So this post may be a bit long winded, however if you're in a hurry the tl;dr is that I'm stepping down as CL of Smogon VGC, and Yuki will be replacing me as a CL!
This is a wonderful opportunity for Yuki and for the new wave of leadership in Smogon VGC to move forward. Overall I've been overseeing Smogon VGC since the middle/end of blarajan's oversight. After numerous attempts to revitalize the forum by myself, I realized how daunting this task truly was. Several attempts at revamping the life within the forums, c&c, and the like, we were close to losing the forum entirely as we just clearly did not have the life within the community we once had.
Back in September of 2020, I was prepared to step down and leave Pokemon entirely. I've played the game since 2008 and I've been involved with Smogon since and I felt I'd done my best and "played my part" in the community. I had wished to accomplish more and to have a more successful player but I knew life was coming fast and it was time for me to go. at quite possibly the last hour, zeefable reached out and we caught up. zee and I were very much friends through 2019 and the Ultra series as a whole and I looked up to zee's success's. Zee has always been a great inspiration to me for the new generation of VGC players and just HEARING from her after having lost contact for so long was revitalizing.
From this interaction, I was invited to "The Boys" and got to know so many people who helped me rediscover my passion for the game and the Smogon community and with that, I met Raineko (Yuki) as well. Yuki had an attention to detail and structure that caught my eye. Both of these players were exactly the people who had the ability to do what I've dreamt of seeing with the Smogon VGC community. Zee had the tournament experience, and Yuki had the c&c experience. We finally had a full team ready to revamp this forum.
From here, we went on to launch one of the most successful C&C programs that VGC has ever attempted, having analyses written and site-loaded within a week of Series 8 going live on console. We partnered with Zelda to host one of the largest online VGC tournaments in our community history, and we topped it off with our first draft league in several years (of which Zelda's team won!). We had countless big names partake in our Major and our Draft League and it was just so humbling to see so much of the community throw their support behind our community.
All this being said, When zee and Yuki came into the picture, I always had a plan to retire at some point. I knew they were the future of this community no matter what happened, and I wanted to see my projects off to a point where I felt my vision was no longer needed. This community is in an amazing spot and we are continually looking to grow. We now have a full moderation team in addition to them, as well as many others who contribute to the forum on a regular basis. I couldn't be more happy with the result and I'm so proud of my people for being the amazing and talented folks that they are. I always said I felt this wasn't my doing as I was just the guy with the map. I owe it all to zee and yuki for finishing the fight with me, and giving me a reason to trudge forward in the face of adversity.
Lastly, some further insight into my real life. With all the work done on Smogon VGC I managed to secure a position with a high profile company as an Event Technology Coordinator working with data and numbers much similar to what I've done with VGC over the years. I spoke to our successes in my interview and funnily enough, I was told that my talk about Smogon was what secured me this wonderful new job. I am required to travel quite a bit (A good thing for fulfilling my travel itch!) however this takes away a lot of the time I used to have in my prior field. I'm so grateful for everything life has thrown at me and gifted me with and I feel so proud to call Smogon VGC my home base.
I will be stepping down effective immediately, and Yuki will be taking my title shortly after posting. I'll be staying on as a forum mod for the time being to assist in projects as time allows. I feel for me this is the beginning of the end of my time in competitive Pokemon, but once again thank you all for being a community I'm so proud of, and I look forward to seeing us grow even more!
-Netherious, SHINKIRO, Whatever else damn name I've had over the past 13 years.
This is a wonderful opportunity for Yuki and for the new wave of leadership in Smogon VGC to move forward. Overall I've been overseeing Smogon VGC since the middle/end of blarajan's oversight. After numerous attempts to revitalize the forum by myself, I realized how daunting this task truly was. Several attempts at revamping the life within the forums, c&c, and the like, we were close to losing the forum entirely as we just clearly did not have the life within the community we once had.
Back in September of 2020, I was prepared to step down and leave Pokemon entirely. I've played the game since 2008 and I've been involved with Smogon since and I felt I'd done my best and "played my part" in the community. I had wished to accomplish more and to have a more successful player but I knew life was coming fast and it was time for me to go. at quite possibly the last hour, zeefable reached out and we caught up. zee and I were very much friends through 2019 and the Ultra series as a whole and I looked up to zee's success's. Zee has always been a great inspiration to me for the new generation of VGC players and just HEARING from her after having lost contact for so long was revitalizing.
From this interaction, I was invited to "The Boys" and got to know so many people who helped me rediscover my passion for the game and the Smogon community and with that, I met Raineko (Yuki) as well. Yuki had an attention to detail and structure that caught my eye. Both of these players were exactly the people who had the ability to do what I've dreamt of seeing with the Smogon VGC community. Zee had the tournament experience, and Yuki had the c&c experience. We finally had a full team ready to revamp this forum.
From here, we went on to launch one of the most successful C&C programs that VGC has ever attempted, having analyses written and site-loaded within a week of Series 8 going live on console. We partnered with Zelda to host one of the largest online VGC tournaments in our community history, and we topped it off with our first draft league in several years (of which Zelda's team won!). We had countless big names partake in our Major and our Draft League and it was just so humbling to see so much of the community throw their support behind our community.
All this being said, When zee and Yuki came into the picture, I always had a plan to retire at some point. I knew they were the future of this community no matter what happened, and I wanted to see my projects off to a point where I felt my vision was no longer needed. This community is in an amazing spot and we are continually looking to grow. We now have a full moderation team in addition to them, as well as many others who contribute to the forum on a regular basis. I couldn't be more happy with the result and I'm so proud of my people for being the amazing and talented folks that they are. I always said I felt this wasn't my doing as I was just the guy with the map. I owe it all to zee and yuki for finishing the fight with me, and giving me a reason to trudge forward in the face of adversity.
Lastly, some further insight into my real life. With all the work done on Smogon VGC I managed to secure a position with a high profile company as an Event Technology Coordinator working with data and numbers much similar to what I've done with VGC over the years. I spoke to our successes in my interview and funnily enough, I was told that my talk about Smogon was what secured me this wonderful new job. I am required to travel quite a bit (A good thing for fulfilling my travel itch!) however this takes away a lot of the time I used to have in my prior field. I'm so grateful for everything life has thrown at me and gifted me with and I feel so proud to call Smogon VGC my home base.
I will be stepping down effective immediately, and Yuki will be taking my title shortly after posting. I'll be staying on as a forum mod for the time being to assist in projects as time allows. I feel for me this is the beginning of the end of my time in competitive Pokemon, but once again thank you all for being a community I'm so proud of, and I look forward to seeing us grow even more!
-Netherious, SHINKIRO, Whatever else damn name I've had over the past 13 years.
