The Creative Side of PS!

By Faxxifer and Blue Kitteh. Art by Faxxifer.

As far as Pokémon Battle Simulators are concerned, Pokémon Showdown is the cream of the crop, not only for its competitive battling presence, but also for its massive interactive community! However, within this community lies two grounds of creativity: the Art and Writing rooms, rooms that are dedicated to suiting the creative needs of all of PS's artisans.

The Art room

Perhaps the older of the creative duo, the Art room is known for its inspiring and laid back vibe. Here, artists may share their works, critique the art of others, and help newer users better their abilities. People also come to meet others who share similar interests and hobbies. I think it's fair to point out that this room is not exclusive to just drawing and painting, but also includes music, animation, and so much more. In addition, many fun opportunities arise in this room, such as contests, art challenges, and collaborations with many fellow artists! Aside from its artist presence, many other interactive events take place in the room such as The Daily Draw and more!

Contests and Events!

One of the neat things about this room are the contests that feature a variety of fun and creative themes. They're a fun way to get involved with the room and virtually anybody may participate, no matter how honed their art abilities are. More often than not, prizes are included to provide motivation and a gift for excelling in a contest. However, the making of the art entries is the most rewarding part of the contest! The most recent contest was "First battle"-themed, which was for both writers and artists alike. This theme really proved to be quite a challenge, as it involved incorporating characters interacting with one another and required a certain amount of artistic ability. Though there was complexity in this, all of the entries were thought-out and really put emphasis on the interaction and real time emotions of the characters! The first place winner's entry of the art portion definitely incorporated this nicely into their entry and provided an interesting viewpoint while also having a nicely done composition. Additionally, the expressions and emotions of all of the characters really told a story.

A few of the past contest themes, such as the Re-typing and Mega Evolution themes, really emphasized creativity and imagination of the participants while also giving them artistic freedom to do as they please.

Another recent event that has just taken place in the Art and Writing rooms was the Secret Santa, an event in which users were grouped into pairs and anonymously created artwork for each other, while also receiving artwork from someone based on their own desires! This, like the contests, was a fun event in which all users could have participated. Although it's over now, it's fun to see what kind of art was created for each individual user.

The Daily Draw is a newly initiated activity in which users are optionally assigned a daily task of something to draw. This is a fun little way for users to branch out with a fun theme to try to draw and is always a great way to get involved with the community. What's even more fun is that users can also submit their own ideas for a future Daily Draw!

I interviewed SolarisFox, room Owner of the Art room, to ask him some questions about the room and the impact on the community it has. He provided me with some very interesting answers, so let's take a look!

Hey there Solaris! Lets get started straight away, What first brought you into the room?

I was a fan of Pokémon artwork and was curious to see if Showdown had any cool artists. c:

Ooh, very nice! As time has passed with the room, how much has it changed/grown?

I think the room has grown a lot. When I first joined the room, it felt mostly like just a place to hang out, but now, in addition to that we have a bit more structured activities that give our users something to talk about. I feel the room has mellowed out as well, and would not be surprised if it is currently one of the friendliest, most inviting rooms on Showdown.

As of right now, what do you think is the best thing about the room?

I think the best quality we possess is the amount of support the room gives for artistic growth. We understand that many of our users are just beginning artists and want to give them the confidence to pursue growing their artistic ability.

One user in particular joined the room just to hang out with his friends and was adamant that he had no ability to draw. But after being encouraged to keep trying, he now draws on a regular basis and has far more confidence in the area.

Wow, that's awesome! The Art room certainly prides itself in the growth of its users, whether in character or in skill. Have you yourself grown as an artist and person due to the room?

In some sense. One of the common questions I receive is "Why does the RO of art not draw very often", which I feel is a fair point. Mostly the reason is that I don't have tons of free time to draw, and when I'm in the room I'm usually working behind the scenes on an activity or helping users. That being said, almost every day I get a question in art that I don't know the answer to, but I try to help solve it anyways. In trying to put together resources for the room I've learned a ton of information about various art programs and just art itself.

This room has given me the opportunity to work with artists of all skill ranges, including those who are at a semi-professional ability level and as a result I've been able to learn some really cool techniques that I'm later able to share with the other users of the room.

That's so neat! That being said, what do you think is in stock for the room in the future?

Seeing how much users liked to make art for other users in the room during the Secret Santa event and how involved users got when somebody proposed working together to make a game, I wouldn't be surprised if we started finding more ways to collaborate and trade pieces.

The level of excitement for art those sorts of things generate are exactly what the room is all about and I'd like to see more collaborations in the future.

Okay very good! Thank you very much for your time.

To finish this off, the room itself has very much changed for the better, whether that be in quality or in user interaction! The Art room remains one of the most creative environments and has a good reputation of growth and art in general! However, this isn't the only room on Pokéemon Showdown that promotes such growth; reporter Blue Kitteh provides us with an interesting scoop of the Writing room!

The Writing room

Having been public on PS for a few months now, the Writing room originally started out as a private room. However, the popularity of the room soon boosted its status to public in just three weeks! The Writing room offers help and support to all levels of writers, where everyone may share their works and seek criticism. One of the room's most useful features is the room's Cloud Drive, where contributors may store their prose, and readers may look at and critique the works of others.

The Writing room offers a variety of features, including activities, contests, and collaborations. Activities are often done within the room, whether they are writing up creative Pokédex entries, crafting sentences using only alliteration, or rap battling! Contests have also been a huge part of the room, and closely related are the collaborations that the Writing room has with its sister room, Art. There have already been two hugely successful collaborations between the two, with the most recent one being the "Secret Santa event.

Contests And Activities

During the month of Halloween, the Writing room's staff came up with another contest to celebrate the age-old holiday—and it featured not one prize, but two. Dubbed "Where Nightmares Come To Life", the contest was about creating a poem or story that had to be centered in the Pokémon universe and have an element of Halloween included within it.

One of the most popular activities within the room is called Describe That Pokémon! The activity requires a host, who will use the room's custom bot, called The Scribe, to generate a random Pokémon. Afterwards, participants will have a few minutes to craft an entirely new Pokédex entry for that Pokémon. The entries may be satirical or serious, and can include elements of what the original Dex entry contained, but cannot be a rewritten version of it. Afterwards, the host judges which entry they deemed best! The activity usually lasts for five rounds. All entries are then memorialized within the room's Cloud Drive.

The activities are meant to help your creative juices flow, so they don't come with any prizes, but they are definitely a lot of fun to participate in.

Speaking of what's going on in the room, I got a chance to interview XTheElegantShadowX (more fondly known as TES), a global Voice and room Owner of the Writing room.

So, how exactly did you come across the Writing room when it first started?

Well, for a couple of months prior to the room's creation, we were already talking about having a room Room created for the purpose of appealing to the writers of Showdown. I was among one of the ones whom were aware of such an idea being purposed, to which I'd chime in on and give opinions and ideas for, at the time.

Ooh, I see. Who is 'we', if I may ask?

After my hiatus, I was asked to be an RO of the room, to which I was more than honored to have been given the opportunity. Let's see...
It was a Skype Group that's no longer in use, but it had a few of the regulars of our room, along with some who don't frequent as often. Among the ones whom were apart of it was myself, Th!nkPi, Sigilyph, Neart, Nythros, and some others that escape me, at the moment.

Ahh, I see. What do you think is the best thing about the room?

That's a hard one. The best way I could describe it is as follows: The best thing is the community, in a sense. The way we band together and work hard to improve one another as writers and indirectly as people. The feeling that comes about when you get to see the views some hold and the way they see the world through their writing is something that can't be captured in just mere words.

I see, and I can wholeheartedly agree with you there. And last question: What direction do you see the room heading in the near future?

I believe that no path is set in stone, and that anything has a probability of happening. With that said, I find that with the current state of the room and what we have planned, there is a very bright future in store for it. Thanks to our staff, community, and even the passersby that have the potential to become the above, we've paved a bright path for ourselves, of which we're still treading now, and I don't see us stopping anytime soon. :)

All right, thank you for your time, TES! :D

In short, the Writing room offers a very new, user-friendly experience. Writers of all levels are welcome in the room; in fact, the only thing you need to do to get involved is to message one of the room Owners, who will then make a folder for you in the Cloud Drive! The room isn't solely limited to creative writing, either. If you have any interest in the aspects of writing, whether it be writing articles for pay, crafting poems for fun, or just reading the works of others for enjoyment, the Writing room is open for you.

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