Poll: Would you like to see a 'Custom Regions' forum?

(Name subject to change ofc!)

This might sound strange at first, but bear with me!

After some initial staff discussion I'm polling to gauge the interest of adding a new section to PC in which members can create their own 'custom Pokémon regions' and run/interact with them as threads. Essentially each member can create a thread in this section (possibly more than one region per member if it appears sustainable after launch) to detail their imaginary Pokémon region which would involve anything including but not limited to: region name, geography/map/landmarks/towns, national Pokémon/Pokédex/legendaries, gym leaders/E4, region/country's politics/economics, national anthems, flags, notable celebrities/figures, region history/historical events, etc. These threads will then be used as something of a 'fantasy country simulator' where the members can post updates about what's happening in their region, stories from their region, art of/from their region, etc, so that they can establish a collection of details/media about their regions and indulge the fantasy of creating and/or running your own Pokémon country/region.

Members will be encouraged to comment on other people's regions, including either "in-character" posts such as forming alliances, making enemies, declaring war, having battles, adding new species to your country by using some of another country's Pokémon to breed, etc; and "out of character" posts such as commenting on what they think about the region, any suggestions/questions concerning the region, comments on any art/maps/media produced within a region, etc. Another way of interacting with the threads is that members could sign up to 'live' in one of these regions and, if approved by the owner, could then contribute their own posts to the region too, even to the extent of voting etc for when changes are made if the owner wants a 'democracy'. This would also allow for contests/events to be held within a region and give some fun ways of interacting with new members through discussing appealing regions.

The regions will be treated as stand-alone threads, but will also be subject to many on-going contests/events such as (but definitely not limited to): 'regional contests' - general contests involving how well regions are being upheld/how regions are presented/general art contests/etc, 'voting contests' - each region submits an entry to a contest and then everyone votes for the best entry (think Eurovision-style contest), 'wars' - regions submit teams based on their gym leaders/E4s/national Pokémon/etc to go to battle with (could use battle server or RP-style), 'events' - eg. global geographical changes causing problems within regions, political/diplomatic events requiring actions, Pokémon species in danger of extinction, etc etc where the users get to choose their own ways of solving these problems; and of course all of the above are entirely optional as to whether members want to take part in them or not.

Threads would most likely be subject to the thread approval rule as there'd have to be a minimum amount of detail for the threads to be worth posting - things like region name, general layout/geography, key features, etc, would all be required as a minimum for creating a thread (thread examples will be provided but this is all the very basics you'd think of when imagining your own Pokéworld!). It could run without but it seems logical to include it, at least at first to set a 'standard' of threads.

As with the Member Encyclopaedia section's creation it could be worth making it a supporter-only section at first as a 'trial run', but the end goal would definitely be to have it open to the general 'PC public', both as a fun way for every member to let out their creativity and share their ideas with new friends, and as something to make PC even more distinguished from our other Pokémon forum counterparts.

What does everyone think?

Squirrel said:

(think Eurovision-style contest)

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You've won me over.


This is an interesting concept, just trying to understand it fully. Do you see it as a bridge between worldbuilding (through art and writing) and role-playing (people RPing in your region, you RPing how you would respond to various situations you outlined, etc)?

Upvoted this as I did in staff forums! I'd really like to see this happen, even if it initially is just a test run here in VIP. It seems very fun and like nothing we currently have. It's another good interaction forum idea n_n

You've managed to pique my interest, good sir.

Don't make it Gold Tier and up for test run pls I don't have that beautiful shiny title after all xoxo

It'll really make the creative juices flow and since it promotes member interaction there'll be a lot of fun things going on.

Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! SO MUCH YES!
This is a very interesting concept I'd love to see it come to life, but....
Does it seem vaguely similar to Pokemon clubs in a way?

Charlie Brown said:

This is an interesting concept, just trying to understand it fully. Do you see it as a bridge between worldbuilding (through art and writing) and role-playing (people RPing in your region, you RPing how you would respond to various situations you outlined, etc)?

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Mm pretty much - think... Roleplay meets ROM Hacking meets FF&W meets A&D meets Clubs with a side order of everything else PC has to offer! I see it as something of a bridge between all of the creative arts that PC encompasses, whilst also being totally accessible to people without an artistic bone in their body with an urge to let their creative juices flow. You can handle the events in your own way, so if you'd like to roleplay for them you can, or if you'd like to just list what happened or draw a picture of 'aftermath' or do something else you can - certain contests will of course be more specific but in general it'd be a very free-flowing section.

flight said:

Heya Ozzy! I sincerely apologize if I sound a bit ignorant in this, but from the best of my interpretations, this is kinda like roleplaying in a way (I have no idea what Eurovision is, so)? At least, that's what I'm understanding; you're creating a region and you run that region, and you hire your own E4/Gym Trainers, things like that, right? Except it'd be kind of on a grander scale of things?

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There's definitely a roleplaying element involved, yes! But it's much more than that, and in some cases there'll barely be any roleplaying at all - it's up to each member how far they want to take each 'creative aspect' of the threads. If one thread wants to focus on mapping their region whilst another wants to roleplay the politics and another wants to write a novel of their region's history then that's all fine - the main point is that you have your own special region and it's yours to do with what you will. As for "hiring your own E4/Gym Trainers", that's more of a lore thing, you don't really assign roles like that to members that sign up if that's what you're thinking! (Though if people were interested in that it could definitely be looked into.)

As a general reply - it'd be similar to roleplay in the respect that you're running a make believe region, it's similar to clubs in the respect that you can enlist members to your regions if you wish to and talk amongst yourselves as a region, it's similar to FF&W as you describe the region and the history etc, it's similar to art if you wish to make art of your region, it's similar to hacks in the respect that you're making your own region, and it's a whole lot more than all of those at the same time; it's bringing together all of the creativity that PC has to offer and lets you express yourself in your own way whilst making friends and interacting with people doing the same creativity and events as you.

^ Thanks for your response! I think it's a really interesting concept and definitely worth a shot. I agree with what others have said about the possible interaction-related things it can bring (can't English today sorry lol). I'm interested to see the practicalities of it and how it will actually play out, just because it's so open-ended which allows for lots of ideas and users building and interacting with their region in whatever way they wish - I just think it's also important that there's enough guidance or structure in it so people don't feel too overwhelmed or lost with all the options available, if that makes sense. But overall, it seems like a really cool thing to try.

Charlie Brown said:

I just think it's also important that there's enough guidance or structure in it so people don't feel too overwhelmed or lost with all the options available, if that makes sense. But overall, it seems like a really cool thing to try.

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Mmm there definitely would be guidelines to stop that kind of thing from happening - through a mixture of example threads and basic thread guidelines it shouldn't become a problem but that's definitely something easily sorted if it does become one :)

^ True true! Example threads would help, and I guess people would get a feel for what they can do as more people post up their own regions and experiment with the section. I'm excited for it! /digs out fakedex/region/maps from when he was 10

Tbh, i would legit join this. i still have like all of my region maps saved in my profile album, plus I still have my drawings haha

I probably won't use it since I'm not much of the creative kind of member around here, but if others want to see it I'm all for it.

Bless you Squirrel! Seriously this idea is awesome! - defs would participate.

Honestly this idea excites me a lot and I really do hope it does happen - especially since it's does work to strengthen the bonds between the separate sections like A&D, Writing and Roleplay etc.

Been wanting to make sort of my own region and was planning to do it after this trimester finishes (cause my next one is pretty light.) to give myself some art and 3D modelling skill practise (well it was either that or remodel the PokeWorld in 3D, but this seems so much more fun.)

• Any chance for people who just want to contribute to other people's regions if they aren't ready to make their own? For example, if someone doesn't want to get started on my own region yet, but was free and willingly open to requests and such to help people with their art - like how people can open a shop for tags and graphics stuff in the A&D section?
  
• Can you join only one other region, or if you're liking more than one, join multiple that aren't your own (like being able to join in multiple groups in the Fangroups section)?
  
• And I guessing this is more or the region creators choice, but let's say you were to join multiple regions. Would you make an OC character(s) to journey these regions, or would this be the PC user themselves (E.g Myself, Zappy, joining ____ region?)

Thanks for all the comments & questions guys :)

zappyspiker said:

Bless you Squirrel! Seriously this idea is awesome! - defs would participate.

Honestly this idea excites me a lot and I really do hope it does happen - especially since it's does work to strengthen the bonds between the separate sections like A&D, Writing and Roleplay etc.

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Mm this was one of my main goals in suggesting the section - all of PC's creative minds could achieve so much if they collaborated on something like this to make some truly special creations.

zappyspiker said:

Any chance for people who just want to contribute to other people's regions if they aren't ready to make their own? For example, if someone doesn't want to get started on my own region yet, but was free and willingly open to requests and such to help people with their art - like how people can open a shop for tags and graphics stuff in the A&D section?

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There'll be a DCC/general chat thread in the section to discuss things in general/talk about events that are happening etc so you could always post in there saying you're looking to join a region and see who offers, but otherwise you can just post in a specific region's thread if there's one you like and if they accept you you're free to contribute to theirs :) As for generally donating art to regions on a request basis, I'm not really sure how that would work - the possibilities are obviously either yes or no so it'll have to be discussed further but for now I'm not seeing any big issue with it... the requests thread would probably have to stay in A&D but there's no reason you wouldn't be able to link it in the new forum's chat to advertise haha.

zappyspiker said:

Can you join only one other region, or if you're liking more than one, join multiple that aren't your own (like being able to join in multiple groups in the Fangroups section)?

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I wasn't intending for there to be a limit on joining regions so for now you'd be able to join as many as you'd like!

zappyspiker said:

And I guessing this is more or the region creators choice, but let's say you were to join multiple regions. Would you make an OC character(s) to journey these regions, or would this be the PC user themselves (E.g Myself, Zappy, joining ____ region?)

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It would largely be the latter as you, zappy, are joining the region rather than a random character joining, but you can do this in a roleplay style if you wish with a story about finding the region/making friends/etc. I'm not sure how much of a place OC characters would have here outside of describing the region's history (could be done through roleplay if you think you can make it work) and developing gym leaders/E4/famous people of the region - essentially having these people become characters is cool but having a random Joe Bloggs being focussed on wouldn't be hugely relevant or important to the region (unless you were using him to describe the region's appearance/atmosphere but again, the extent of roleplay in the regions would definitely a point discussion before the section was made). Hope that makes sense!

This actually sounds really interesting! I don't know if I would make anything, but I know I'd enjoy reading through what other members write up.

Apart from the world-building, would this basically be a semi-roleplay oriented thing, then?

Also, would there be some sort of way to tie together a "region" with a game or ROM hack if you made one to go with it? Would that be a thing?

This definitely seems like an idea people are on board with. Creating their own regions? Like what they would do with hacks? Not a bad idea, even though I feel like ROM Hacking and Game Development do most of that. But it's fun to improvise custom Gym Leaders, Elite Four, etcetera.

Hopeless Masquerade said:

Apart from the world-building, would this basically be a semi-roleplay oriented thing, then?

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Kind of, it's roleplay-like in the sense that you're running an imaginary region but it's more of an "create a region and keep the thread updated with stories/events/media/etc" rather than a roleplay... I'm sure that's not a helpful answer but it'll make a lot more sense when you see the rules thread haha. I'm not sure if I'm allowed to post that here or not but it'll provide a lot more context!

Hopeless Masquerade said:

Also, would there be some sort of way to tie together a "region" with a game or ROM hack if you made one to go with it? Would that be a thing?

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Yup definitely! You can format the OP however you'd like and you're free to make it based on your hack if you'd like to, as long as the actual hacking discussions aren't made in the thread then it's perfectly fine to link things from it/discuss the region in general etc! Things like this will be encouraged to try to tie together the Creative Discussions sections :)

I am definitely up for this.
I would like to see the region I have created (well imagined) and worked on with people come to life in some way and unfortunately I lack the skills and time to make it into a game these days. However so much work has gone into planning and fakemon design that I feel wrong if I ever consider abandoning it fully.

I would love to see this section come to life. Especially because I just enjoy world building so much.

I am assuming though, that we can work with others to produce the things we do not have the ability to produce ourselves.

I am assuming though, that we can work with others to produce the things we do not have the ability to produce ourselves.

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Like forming a team to create a region, like a hacking team or roleplay group!

Adventure said:

Like forming a team to create a region, like a hacking team or roleplay group!

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Pretty much yeah!
I sort of see this as bridging the game design, hacking, a&d, writing and RP sections. It's a really cool idea and there's a lot that could be done with it.

I'd like to see us able to request team members etc. and give credit to those that have helped us in the past.

Yup you can definitely work together with people on regions, and if people want to create art shops etc to donate things to regions then that's perfectly cool too - working together on this kind of stuff will definitely be encouraged! What you said about bridging the sections is exactly what I'm aiming for :)