Serious The Pokemon "secret"

hellpowna

beware of coco
is a Top Tutor Alumnusis a Past SPL Champion
Hey guys, how are you?
Im opening this topic to talk about pokemon.
What is pokemon for you?
I mean..

When I first played pokemon, I was child, my friends and myself as well, we have always "seen" this game only for child, and it's embarassing for me to tell my friends "I play pokemon".
Infact nobody of my friends know I play pokemon, this would be embarassing for me, really.
When Ive discovered Smogon for the first time, but when Ive seen the competitive aspects of this game in general, I could never believe my eyes.
And woah! Everytime I was used to turn on my nintendo DS, everytime I dreamt to be Ash Ketchum, I thought a lot.
I had the opportunities and the honor to play with formidable players, but the most incredible thing was..I was not the only one!
There were/are lots of players who compete to be the best, to win trophies..
What does it mean to win a Trophy, in pokemon?What does it mean to be considered one of the best?do you think u feel good?
Well, these were the questions I always asked myself.
I remember the time I felt sad when I lost the smogon tour playoff, or the classic playoff..I really felt sad! And I did not sleep for few hours!
Bcoz I think this is more just a game for us! Bcoz I still cant believe there are million of users from all over the world who compete to be the best...we started with a funny game and then, it become a competitive game.."like" soccer, or NBA.
Ive always considered this game like a game, but tbh, when I lost classic and stour playoff I felt rly rly sad.
I often look myself into the mirror thinking about pokemon, and I wonder "whats this game for me"?

No1 knows I play pokemon,no1 of my "real" friends know I play pokemon and I dont want they know it.

I "divided" my life in 2 lifes..
The first is about my real life, my girl friend, my friends, sports etc..
And the second part is about pokemon.
Yes bcoz when I feel bad I come here. This is for me a "hidden secret" to escape from the real life.
This is not just a game, I think. This is more, I guess.
But dont know what is it?
And you?
Is it the samething for you?
 
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I can definitely understand that sentiment; at times it feels like I have a ton of exclusive lives fractured into pieces. Academic interests, work, anime and other fiction, speedrunning, other competitive games, and Smogon Mafia all go into different bins and sharing each unique passion with another person can be a big step for me.

That's why it's important for me to try to be bold in sharing my "secrets" when I feel I can and value the friends I can share anything with.
 

fatty

is a Tiering Contributor
NUPL Champion
this is something i know for a fact troubles / manifests itself for a ton of people on this site. ever since i've played this game there's always been this question, "do people know you play pokemon irl"? i'll admit i felt the same things as you for the longest time. i had stumbled upon this community of ragtags who took the game i loved (pokemon) and turned it into something where i could legitimately try to be the very best. it was what i had dreamed of. but, like you mentioned, pokemon is often looked down on in irl communities. i never considered myself popular, but i also never identified as a "nerd" or anything of the like, and i had a group of friends at the time where i wanted to keep my reputation in tact as much as possible. once i got to college, though, i started making different friends and the earlier buds who i wasn't too close with eventually drifted off. at this point i just got sick of trying to hide something i was passionate about, and decided to say fuck it and tell the people in my life, starting with my girlfriend. i didn't have some big coming out speech or some bs, i simply would throw it into casual convo sometimes when chilling with people. my gf thought it was cute, and if anything just gave her another thing to razz me about (affectionately ig). as for my friends, some of them razz me about it sometimes, the other half i found out were just as big pokemon fans as i was (well, kind of), and we probably bonded even more over mons. i guess what i'm saying is that i get the whole "pokemon should be a secret thing", but i believe if you just take the step and let the people you know in your life who are the closest to it, you can actually feel liberated. if these people are truly close to you, it will only help your relationships. they don't want you hiding your passions from them either, again, if they care.
 
I have a Magikarp forearm tattoo.

Before that, I used to open PS in middle of classes and watch pokeaim's and blunder's videos there as well

never had any problem, commentary or feeling that people are mocking me or shit o.o everybody irl knows i play i guess
 
Very interesting subject although i feel like you went a bit too far with your Ash Ketchum reference haha

I won't discuss the "secrecy" of playing Pokemon here, but rather the reasons why i play.

I feel like Pokemon in its own isn't the actual reason why I hang out a lot on Smogon and PS. I stopped playing the actual games a few years ago, never played the 6th and 7th gen video games, and that's not something I regret at all - I know quite a lot of people that feel the same way actually.
Smogon is appealing because it is focused on competition and social encounter while still keeping this link to our childhood : honestly, I'm not under the impression that i'm playing a child's game when I'm clicking buttons on the sim. Behind its childish looks, being good at this game requires a lot of time, motivation and effort - to quote the person who wrote an article about Smogon in Harvard student's newspaper, "it's chess on steroids".

The community aspect is probably the biggest factor that makes us so fond of this game (I firmly believe it is why many people who pretend to quit quickly come back a few days after their heartbreaking announcement) : let's not be liars, most of the people in here are sensitive, smart people and I'm pretty sure it is a reason why there's such a feeling of familiarity between us (I'm mainly talking about the Tour and french communities here). It's great to be able to share chill moments with the folks you like, even if they're only a nickname and a bunch of pixels - although this can go even further, I met some Smogon friends IRL and had a blast.

The "secret garden" facet is also huge. When I'm feeling down irl, that I had a rough day, it feels good kicking some asses by clicking HJK with Medicham or sharing some witty jokes with my virtual mates. Smogon actually acts like an enhanced cuddly toy, it's comforting to have a place to kick the tension out. I don't reckon it is a shame to hang out on here, as long as it makes the player happy. One of the most fascinating thing I witnessed during my time on Smogon was the dudes trash talking other people about their real life, because whatever the amount of sex you had this month, the number of times you hung out with your friends or the grades you got, you're still on PS chilling with everyone else.

That was my 2 cents about it, I know it's considered as cringe to post here (s/o Croustibast) but I think this is a deeply interesting topic !
 

Martin

A monoid in the category of endofunctors
is a Smogon Discord Contributoris a Forum Moderator Alumnusis a Community Contributor Alumnusis a Contributor Alumnus
The fact that I play 'mons isn't exactly secret to people IRL, and it seems to be that, for a lot of people at school, the first thing that they'd say about me if they were to be asked would probably be that I play the game. Sometimes I get my laptop out in form time at school and play a game or two on the ladder 'cause form time's completely useless anyway, and generally when I do it I have one or two people gathered behind me watching me play; I've done a complete playthrough of Pokémon White 2 just during break and lunch times throughout year 12, and for my year 11 graphics coursework I did a Pokémon-themed flat-packed hamster playhouse which was targetted towards 8-12 year olds.

Something which I've made note of over the past three-or-so years is that, at least where I live, people in secondary schools and sixth forms have a surprising amount of respect for Pokemon, which goes completely against the precedent of scrutiny which is set by other kids games like Mario. I honestly really wonder why that is, because it seems to fit just about every criteria for something that you would get mocked for playing at the age of 16 or 18. Something that I have noticed is that talking about the game is an excellent way to break the ice with someone, because it is one of those things which almost everyone has had a different experience with and, consequently, tends to spark good discussion about things like favorite Pokemon to funny things that happened in the anime and loads of other stuff which eventually evolves into a more general conversation once everyone is a little more comfortable. In year 11 we had to go on a trip to some place in Norfolk to collect data for our geography coursework, and I used it to break the ice with the people in the same bedroom as me after they asked what I was playing in the corner; I was able to talk about my experiences with things like VGC'14 with them and actually be respected for it, which was a really huge relief for me and allowed me to get especially comfortable with one of the really sporty kids at the school to the point that by the end of year 11 we were super tight-knit before parting ways as I went on to do A levels and he went onto a football college. And with further "testing" (for lack of a better term)

That said, I totally understand the sentiment of this "fragmentation" concept you bring up. At the end of the day, it is still definitely its own unique fragment of my life, and it marks a reasonably major divide between my world irl and my world online, and there are definitely fragments within fragments to form a pretty complex tree of how my life is split up: coming under umbrellas of IRL social, online social, interests, and school, and all of these are definitely separate from one another. While I've chosen to not keep things like this secret from those around me, my experience is of a completely separate scope from the much more casual experience that a lot of the people I know have had, and while it definitely opens up certain things for me IRL, it also isolates me in a completely different way all together; I can relate to others' experiences, but most people can't relate to mine due to lacking the experience with the competitive aspect of the game, and I have to dumb stuff down to not be speaking jibberish to them. Smogon is a total change of pace compared to that, with it being formed from a simple rag-tag bunch who wanted to turn a luck-based game for children into something that people take seriously, and it gives me the ability to bring up the very things which I can't bring up to most people IRL, and it also opened up routes into a completely different form of social life to the point where it created a whole new root branch in the mindmap of my life (the online social one) where I could express myself completely differently and overcome a lot of my irl issues. Pokemon has expanded my life in a totally new direction all together, and it's honestly really helps me to know that I'm not the only person who understands my own experience. I'd never trade any of the friendships I've made because of Pokemon for anything in the world, and the game means a lot to me both with regards to it as a game and with regards to its effect on my life.
 

Stallion

Tree Young
is a Tiering Contributoris a Battle Simulator Moderator Alumnusis a Three-Time Past WCoP Champion
I used to hide my Pokemon habits as an insecure teen, but as an adult, I'll even tell girls on dates about my world cup championships and various poke-exploits if it comes up organically in conversation. Maybe its different for high schoolers, but as an adult, people really don't give a fuck. Most people think its awesome. You'd be surprised at how much the nostalgia factor will work in your favour.
 

Max. Optimizer

free to be the greatest
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In my opinion it's important to mention that "Pokémon" as a franchise and its status has constantly been evolving over the past 20 years, just like the Pocket Monsters it's actually about.
Especially the advent of Pokémon Go has significantly allowed the franchise to gain a never-before-seen popularity and it has in my opinion also played an important role in relation to an even wider societal acceptance.
It's just not simply that game anymore that only kids (specifically boys) would pick up and play on their Game Boys in the backseat of the car during the family's vacation trip like back in the day.

In this day and age where our society seemingly becomes more and more interconnected through the internet and social media, the Pokémon franchise has significantly managed to adapt to the contemporary zeitgeist.
A concrete prime example underlining my aforementioned statement is the fact that they placed great emphasis on the leitmotif of "connectivity" by using words like "Connect", "이어지다", "Se connecter", "Miteinander", "Conectar", "Comunicazione" in one of the earlier teaser trailers for their latest games, Pokémon Sun and Moon.

Pokémon doesn't know any geographical boundaries, religion, skin color, shape or form. It's a passion that we can all share together regardless of who we are.
In addition to this, there's nothing wrong with being passionate about battling and being frustrated when losing an important battle.
It's a competition and winning by getting predictions right is a rewarding feeling. The will to be "the very best like no one ever was" lies in human nature.

I'm genuinely happy to see that this franchise was able to become a fertile ground for communities like this where people can gather and share experiences, opinions, theories and strategies.
The communities have become just as manifold as the franchise they're dedicated to: We have writers, translators, programmers, artists, collectors, chatterboxes and competitive tutors that help new users improve.
Last but not least, I can confirm that adults these days don't seem to care about what you play. A lot of young adults nowadays played the games themselves as kids and are now passing their fond childhood memories on to the next generation.

And if somebody still feels the need to try and ridicule you for enjoying Pokémon, I guess you can always just hit 'em with that IRL "
Ignore Spectators" really quick.
 
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When I was 9 it stopped becoming cool to like Pokémon at my summer camp, so I was a closet player for like 2 months. Then it became okay again to like it, and in middle school I made friends that played it, embraced it because it brought me enjoyment, and continue to do so today.

Nothing wrong with enjoying something and telling / not telling others about it. You shouldn't feel embarrassed about it, though. Just look at furries.
 

aurora

GODQUAZA
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About five people in real life know that I play Pokemon. I would hazard that one or two of those five know my username. I am a lot more open about myself here, so naturally I prefer to keep my involvement in various Pokemon communities almost totally private. As it is, I don't think it's something I'll ever have to tell people about. Perhaps when my real life and Internet situations become more congruous, I'll be more open about it.
 
The first time I experience Pokemon is the first movie. That time, I don't know what it is or what's the movie about but I was watching it. After that I always waiting for the channel to show me again and I was waiting for a long time. Then it finally did, the first season. Every time I finished school I ran inside, open the TV and watching the anime. Year or two past, I saw my cousing playing Pokemon Sapphire. It was awesome and I was always want to play. But that time she was protective to her stuff but at least I got the chance to watch. Then I saw almost the same game but I know it is. I cried in front of my parents wanting the games so much that first they think I'll get tired for few months. I got my first Pokemon game which is LeafGreen I always pronounce GreenLeaf lol.

I collect Pokemon related stuff and even my dad knows what's the next game release. I know my family, friends, knew I'm a Pokemon lover and their ok with it. Since my friends don't have 3ds, they download emulators from the internet to play classic games and even Pokemon so I'm glad that they respect the game. It's really funny because they tend to ask me what kind of Pokemon is that or what type is good against and even challenge me to battle. I also got the attention from other classes what I'm good at so they come by in lunch and ask me Pokemon related stuff or say "how ya doin?". It's pretty cool that a simple (well if serious more math) game can make people interested and get excited about.

Even with all good stuff above, there's of course someone who is oppose or dosen't understand. My dad is a gamer, which we talk about games few times and it's nice but my mom isn't a gamer or dosen't show any interest in games. She dosen't talk about games because she's not interested which is fine by me. But when she finally talks about it, it always end in a bad way. Because of that, talking to her about Pokemon makes me feel uncomfortable or akward. So while I'm finished eating dinner and doing homeworks, I go to my room and play with headphones.

To me, Pokemon is part of my childhood and hopefully in my adulthood as well. I see Pokemon as my virtual world far away from the world that I'm living and focus on what's my next thing to do, breed more pokemon for the giveaway, hunt some shinies and of course helping people here in Smogon as much as I can. It's like that's the place where I'm in peace. But I can either have fun with my friends or I hide the game behind my bag and I don't show it to new people because I'm scared for looking me a creepy nerd. I just want to help players the game more and experience the thrills playing it. So when I finish college, I want to be a part of the team to make a game that as good as Pokemon and also hopefully no toxic players...

PS: this question makes me look into my past and stuff but this thread is maybe better in the Orange Island, but yeah my opinion.
 
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I feel like this comic sums up pretty well how I handled the "Pokemon secret" myself.
Back in secondary school, I got into Pokemon when I was like 12-13 and, considering I was the only one in the class with knowledge of the EVs/IVs and whatnot, I was "the very best" (so much that my friends never wanted to play pokemon against me again ;-;), and that felt good. I was kind of proud of that.

Then came High School, where half the class was full of idiots, FPSs reigned supreme and everything else was either sissy or "for children", and you got picked on for simply "being good at school" or doing your job; considering that Pokemon isn't even that popular where I live, I had to "hide" this passion and keep going forward. 'Course, I kept playing pokemon competitively with other close friends of mine, but having to hide such a thing felt weird, as innocent as it was.

Now, at University, everyone has grown up (both physically and mentally) and, at least in IT Engineering, we're all "nerdy", in a way: if we aren't talking about exams or other serious topics, we're talking about games (or how awful the canteen is, but that's another story...). Everyone is into some competitive game, and I even managed to find other people who play Pokemon competitively as I do. Now Pokemon doesn't feel like a "taboo" anymore and, if anything, is a nice topic to discuss with other people, with them either showing interest ("like, how does the competitive scene work?"), or actual involvement ("Gosh, I wish I had the Bank to store all these spitbacks!").
 
I personally never bothered to hide the fact I've always liked Pokemon. I never thought there could be anything wrong with that.

I even tried hard to convince schoolmates into getting back at Pokemon, to no avail. To say that until last year I didn't have an IRL friend that still played Pokemon... the others just stopped playing long ago or are genwunners, but other than that, they have nothing bad to say.

Heck, if there is someone who is rather... annoyed, for the lack of a better word, that I still play Pokemon is my mother. Well, it seems to have diminished a little when she realized I'm not "weird" and that plenty of adults still play it.

(Pretty much everything I said here also applies to my other favourite videogame series, Puyo Puyo, just exchanging the parts about "others no longer playing Pokemon" with "others literally have no idea that thing even existed", and "knowing only one person IRL who plays the game" to "I'd be lucky if I found someone else that played the game". Oh, and exchanging my mother's "how come you are still playing it" with "how come you say Puyo is easier to you than Tetris")
 
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I've played Pokemon most of my life and while I never hid playing Pokemon games or etc, PS was always different to me. I've been playing on here since 2013 (on a lot of different alts and etc.) and other than one IRL friend, I've always hid Pokemon Showdown from people. I never struggled to tell people "Oh I like Pokemon, it's cool" but I felt like casually playing a game vs spending time talking to people about Pokemon on a Pokemon website was different for some reason.

I kinda see Smogon/PS and Pokemon as different entities a lot, I know that they deal directly together but I spend more time on Smogn/PS talking to people or doing things that aren't specifically Pokemon. I made a lot of friends on here and Pokemon's slowly become not so much Pokemon to me but instead has become about the people I meet along the way, I know a few people on PS that I'm closer to than people I know in real life.

I am 19 though so sometimes saying "Yeah I play Pokemon" does make me feel like I need to grow up though.
 
I'm not embarrassed by it, so I don't bother hiding it. At one job I had in high school and college, I was the weird guy at work that played Pokemon, but my friend group and I were super into it. After college, I found a few people at work (different job) that played and we all hung out.

On our first date, my wife found my EV notebook (back in the DPPT days where I had to track my EV training by hand) and asked about it, so i explained it to her. We're married with kids now, so it didn't turn out too bad.

I joined the military a while ago, and I haven't met a more open enthusiastic group of people playing Pokemon. When SM came out, the whole shop was in Pokemon mode for weeks.

Overall, Pokemon has created more friendships for me, even at my age (29) than has made me an outcast.
 
It was good for me since my roommate in college once watched me playing PS! and then got on it himself too. He ended up getting much more addicted than me - in the end it's a game - but it still wasn't that major a part of my life that I needed to hide it - it's not like the friends I have aren't nerdy themselves.
 
It was good for me since my roommate in college once watched me playing PS! and then got on it himself too. He ended up getting much more addicted than me - in the end it's a game - but it still wasn't that major a part of my life that I needed to hide it - it's not like the friends I have aren't nerdy themselves.
Yeah, i was on a similar setting back then, only that some guys made fun of it and always kept bringing it up on conversations, overall i never had a problem with my pokemon habit, it is just those select few guys that associate Pokemon with immaturity and other similar traits.
 

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