, and I wish you the best of luck in your future battles.

While I don't play competitively like I used to, my advice against these folks who have poor competitive spirit would be to ignore them, or to use the mute option on showdown.

Do yourself a favor and don't swamp yourself with terminology that you're not capable of understanding (yet). When you start out you won't be able to "get" why a certain Pokemon is viable and why another one is not. You won't "get" why IVs need to be a certain way, why you need certain EVs, etc.

The most crucial part for a beginner to "get" is that you need to think. if you win, you win because of decisions made, if you lose, you lose because of decisions made. In that case looking back and checking what decisions lead to the result is important. If you understand that, you yourself should come to the conclusion that in certain instances another way has to exist.

Beginners tend to complain about how much they have to learn and many of them get discouraged and stop. Learning about roles, IVs, EVs, etc. is seen as a chore. Something you're forced to learn if you want to be good. Experienced players see them as features that give them some more benefits and it is only because they're skilled, that it actually matters. If two equally skilled players have a battle, every little benefit counts. But as a beginner you don't have that skill (yet).

You won't magically become good by learning random battle terminology. You don't want to deal with those hate filled players? Chances are, they just copied a team that's supposed to be good but then they end up failing as they simply lack the ability to think. And because they don't know what's going on, they blame their opponent.

Someone with skill is usually better behaving, because they've seen enough muk happen to not get bothered by it as much anymore.