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Smogon: Why you came here and why you stayed

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I recently got into Platinum (after playing all previous generations of the games), and saw a link to this site about RNG abuse in Emerald and Platinum. Read those threads about 1000 times, and plan on attempting it very soon.

Since I've been here, I must say my head has exploded. The skill of the people on here, the stuff they've done (and continue to do) to crack the RNG, the work of people to help the entire community by sharing their knowledge is fascinating. Simply put, this place is awesome :D .
 
I was redirected here by fellow Smogonites. I noticed there was no "formal" introduction system, but this should suffice. =D

My name is Michael. For the sake of internet predators, I will not provide my last name. I was born in the Christmas of 1993. I am currently 15 years old, and am entering the 11th grade in September. I live in Boston.

First off, I started getting into Pokemon in the GSC era. Back in RBY, my cousins were playing Pokemon, but I wasn't that into video games back then. I started off with GSC, and I moved up to RSE (owning 2 of the 3). And then DP came out. This is when I bursted into Pokemon the most. I scurried to get an Action Replay, and bought Diamond (because I didn't know back then that Palkia was so superior to Dialga ;D). I beat the game, crushed the Elite Four (multiple times), but I grew bored. I then popped into a forum (it shouldn't matter which one it was) and I heard of competitive battling. Well, I could 6-0 my friend with Mewtwo. How come I can't use it against you? I found the world of competitive battling.

My first few battles were tough. If you have ever sat down and actually EVd something for the first time, it is very strenuous. I was easily 4-0'd or 5-0'd during my first battles. And then it suddenly got easier. I started using Serebii for events (and I could clone them with AR), which I could use as bidding material for IV Breeding and EV Training. But the Forum I was at didn't have too many people who knew about competitive battling. Maybe... 7 (at best). I still visit this forum today, and it helps me flourish with some tough battles.

7 people at a non-Pokemon forum doesn't stand a chance against few hundreds on a Pokemon-based forum. (Note: at this time, I knew about Smogon, which is what really pushed me into competitive battling. Shoddy hadn't been introduced to me, YET.) I scoured the internet for a Pokemon-based forum. Where could I find one? And then, it occured to me. I found the forum that would turn me into an expert at competitive battling (read: PokeCommunity).

I still had a tutor at my first forum for Pokemon, but PC is where I got over 40+ of my IV breeds. I learned to EV train by myself. PC and Serebii alone got me 30+ of my events. Then, I decided enough was enough, and after 60 different EVd Pokemon, I was satisfied, and quit PC.

I became more active in my first forum, where I now hold a pretty strong win record. I learned more and more about competitive battling. I was introduced to Shoddy (although, I need to fix my computer before I can use it again). But I wanted to continue to learn about Pokemon.

I was using Smogon regularly. Anytime I had a battle, I kept it open so I could check the analysis and piece together sets, EV spreads, even items if I was desperate. Yesterday, I made a decision that the Smogon Forums might be a nice place to figure out the rest of my Pokemon "career".

I am not here to make friends (I don't believe in internet friends). I am not here to get new EVs, or trade with you. I have other places for that. I am here solely on the grounds to improve my Pokemon knowledge. Many of you here are here for the same reason. Many of you are not. But this is my reasoning for coming to the Smogon Forums. I hope I have a wonderful stay. ;D

That covers why I came here. Now let's see if I stay. ^_^

(That was the longest first post I've EVER done.)
 
How I Got Into Pokemon?
Watching the anime, though I am new 'round here I am old at Pokemon. Watching the first saga and how Pikachu used to laugh at Ash the first episode really made me laugh a lot.
I did not know about the games R/B/Y until in 2000 I bought my first Blue Version and in that same years my bro stole Gold and later Crystal version from a classmate LMAO!.

How did I find Smogon?
Well thanks to the Pokemon Smeargle!.
I thought Smeargle could only learn one move through sketch and I wanted to breed a Meowth with Nasty Plot and some other moves which I later knew it couldn't lol so I began looking Smeargle info and I googled it and this page appeared but showing Smeargle strategies, then I clicked the button "Search for help" and got the answer " Figure it out for yourself". I think that's one of the best advices ever though at first I found it rude haha.
 
How got interested, how I found Smogon and Why i joined (just joined)

I first got interested in Pokemon since i was 2 (yay) or whenever i could think properly. My older brother,whos about a gajillion years older than me, was already interested in pokemon so i was naturally interested. I was especially interested in the sprites and for my 6th birthday my brother had drawn me the *red, blue and yellow* pokedex (albeit someone were kinda wonky). I had ruby which i sadly lost, so now i have Diamond(my brother bought it for me of course). I always checked up "another site" for my info and they had mentioned something about "EV's" and "power." I was interested in making my UU (which i had no clue about before) pokemon better so when i googled it it led me to Smogon. I saw the letters "S-M-O-G-O-N" and I realized that this was the sight the my cousin used (only a million years older than me). I was surprised by all the strategies for every Pokemon and I got my first briefing on EV's! I joined because if I didn't i felt like a browser and not a regular:toast:
 
Um... this is sort of my first post in here, so...

How I got into Competitive Pokemon
I first encountered Pokemon as a child, around the time the Game Boy Color came out. I played RBY (and later G/S/C) like most kids did: With the crazy level 100 Starter Pokemon (usually the water type), with everything else being like... level 10 or something ridiculous like that.

Then when R/S/E came out, I began being a bit more careful in how I actually played. I began rotating my Pokemon, trying to make them more evenly leveled and all of that.

Then I took a break for a few years. Played Pearl for a bit. (Pearl turned into my "action replay cart" eventually) I didn't really get interested in Competitive battling until I bought Platinum.

Then after joining another site (whose main draw is those little Pokemon Eggs that you click in peoples signatures), I was introduced to Shoddy.

What Smogon Did for Me
Smogon really highlighted aspects of Pokemon I didn't notice before. Like EVs, IVs, How natures effect stats...

My first really "competitive grade" team was a Hail Storm team I made using a guide off this website, which did pretty well against many of my friends. Though, since I've only just joined, I don't really have much to say...

Hopefully I'll be able to expand this someday.
 
How i found Pokemon, and Smogon

This is my first post on Smogon... Anyways.....

How I got into Pokemon

I had always had a faint interest in Pokemon, even as a younger child. I originally started off collecting the cards. I loved playing with those cards, despite the fact that it was just shiny paper consuming my valuable money and time. I planned on collecting them until I became bored with them, so that I could eventually sell them or give them to my siblings. Unfortunately, my fun and my childish and foolhardy aspirations were cut short by a combination of my mom throwing out most of the cards, and my siblings steeling a few of the more rare cards now and then.

As far as the video games go, I only became interested in them around the release of Ruby and Sapphire. In fact, it wasn't mere interest, it was obsession. I naturally came to own all of the hand-held games in the third generations, and Pokemon XD Gale of Darkness and Pokemon Colosseum as well. I also had a very strong attachment and attraction to the Pokemon Jirachi. Despite the fact that the price of Colosseum bonus disks was so staggeringly high, I purchased one anyways for around $30 from Ebay.

When Diamond and Pearl came out, I didn't own a DS at the time. On my 13th birthday, I acquired An Onyx Nintendo DS Lite, Two Pokemon Pearl Versions, and one Pokemon Diamond Version. I gained another Diamond from one of my friends later on. I also got Pokemon Battle Revolution.

Why I joined Smogon

I gradually became more and more obsessed with the Pokemon video game series, and as such, passed through and beat many games before my introduction to the competitive aspect of Pokemon. I began to wonder if there was really anything more to Pokemon video games. When I gradually became more acquainted with the competitive aspect, I noticed the groups of players in their forums. I had always wanted to join a forum that was serious about Pokemon, yet most forums did not have members who were serious about things. I couldn't stand all of the stupidity and idiocy and carelessness of the people I saw. I never joined any of those forums. I eventually stumbled into this website, but was never sure about joining. I eventually found myself very fond of this site, and couldn't help but join. I'm still very new to this whole 'forum atmosphere' kinda thing. Heck, I can't even get the banner in my signature to display properly. However, that has not discouraged me from joining and staying. This website is awesome, and certainly much more serious that others websites I have seen. I don't plan on ever leaving.
 
How I got into pokemon.

One day many years ago I turned on tv and saw charmander evolve into charmeleon, and then that network started back at the beginning the next day. I was interested, I eventually got red and blue. This cumulated into one of my most memorable to me moments, getting a non rare candied team to 100. I went on to get yellow, gold, silver, and crystal.

I tried to get my brother into the game, only got him to play silver for a time, then a "Friend" of his stole my games. I stopped playing for a while despite managing to get two of the cartiges back.

Ruby and saphire came out after that, I followed tradition and got both, play them for about a year before losing interest (no one to battle, except a kid on the bus who insisted on using 6 kyroge).

Then sometime late spring 2008 I discovered some pokemon fansites, most prominently serebii. I learned about ivs and evs there. I then procured a fire red version (best buy still had them in stock!)

I came to find smogon, but what really caught my interest was the emerald rng threads. I got emerald shortly after that and started to breed pokemon with really good evs in my spare time at college (usually while watching movies online or animes.)

I didn't have any forth generation games, but I had fun in the emerald battle frontier so I waited for Platinum. I have not been disapointed so far with platinum.



Why Smogon?

While I have spent time reading the forums at varsious sites such as serebii I have never registered to join the forums of any of them.

However, I have spent a good deal of time looking at the stratagies on smogon and quite frankly no other place really compares in the quality.

Kind of on a spur of the moment I signed up for the smogon forums after view this site for more than 7 months.
 
How I got into Pokemon
My entry into school DIRECTLY coincided with the introduction of Pokemon in Australia. So when I was a little little child Pokemon was the fad and Pokemon 2000 in Australia just sealed the deal.

Why Smogon?
Used to Netbattle aaaages ago, never had a Smogon account but always used the guides here. I only started playing with Shoddy around yesterdayish and I want to get more serious about being competitive.
 
how I got into pokemon

the gameboy colur came out, blue red where(are?) the best games for it, mom woudnt let me get it cuz it was too violent :p. Long story short, turns out its not that hard to EV train while playing rs^^ wonder if I can learn to pk and battle competetivly at the same time....hm....
oh ya, and elo to you all, this is my 1st post ^^


why smogon? about 20 minutes ago, I wondered what Ev spread a giratina would need. Found this sites guide system, and I gotta say, its awsome.

oh and uh, cuz of the tutor program and everything :p (just started competetivly lol, gotta learn somehow)
 
How I got into pokemon?

I got red when it came out and it started from there.

How I found Smogon?

I saw marriland thrash someone on youtube and decided I wanted to get compettitive. In a later video i heard him say smogon so i came here.
I instantly loved the strategy dex and lurked until i decide i wanted an account.
 
Why I came to Smogon: Ahh, looking back to about a year ago, I was quite the competitive Pokemon noob. If I was on the computer because of Pokemon, I was most likely on Serebii.net, where they had basic info about the games like at what level Pokemon evolve, etc. Then one day I stumbled upon the Serebii forums, where I heard a simple, yet puzzling, word being said over and over. You guessed it, that word was Smogon. I wondered what that word could possibly mean, so what do you do when you wonder about something but don't really have anybody to ask about it? That's right, I Googled it. Smogon University, huh? I was intrigued, to say the least. I checked it out, found incredible articles detailing competitive battling (I had been involved in comp. battling over Wi-Fi for about two months), and then I found the forums. I thought it was such an interesting place that I had to make an account. Although, just to be fair to my old best friend, Serebii.net, I figured I had to make an account there as well. Since then I have spent a lot of time in the RMT threads learning and improving my game, as well as helping others using the knowledge I had gained from lurking. BTW, Shoddy amazed me. No time wasting IV breeding? No need to EV? I was hooked.

Why I stayed: Like I said, I was hooked, both on Competitive Battling as well as Smogon. Here I can find humor, Pokemon talk, serious debates, and a whole lot more. It's really just a great online community to be a part of. As a side note, here's the current comparison of my post counts at Smogon and Serebii: 40>0. Yeah, guess which one I like more ;)
 
It started for me about a year ago. I've been a fan of the pokemon games since the days of RBY when my dad bought me a shiny Gameboy Color and Pokemon Red.

Anyway, around a month before the release of D/P, I found a Netbattle program that a freind linked me on an instant messaging chat - This was the older, 3rd generation Netbattle. I had never built a competetive team before but gave it a shot, thinking about all kinds of strategys, coverage and how to counter "strong" pokemon I knew would come up (I had no idea what to expect, but was certain of opponments like Salamence, Metagross and Suicune etc)

Anyway, I built my first 3rd gen competetive team and won my first NB battle! I was shocked, but from that day on, I was hooked. It was like the Heroin/Crack of the internet, I had to battle more and get better.

Anyway, I recall looking for a good Metagross set and a freind telling me to "look on Smogon". So I had a look at the sets, found a nice set that really helped out my team, and from that day on, whenever I was unsure, I looked at the Smogon sets. (I must criticise some of the Absol and Celebi sets, but thios isn't thye topic for that)

Anyway, it wasn't until later on I decided to register to the forums, and prove how good I am at competetive battling.
 
Well, I always loved Pokemon, and I was good at battling.

...not so much COMPETITIVE battling, you see. But one day my friend and I were talking about competitive battling as I had read some articles and had just downloaded shoddy. The next day we went hiking and canoeing, and I was surprised at how much he had learned. I asked him...and he said he was reading the articles from Smogon. So you see, I was very attracted to this place and thus, joined :)
I was eager to learn the ins and outs of competitive battling, and so I felt this was the best place to learn. :)
 
Well I suppose I should post here to introduce myself.

I'm a lot more active on Serebii, I came here to for competitive aspect of Pokemon. Serebii is full of noobs. And no one there is on shoddy. :P
 
How I Got Into Pokemon

Well when pokemon first came out it swept the nation of my school. I was with friends and they had one so I was like ok, lets try this out. It sorta reminded me of final fantasy y'know? Take tearns, learn certin moves, lvls, stats, bla bla you know the rest. Well I tried the game out and it blew me away. I was like WOW SO MANY POKEMON 150!!!!! OF THEM WHAT!! And after that I was crazy into it. I got into battles with friends and was destroying everyone. But eventualy I got tired of the same old same old. Then poemon crystal came out. I was speachless. Had moving pokemon and everything. :O! thats all I did was that emote. Now asfor cmpetitive battles my friend showed me about it. I had the slightest clue about EV training. But he taught me everyhing and now. I am a pro. That about sums up my pokemon life.

How I Came To Smogon

Lets face it your all pro lvl here. I am tired of searching forums and getting bad players that teach a Luxray Roar Of Time -_-. Though I did find a forum Pojo forums. Really good place for great battles. But here when I become big here. I can be rememberd. Because everyone can see my name in the big lights. My idea's for pokemon on your list, The changes in NU and UU use. I want to be the best the pro the known! So that is why I came to smogon. Honestly to bet all of you guys :D
 
well when i first knew about pokemon it kinda sounded retarded to me but then as i started playing red and so on to the 2nd gen i started to like them alot from there it became really addicting. i started competitive battling at around mid 2007 and started iv breeding ev training all sorts of pokemon i i got more into competitive battle i found a couple sites to find wifi battles. i orginaly started off with youtube which seems kinda strange then i found this place. i knew about smogon for awhile but never really wanted to join for some reason but when i joined recently i ended having a great experience while here and facing way better people then i did before.
 
How I got into Pokemon and came to Smogon... A Short Story

I'm 18 years old. I got my little mitts on a copy of Pokemon Red probably the month following its release. My brother got Blue. Eventually, despite having much difficulty with reading a few of the more exotic words in the game, we managed to figure out weaknesses and resistances, evolutions, and the numbers behind stats. I remember squandering my Master Ball on Moltres in Victory Road because I had run out of everything else and hadn't saved since I had last replaced the batteries. Later, a cousin showed us the missingno. trick and we both wound up corrupting our games. When Yellow came out, I jumped on it, and my brother got a Pokemon Pinball game. After that came Gold and Silver, I got Gold and my brother got Silver. At the advent of Crystal, neither of us found it a worthwhile investment. We'd grown past Pokemon... When Ruby and Sapphire came out we were obviously so disenfranchised that we didn't pay either game a second glance. I don't know when or how I managed to come into posession of a Sapphire cartridge. By the time I cleared it I never expected to think about Pokemon again. Apparently nostalgia is a stronger force than I expected though, because at some point I read something about Pokemon that made me want to go back. When I found out about the complexities of EVs and IVs I realized that Pokemon wasn't quite as destitute as I had originally believed. So, this year I downloaded no$gba along with a Pokemon Diamond ROM. I beat that in about a week and was almost depressed by the fact that I couldn't brag about my exploits or battle with anyone. So, eventually, I ponied up $35, bought a copy of Platinum at Wal-Mart, and recently beat it. The goal from the beginning of Platinum was to burn through the game and get into some competetive battling, because the whole wifi concept appealed to me a lot. So, never one to be unprepared, I'd been doing significant research on movesets and suggested EV spreads, searching for the best ways to use my favorite Pokes, using mainly Psypokes.com for looking up specific Pokemon on the spur of the moment. Finally I decided to look for actually tried-and-tested movesets and combinations, googled it, and found Smogon.

GOOD GOD, I didn't mean to write my life's story.
 
I liked Pokémon first when my little brother showed me Pokémon Emerald. I loved to play it and that's why I bought Sapphire. It was a really easy game for me and I hated it after I defeated the elite 4. About 1 or 2 years later, D/P came out. The in-game was somewhat harder, so I decided to search the web. I picked random sites everytime, but I found one site I liked, so I used that one over and over. Some people on the site were talking about Smogon. I used Google to find out what that stupid Smogon was. When I saw this site, it wasn't stupid at all. I loved the articles and the analyses. Because of this site, I know about ShoddyBattle, which I love way more than the original games. I used Smogon as a source for almost two years and now, I finally registered. I'll stay as long as I can and I hope to help and to be helped here.
 
I got into Pokemon because when I was maybe about eight, GSC came out. I bunch of my friends had it, so I saved up for it, and fell in love. My friends outgrew it, but I never did <3

I found Smogon when I did a GoogleSearch for "Roserade moveset". Smogon came up, so I clicked on it. I was used to the "pokemon of the week" thing at Serebii.net, so when I found the Smogon annaylises, I was enthralled. I read about every single analysis (even dark shit like Luvdisc), played on Shoddy, and then made an account on the forums.

I stayed because it is fun, and it is a good place to discuss my guilty pleasasure. Well, one might call it "guilty obsession". It is a respectful, organized enviornment. Holy Hell, it makes me feel like I'm part of a coup de et against the govenment or something! :)
 
I've been playing Pokemon since, way back in the RBY days, and loving every second of it. While plenty of my friends talk about how they miss when Pokemon was "good," I've been enjoying it all along.

I found Smogon via Serebii and I've stayed because it's helpful and enjoyable.
 
Let's see...I started competitive Pokemon a year ago, or somewhere around there. My sister taught me how to play. And by "taught", I mean "annihilated me over and over with her leaderboard team until I caught on". Finally I won, was ecstatic, and she said "Good job. Now try that team against a random opponent." I did, got slaughtered, and she points out that my team had been specifically made to beat hers; it was overspecialized to the point of putting Shed Shells on seemingly Dugtrio-weak team members just for that reason. She just told me that I needed to think of a way to make my own team good against multiple opposing strategies. That, and to read Sirlin because "everything that book says is entirely true, and I assure you that you will learn to agree with that in time". Yay, more tough love.

Anyway, when I read the part in Sirlin about seeking stronger opponents, I decided to do just that. Essentially, to find a place where I could look at the teams of good opponents, and from there, work out ways I could counter their teams. To build a team that had ways of beating them, or at the very least making them sweat. I tried a bunch of places, none of which worked, and finally found this place. I don't think I need to say how helpful this place is - you all already know. I know I joined fairly recently, but I've been lurking for a long time before that, and finally decided to join this place so that I could receive feedback on my ideas and (hopefully) contribute something to this great community.
 
I came here because I heard from a friend that this site is a great place to talk pokemon and very active. You guys have a great community and hope to stay for a long time. :D
 
Hmm... Guess due to the lack of a thread for intro, I guess I shall chuck my stuff here no?

I've been following Pokemon since it first came to America. Ever since I started, I've gone nuts over it. I own every single game that was Pokemon related and in English. Sadly, most of it has been sold off, with only my precious Yellow from 1st Gen, and my current 4th Gen, and my PBR. I swore to stay a fan for life, and so far, I think it's going really well, though I've earned some wtf... from some people. XD

As for Smogon, after countless reading post, I finally got around to getting an account. I've been following Smogon for more than a year though. A friend of mine showed me it after he got pissed at me for asking him everything.

And so now, here I am, completely fanetic about it all, thanks to Smogon. I spend most my free time when I'm bored breeding and trying out stuff. One day I hope to join our fellow Smogonites up there in the Championships.
 
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