Hi everyone,
I recently got interested in Pokemon after having not played in years. I've been having a blast replaying soke childhood favourites like platinum, as well as dabbling with fan games such as Pokemon Insurgence. I have also recently taken interest in competitive battling, which has led me here.
I have heard many opinions of Smogon -- both good and bad. For starters, I am very impressed with the layout and level of quality of both the forums and showdown website. I can clearly see that a lot of work has been put in both. In contrast, I've heard that the Smogon community is 'toxic', elitist and cruel on 'bad' players. However, rumors are just that -- rumors. As well, every community has their fair share of wankers. I decided to the community a shot, so I entered the "OU discussion" chat and joined in a discussion on stealth rocks. And then this happened...
I politely introduced myself and stated that it would be a good idea if it was nerfed. I was then called a retard (among other more offensive personal attacks) by multiple members of the chat, was ridiculed for having a bad 'GXE' (recently discovered what that is), and was told that because I had a bad ladder rating, my opinion was crap. Not one member of that chat posted a valid counter argument -- I was flamed on for trying to start a discussion.
This is exactly what some people told me to expect from this community. While not exactly providing a good first impression, I don't want a bunch of a-holes to form my opinion of this community. I have played many online games and have interacted with many different communities (in fact, i am a recognized community contributor for world of tanks) I am on the fence in terms of my opinion, so what do you all have to say to change it? Thanks for reading.
I recently got interested in Pokemon after having not played in years. I've been having a blast replaying soke childhood favourites like platinum, as well as dabbling with fan games such as Pokemon Insurgence. I have also recently taken interest in competitive battling, which has led me here.
I have heard many opinions of Smogon -- both good and bad. For starters, I am very impressed with the layout and level of quality of both the forums and showdown website. I can clearly see that a lot of work has been put in both. In contrast, I've heard that the Smogon community is 'toxic', elitist and cruel on 'bad' players. However, rumors are just that -- rumors. As well, every community has their fair share of wankers. I decided to the community a shot, so I entered the "OU discussion" chat and joined in a discussion on stealth rocks. And then this happened...
I politely introduced myself and stated that it would be a good idea if it was nerfed. I was then called a retard (among other more offensive personal attacks) by multiple members of the chat, was ridiculed for having a bad 'GXE' (recently discovered what that is), and was told that because I had a bad ladder rating, my opinion was crap. Not one member of that chat posted a valid counter argument -- I was flamed on for trying to start a discussion.
This is exactly what some people told me to expect from this community. While not exactly providing a good first impression, I don't want a bunch of a-holes to form my opinion of this community. I have played many online games and have interacted with many different communities (in fact, i am a recognized community contributor for world of tanks) I am on the fence in terms of my opinion, so what do you all have to say to change it? Thanks for reading.
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