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Introduction

Hello there! Whether you're a newcomer to these forums or an experienced player, chances are you've come across Rate My Team, a popular section on Smogon. The basic idea behind it is that all of us can use a little advice on our teams from time to time, and it's a place where new users flock to in droves in order to seek help. The forum also maintains an archive that holds successful, well-presented teams that have chronicled the development of Smogon metagames over its entire history.

Aside from just getting your teams rated and rating other people's teams, the forum runs various activities and projects. Most of these are hosted in the Rating Activities forum, which casual users usually merely glance over and do not get involved in. The aim of this article is to raise awareness for and provide an introduction to the current ongoings in RMT for newcomers to the forum, as there are several excellent resources available for aspiring raters to enjoy and learn. There is much more to this bustling forum than initially meets the eye!

Participate

Rating Basics is a thread that raters can always turn to for advice. You can post rates that you want critiqued, and our official Team Raters will post their thoughts on the rate and suggest ways in which you can improve your skills. We're more than happy to help; it's the ethos of our community to provide advice to anyone who needs it.

Participating in the Rating Practice Teams project is a way to truly challenge your rating skills. Every round, we will provide you with teams designed to be tough to rate in order to make you think creatively to make the best changes. Any rates we receive will be replied to personally by an official rater, which gives you a clear idea of the areas in your rating that require work. At the end of each round, we also provide some general hints and overall feedback on how things went and post the best rate that we received as an example of how to rate each team. The project includes teams from several tiers, so even if you rate teams in tiers other than OU, don't let that stop you from participating. The latest round is in progress and can be found here.

If you're looking for a bit of fun competition or ever wondered what successful teams would be like in action, then look no further than the RMT Tournament, where participants battle it out in a best of three single elimination tournament using teams from a set of RMTs provided by the host every round. This means that you need not build any teams to take part; you can simply pick a team out at your leisure and play — easy as pie. The tournament is currently in the semi-final round of its third edition.

Rate My Team now also has a dedicated room on Pokémon Showdown! It has tight relations with our community on Smogon, and we're looking to develop a culture that caters to both people familiar with Smogon RMT as well as new PS! users that get involved. Anyone is welcome to participate, both to seek advice and rate teams. It's a quick and easy way to get your team rated on the go, as you don't need to post a full RMT of your team. As the room develops, we're also going to be running various events, workshops, and tournaments to bring the room members closer to form a tight-knit community. If you rate on the forums or are looking to get started with rating, it's definitely worth your time to get involved on PS! as well. You'll be able to experience official raters rating in a live environment, which can help you to better understand their thought processes and potentially learn a lot from them. Participating and being a positive presence in the room, and later applying what you learned by rating on the forums, will also get you more easily noticed by staff members.

Staff Projects

Our staff has recently undertaken several projects to provide entertainment, learning resources for people who frequent our forums, and a way to bring unbadged raters and successful RMTs into the spotlight. Featured Rater is a series of interviews where we ask official Team Raters, new and old, several questions about the RMT forum and their experiences within it. This project offers an insight into their unique thought processes, which raters can look to incorporate into their own rates. Our latest interview features one of RMT's newest raters, Alkov, and can be found here. He's one of the most dedicated contributors we've had recently and has some pearls of wisdom for any aspiring raters out there. Be sure to check it out; it's a great read!

We've also started an initiative to write RMTs for successful teams that were influential in the development of the ORAS metagame, but have not been posted in the RMT forum. These RMTs are written with input from the original creators of the teams and posted directly into the archive so that these teams can earn the credit and exposure they deserve. One UU and two OU staff RMTs have been written for the archive to date. Our latest one, Sableye Semi-Stall by Honus, can be read here.

The Rate of the Week and RMT of the Week projects aim to reward the efforts of unbadged raters and people who make quality RMTs, respectively. Weekly winners of both projects earn a spot in the respective Hall of Fames. Winners of the Rate of the Week also earn more consideration for the Pre-Contributor and Team Rater badges, evident by the fact that several past winners have gone on to become official raters. Rating the winning team of the RMT of the Week is also the perfect opportunity for unbadged raters to draw attention from the staff. If you put effort into making quality rates and RMTs, your work will by duly be rewarded and receive exposure via these projects. The latest winner of the Rate of the Week is an OU rate by bludz, which can be found here, while for the RMT of the Week, it's team Serpents & Dragons by FlamingVictini, which can be read here.

Looking Ahead

While the forum is currently buzzing with activity, we're not standing still. We're hoping to revitalize our official IRC channel, #ratemyteam, in the near future. While IRC has been seen by many as being on the decline with the popularity of PS!, there's no reason why it still can't function as an active hub where raters can hold focused, high-quality discussions and workshops. The IRC atmosphere is also a little more casual than that of PS!, giving you a better chance to connect with staff members.

We're always looking for new ways to expand our userbase and undertake new projects. If you have an interest in the forum, don't hesitate to contribute any ideas for projects that you may have in mind. You can even run them on your own once you're an official Team Rater.

Conclusion

I hope that this article has piqued your interest and made you want to take a closer look at the RMT forum, whether you're just starting to rate, thinking about it, or simply wanting to contribute to the forum in some way. Whatever the case, I hope that I've given you a clear idea of what all these features really involve and how it makes the Rate My Team forum a lot more than just, well, rating. Thanks for reading!

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