Since in that embarrasing secrets thread, this is what everyone is talking about anyways, i figured i'd just make a separate thread for this and let the other thread move in a different direction. What have your experiences been with Pokemon in correlation to real life? How much do people know about your Pokemon habits? How do you hide the fact that you play Pokemon, competitively or otherwise? And do you have irl friends who play competitively that you talk to? I guess I'll start with myself. Most people who know me will know that I play Pokemon. The only kind of people who I hide that from are the people who have a real distaste with Pokemon and describe it as "lame" and "kiddy". It's not something I actively bring up, but if asked, I answer truthfully. Some people know that I'm better at Pokemon than the average player. I did a Rattata only run on Fire Red, so that's pretty impressive I guess. Yet only my family knows that I'm a member of authority on a competitive Pokemon site. How do I hide the fact that I play on PO? Well, these days, the "what have u been doing in your free time" question has become one of the hardest questions to answer, simply because I'm on PO a lot. I used to just bullshit my way through it, but now I just say "netflix" because I got Netflix about a month ago and it's a reasonable excuse. Also I have legitimately been on Netflix a lot lately so it's not utter bullshit :] As for irl friends, I do have a few friends who play above the average level. I have one friend who is probably the biggest Pokemon fan who can publicly express it, liking the smogon facebook page LOL and playing a lot of Pokemon XY on its release, as well as just flat out not hiding the fact that he's a huge Pokemon fan. To everyone in my grade, he's the best player in our grade simply because all other people are either closeted Pokemon fans or just don't play. So I guess it felt satisfying when I 6-0'd him with Belly Drum Azumarill xD (not something i brag to others about tho lol, so he can stay as best pokemon player for all i care). Also I have another friend who I think is voiced on PS, but this is just according to another friend who I crushed in Randbats and OU multiple times, so I can't say for sure And how about you? How does Pokemon affect your life in the real world?
Only my really close friends know i play Pokemon. I've been a closet-mons player for a while now and i have tend to keep it that way from most of my IRL friends. The reason is, not everybody is going to respect or have something Nice to say for the things you do. And instead of me having to hear anybody's shit, i keep it away from people, and i don't really care since i still enjoy it either way. The funny thing to all this from my side is, My Girlfriend doesn't even know i play Mons and me and her have a Child together, Lol. It's pretty hard to believe, but i have managed to keep it away from her for 3+ years we have been together. But honestly, even if people found out from other means, I don't give a shit... I don't really have any Friends that play Mons as much as i do. Some of them are small-fans, but nothing close to playing Competitive and getting involved with any Community. This is what i enjoy doing right now. Maybe someday i'll be able to walk away for good and move on, but i'm sticking around for now...
If somebody asks then I answer truthfully just like you do. All of my friends know and they all think its cool or maybe a little childish but are obviously okay with it. I introduced a flirt to PO after she asked me what games I like to play, laddered a few matches with her on my laptop, was funny af trying to explain what everything was but she knew most gen 1-2 stuff surprisingly. It didnt work out with her in the end, but im sure it wasn't because of my passion for pokemon. Tried introducing a few friends to it aswell but its kind of hard to get into competetive unless ur determined to learn all of the speedtiers, common sets of all mons etc so no luck there. My parents still think its a kids game but they dont mind me playing it.
I don't really hide the fact I play pokemon at all, I've had Garbodor/Diggersby/Magmortar as my Cover Photo on FB, and Spheal as my Profile Picture, and oft share funny pokemon stuff and pokemon news on FB. All of my close friends know I play competitively, though not to the extent that they know I join a lot of tours, lead NU etc. my gf knows too but doesn't really care, and my parents have no idea as they don't really ask what I do on the computer (very wise decision). A few of my friends play but they only really play randbats/challenge cup and join the odd server tour. Oh and my boss knows I play too since I think he monitored my activity at work! And I have a Zorua plush on my workdesk, part of the almighty work squad. -
I'm not a massively closeted Pokéfag, I don't panic and try really hard to hide it, however if I'm asked what I do on my computer by my brother or parent I don't exactly say it (those are the only people that tend to ask .cri). I minimize battle windows when someone comes in my room, partly by habit and partly because it feels rude to keep them open but beyond that I don't really care much. Some of my friends know I play Pokémon and some also like Pokémon a lot, but none of them really "understand" competitive Pokémon, especially not to the extent I am involved in it. Aside from Samphire and anyone else here who knows what I look like in one way or another, nobody can link my face to my Pokémon alias.
massive closet player here no-one knows anything, once i got caught on my phone looking at smogon but nothings become of it 'oh a link i clicked on facebook', also a big fan of the 'netflix' excuse which is pretty funny..
read my sig "a girl almost caught me on po i had to close it out really quick" ok so my situation i have one friend he knows i play competitive pokemon (he said he did to on showdown but idk much else he might have played po too (once i told him about my ladder peaks on po i think he was impressed). i have some other friends i think they "try" to competitively play on their 3ds' they talked about ev training a few days ago, they know i've at least played pokemon recently, cuz i did a battle with one of them like 2-3 years ago. in regards to other friends i just tell not i play nothing/whatever and they dont hassle me (sometimes i say i play civ which is true g_g) in regards to family they know i play but they dont know what i do lol and usually i just resort with chrome and po open and go to chrome when they walk by unless im battle. when other friends/family come i try to hide it more tho
For me I only really would say I play pokemon or PO if it comes up in the conversation. If not it stays silent. My family practically knows I play pokemon considering my parents bought me all of the pokemon games I have except for pokemon X and my brother plays it along with me. In terms of competitive and PO, my brother was the one that showed me PO even though he doesn't play it anymore. My parents don't know about PO, but I wouldn't care if they see me playing it though. My friends probably know I still play pokemon, although they don't above competitive battling or PO since I doubt they really care. Although, I was playing on PS on phone at school once when I was bored and one of my friends saw me playing it so I allowed him to have a battle as well.
Most people at my high school know I play Pokemon, I've gotten a bunch of my friends into GBC shit so like 8 of us all of link cables and gold/silver/crystal lmao it's a real club going on as for PO I never really tell anyone I play competitively, nobody knows, it's not like it embarrasses me, it's just that I like to separate online from real life, so I don't want people I know knowing if that makes sense.
Only my close friends know I play it, and they think it's just a random game I have for DS probably If someone were to ask if I did play competitively I don't think I'd lie but I really don't know Whenever someone comes into my room i tend to switch to like firefox and go to like google and look awkward I don't know anyone who plays competitively, I just hear people around school talk about XY and say retarded fuckin stuff (like "is dragon super effective against water") good times :)
I'm a closet player. Almost no one knows really that i play competitively outside my immediate family, A couple friends have seen me play though and I've seen them play Crystal on their phones. In high school, it was a bit of a different story. It was funny because at my HS we have a 1v1 laptop thing where basically every student gets a MacBook to keep for the full school year (take it home and everything). By the time second semester rolled around everyone had apparently found out about emulators and about a third the school had either Desmume or VBA on their computers to play pokemon, which I found hilarious.
literally every single one of my friends know i play pokemon it's not a big deal with my group but idk everyone's different man
Some people know I play Pokemon, I guess? I typically don't reveal much when I talk to people...about anything. So it will have to come up in conversation, and I'm fine with saying that I do play. I have had maybe three tell-tale signs which might turn the conversation that way: my bike last year had a Pikachu sticker on it, I have a Pikachu 3DS and I had Pokemon League badges stuck on my rucksack for the first 2 years of Uni until one fell off when I was climbing the Peak District. The majority of my class last year actually still played Pokemon, funnily enough. I guess years abroad in Asia are more popular among Pokemon players. There are a lot of people who still play at my home University too, and people who think it's silly are probably the minority. The answer to 'what am I doing' is usually just 'computer' or 'internet', as typical of my non-committal answers. Saying Pokemon would probably be a lie anyway, seeing as most of the time I spend on PO has nothing to do with Pokemon anyway. I also go to my Pokemon league if I'm in London in the weekend, where I play the Pokemon TCG (and/or other card/other games) with friends.
For me, I'm socially anxious enough at the best of times- saying that I play competitive pokemon is just too much of a gamble, that people might think I'm weird or something. I've only ever told one of my friends, because I knew he was into competitive pokemon at one point, but I'm pretty sure my whole family knows I'm into pokemon.
I'm now open about my love of pokemon. I felt the desire to play it start developing as a very young child, but I rejected it for years because I was afraid of what that would mean for my life. I learned to embrace it and that I could still live a good life even if I played pokemon. I decided to come out of the pokemon-closet on new years eve 2013. I texted my mother saying "Mom, I play pokemon." She immediately burst into tears upon hearing the news, but she's since come to love me for who I am, and mons are a part of me. She now proudly wears a shirt that says "My son plays pokemon and that's OK" and is fighting for the legalization of bestiality so she can throw a wedding for her son and his beloved gardevoir one day.
My friends know I play Pokemon, but only one of them knows I (used to) play competitively because he's into it also. I'm somewhat not fond of the idea of people knowing I'm a PO member though.
No one cares i play except a few friends who im trying to invite One of my friends is seriously into Pokémon and i was introduced to Pokémon games by him however i found PO first.some friends say im childish and i say dude whats so childish about competitive battling. However when i think about it i have never cared what do people think about me playing Pokémon or if they even know i play it
Jeez, I'm hardly a teen and people are already "Seriously, you still play Pokėmon? -_- I don't really try to hide the fact that I play it, only from those people who are totally "POKĖMON SUCKS!" and stuff.
Funny though that some people say that when they still watch baby cartoons and i do speak this from experience
I play pokémon and everyone around me knows.. Most don't care about it but some say that I need to find time for studying more over Pokémon and any games for that matter (Basically my sister and mother, both however are equally interested) I have never ever been closed about my like-dislikes and I openly speak about them even at the MC of the PO server (well huehuehuehue Extrovert Chatterbox alert) and well I am about to get a 3DS soon so who cares about me being a Pokémon player? Lots of my friends play pokémon but not competitively and I whenever I talk about competitive play my friends be like "Dude how do you EVEN??" and all I say is I like pokémon more than you guys. There was a time during 2003-2007 when Pokémon collectibles were given free with Cheetos, and whatnot in India and guess who collected em all? Yeah everyone knows about that too so that's my 'IRL' story.
At least those collectables were collectable now a days they dont give collectables they even make sure you dont get an extra chip in the packet
"Is this the real life? Is this just Phanpy?" Ok it works if you make Phanpy three syllables by enunciating the 'n' Yeah, I'm okay with being 'weird'. Maybe I wasn't when I first got into competitive battling, but after a while you realize that the people who judge you for your hobbies either have their own weird hobbies or are boring because they don't. That said, most people wouldn't know that I'm into Pokémon unless they asked about it or came into my room. Pokémon isn't unpopular where I'm from, and I've even heard people talking about smogon sets in casual settings. I could probably find 'real life' competitive battlers, but I'd rather keep my internet self and self irl separate.
I'm not much of a fan of spreading my personal likes unless asked, though I'm a fan of pokemon and I would never deny it nor give a fuck about what people say about it, I even own a Zorua Figurine from Burger King, my Phone Background is a Zoroark Wallpaper, and my Ringtone is Pokemon Stadium 2 - Lance's Theme. I've been playing pokemon since I was like 7-8-ish years old or so. And well, I've been dealing with both sides and their opinions, one of them likes the fact that I play pokemon and most of them play it aswell, others just think I'm too old to play "Such a childish" game (Give this "childish game" to a Kid and see if they know how to evolve a Nidorino). In some cases I kind of get pissed off when people see me playing Pokemon and then ask me "What the fuck are you playing? I don't understand a shit". And it just makes me want to punch them in their face until they die from bleeding, but nah, I keep it cool and pretend they're invisible [REDACTED]. My parents and most of my relatives are sort of "Flinstones" and always bitch at me when they see me playing Pokemon or doing anything Pokemon related, which often bothers me, but I've managed to deal with it so far. Now the only thing that actually gets me on my nerves is the fact that my older brother, the one who introduced me into Pokemon, is now the one who gets Salty when he sees me using Pokemon Online, just complaining like a whiny kid. But making that aside, Pokemon has become my favorite hobby (I really don't take this game seriously) since I first played it, and I'm going to keep playing it until I get bored of it.
Most of my friends know I play PO a lot, and they often call me a nerd for that ( even though I don't see the link ._. ) First game was Yellow, I was like 6-7 years old and stopped between Ruby and Platinum, then my cousin came with the game and that was when I first tried RNG abuse ( if you have ever tried, Jirachi event was random nature so took me 5 days+ to have a decent 31/2/27/31/31/31 Bold one :] ) My family does not care of it as long as I can study seriously, and they even support me when I play irl tours :] I don't find it a shame to like Pokemon, all the competitive aspect is clearly not for children, and iirc the medium age is 20 yrs :x Ah also, Diancie is my Wallpaper on PC ^_^
I hate people who say your too old to be playing pokemon some people are in their 30s and play it .being able to ignore those annoying remarks passed by other people is probably a great asset. My friend actually stopped playing po because his other buddies called him a nerd. Im lucky i dont know anyone who loves discouraging people from what they like