Is Pokemon a social experience for you?

[Imperator161]

Pokemon's creators obviously seem to care a great deal about keeping the series social (and/or making money off of forcing people to buy more games). We can't get all of the Pokemon in one file, and we're encouraged to trade with others to complete our Pokedexes. Competitive battling is also a big part of the post-game for many people, and that's a social activity as well. Plus, the advertising campaign associated with Pokemon20 seems to play up the social element of the series, too. Newer games seem to require less face-to-face interaction (vs. long-distance internet battling and trading), but Pokemon is still a difficult series to complete on one's own, and nigh-impossible if you don't own multiple systems and games and aren't willing to trade with others.

With that in mind, how social is your Pokemon gaming experience? Do you know people in real life who play Pokemon? Do you just trade and battle with people you find on forums like this one? Or do you stick to yourself, using wonder trade, the GTS, and/or multiple systems of your own to live out your Pokemon experience? And has Pokemon become a more or less social experience for you over time?

 

[Arylett Charnoa]

It's not really too social for me. Other than the fact that my fiance and I play it together on rare occasion and have traded and battled a bit in the past. Mostly though, I prefer to play through my adventures on my own. I mostly do manage to get by just fine with GTS and Wonder Trade when it comes to getting more Pokemon. If you put up a fair trade, you'll get one relatively quickly, I've found. Catching them all isn't really that important to me though. And if I want to do a trade evolution, I can basically grab my fiance's 3DS/DS any time I want, so this issue has been largely nullified. In the past though, it was a bit more of a pain in the ass. I avoided trade evos for this reason.

I'd like to do more battling with actual people, but most of it online seems dedicated to competitive play, which I don't care for. And whenever I try to play random matches, I get paired up with some competitive person who wipes the floor with me. So after all these experiences, I'm not really interested in battling anymore.

 

[Banz]

It used to be a social experience for me back in the days of Pokémania. But I wasn't playing the games then. Pokémon only meant the anime, the cards and various collectibles (tazos, jenga cards, etc.)
These days I just play alone. Many of my friends (and even my sister) used to be huge Pokémon fans but aren't anymore.

 

[Imperator161]

It used to be a social experience for me back in the days of Pokémania. But I wasn't playing the games then. Pokémon only meant the anime, the cards and various collectibles (tazos, jenga cards, etc.)

That's interesting. When did you get into the games? Now that I think about it, I do recall people being obsessed with cards (Charizard in particular), but I don't remember how many of them actually played the games. Most of my friends did, so I assumed everyone else did too, but it's possible a bunch of people didn't own a GameBoy. I think I was the only one who already had a system pre-Pokemon (received a GameBoy Pocket as a gift two years earlier or so, which put me a little behind the times compared to all of the people with GameBoy Colors).

 

[mrtheexception]

20 years ago it was my first experience with such a socially focused game. My best friend at the time and I agreed on one version each and played together all the time. Pretty much every generation since (except a brief stretch of HG/SS when I played with coworkers at a previous job) has been solo.

I'm looking to change that though. I miss the social aspect of sharing and making friends. Recently getting into online battles and joining communities such as this one. For the record I currently play X and OR (mostly the latter).

 

[Shiny]

I've always had friends that played pokemon, but we never played together. We'd talk about it and the like but never trade or battle each other.

 

[Imperator161]

I've always had friends that played pokemon, but we never played together. We'd talk about it and the like but never trade or battle each other.

Did you ever play simultaneously (in the same, room, but without battling/trading)? I feel like that's what most of the people I knew who played when I was younger used to do. We would all buy the same version of the game and sit in a room playing through different portions of the story. If we actually battled, we would turn the games off partway through so the loser wouldn't have to record a loss.

 

[Shiny]

Did you ever play simultaneously (in the same, room, but without battling/trading)? I feel like that's what most of the people I knew who played when I was younger used to do. We would all buy the same version of the game and sit in a room playing through different portions of the story. If we actually battled, we would turn the games off partway through so the loser wouldn't have to record a loss.

Nah, never did that. We'd play at our houses and talk about it through facebook etc.

 

[ShinyUmbreon189]

I don't personally know anybody that plays Pokemon. Well, other than my sister which she rarely does and when she does it's cause she plays my Omega Ruby since me and her rent a 2 bed apt. I mean, I might know people but I've never really brought the topic up around people. I'm sure some do but they keep it lowkey. So my social experiences when it comes to Pokemon is online and I've met some cool people on forums. I used to have a bunch of IRL friends that played Pokemon but that was a loooong time ago lol.

 

[Banz]

That's interesting. When did you get into the games? Now that I think about it, I do recall people being obsessed with cards (Charizard in particular), but I don't remember how many of them actually played the games. Most of my friends did, so I assumed everyone else did too, but it's possible a bunch of people didn't own a GameBoy. I think I was the only one who already had a system pre-Pokemon (received a GameBoy Pocket as a gift two years earlier or so, which put me a little behind the times compared to all of the people with GameBoy Colors).

I did not have a Gameboy. I knew the games existed somewhere but getting them was impossible. I finally managed to play them on a phone emulator some years ago. After that I bought a GBA, GBA SP, DS and some of the games. Maybe I'll get a 3DS soon.

 

[Mawa]

A lot of my friends and my brother are playing so yes, Pokemon is (or was) a big socialization for me.

These days I don't meek with someone to play Pokemon, except for my brother and his friends.

 

[FireSnow]

Pokemon has never been a social thing for me in terms of the games. I always liked to do my own thing and it has never been mission of mine to catch 'em all so I really don't feel a need to be social about it. Now when it comes to competitive play I am very social about it. I like talking to others online and gaining tips and learning from others as well just chatting about it.