(warning, long post)
Hi everyone
I wanted to open up for discussion on what people think about the PTCGO and what can be done to improve the experience. First, it is a great platform which allows Pokemon-fans to play the game more often and test new decks. However, it is not the most exciting online game/platform. Yes, it lets us play Pokemon, but by improving it, I think it could attract so many more people to, both, the online game and the physical game.
This is something that I keep thinking about and I like comparing Pokemon to other TCG's that have an online platform, such as Hearthstone and Hex. The thing about Hearthstone is that there is a clearer goal when playing (you are aiming for a Legend rank), compared to Pokemon where you can basically just test decks, earn some rewards or play tournaments (consisting of 8 people.....) . Also, Hearthstone has some third party websites, like Strivewire, which allows people to compete in tournaments with smaller cash prizes. I have never played Hex, but (as far as i know) they provide larger tournaments built into the online game.
I have been playing in Pokebeach's and Google' tournaments (which are a great initiatives!), however they seem so clunky to a arrange and the threads/facebook posts where pairings are posted become sooo long with everyone posting every single result. I do not know exactly where I am going with this post, but one of the things that annoy me is that there isnt a platform out there (that I know of) where anyone can create a tournament and the participants can report their results within the platform. Challonge, almost does it, but you still need somewhere else to post the results and pairings, while Strivewire only supports certain games and not everyone can create tournaments.
The second thing i want to discuss is the effort put in the PTCGO by Pokemon. I understand that Pokemon is, originally, a physical game, so they might want people to mostly play the game with actual cards. However, i think the online platform can be used so much more effectively to gain new players and also "transform" online players into people who would actively seek physical tournaments. I do not know exactly how this can be achieved, but what if larger tournaments where arranged, within the platform, where people could win championship points. However, there could be a limit on the points that can be won each season, so it forced the players to go out and play the game as well, so that they could gather the last points needed to get an invite to worlds.. Ooooooor, develop a ranking system (like HS), where the top player each month gains an invite or something like that.
The third issue i would like to raise is, why streaming within Pokemon is so much less popular than other games? By that, I mean, both, streaming from official tournaments and streaming from users playing online. There are so many times i would want to watch tournaments happening in the US (i am in EU), but they are so rarely streamed (and results/decklists are also not always posted).
While I was writing this, there were 11 PTCGO streams on Twitch (compare that to 300-400 HS streams).
Why is it like this? Pokemon is the largest media franchise in the world, but they still cant even nearly keep up with other popular games on Twitch. One of the reasons why this is happening, is because (as mentioned earlier) there is no proper goal in PTCGO. The second reason is that the platform looks so boring (if you ask me). You have the same table top every single game and the characters and design is just so boring... These are two reasons i could think of atm, but feel free to list more.
Pokemon is a great game, no doubt in that, but they will need to innovate to be able to compete against other card games. Yes, this has been a long post and there are probably things I have said that you might disagree with, but that is the purpose of this post. I want to start a discussion on what Pokemon is doing wrong and what they are doing right with the PTCGO. I have mentioned three quite different issues, so feel free to discuss any of them (or all). All I want is to hear what other Pokemon-fans think of the online game! Thanks
Hi everyone
I wanted to open up for discussion on what people think about the PTCGO and what can be done to improve the experience. First, it is a great platform which allows Pokemon-fans to play the game more often and test new decks. However, it is not the most exciting online game/platform. Yes, it lets us play Pokemon, but by improving it, I think it could attract so many more people to, both, the online game and the physical game.
This is something that I keep thinking about and I like comparing Pokemon to other TCG's that have an online platform, such as Hearthstone and Hex. The thing about Hearthstone is that there is a clearer goal when playing (you are aiming for a Legend rank), compared to Pokemon where you can basically just test decks, earn some rewards or play tournaments (consisting of 8 people.....) . Also, Hearthstone has some third party websites, like Strivewire, which allows people to compete in tournaments with smaller cash prizes. I have never played Hex, but (as far as i know) they provide larger tournaments built into the online game.
I have been playing in Pokebeach's and Google' tournaments (which are a great initiatives!), however they seem so clunky to a arrange and the threads/facebook posts where pairings are posted become sooo long with everyone posting every single result. I do not know exactly where I am going with this post, but one of the things that annoy me is that there isnt a platform out there (that I know of) where anyone can create a tournament and the participants can report their results within the platform. Challonge, almost does it, but you still need somewhere else to post the results and pairings, while Strivewire only supports certain games and not everyone can create tournaments.
The second thing i want to discuss is the effort put in the PTCGO by Pokemon. I understand that Pokemon is, originally, a physical game, so they might want people to mostly play the game with actual cards. However, i think the online platform can be used so much more effectively to gain new players and also "transform" online players into people who would actively seek physical tournaments. I do not know exactly how this can be achieved, but what if larger tournaments where arranged, within the platform, where people could win championship points. However, there could be a limit on the points that can be won each season, so it forced the players to go out and play the game as well, so that they could gather the last points needed to get an invite to worlds.. Ooooooor, develop a ranking system (like HS), where the top player each month gains an invite or something like that.
The third issue i would like to raise is, why streaming within Pokemon is so much less popular than other games? By that, I mean, both, streaming from official tournaments and streaming from users playing online. There are so many times i would want to watch tournaments happening in the US (i am in EU), but they are so rarely streamed (and results/decklists are also not always posted).
While I was writing this, there were 11 PTCGO streams on Twitch (compare that to 300-400 HS streams).
Why is it like this? Pokemon is the largest media franchise in the world, but they still cant even nearly keep up with other popular games on Twitch. One of the reasons why this is happening, is because (as mentioned earlier) there is no proper goal in PTCGO. The second reason is that the platform looks so boring (if you ask me). You have the same table top every single game and the characters and design is just so boring... These are two reasons i could think of atm, but feel free to list more.
Pokemon is a great game, no doubt in that, but they will need to innovate to be able to compete against other card games. Yes, this has been a long post and there are probably things I have said that you might disagree with, but that is the purpose of this post. I want to start a discussion on what Pokemon is doing wrong and what they are doing right with the PTCGO. I have mentioned three quite different issues, so feel free to discuss any of them (or all). All I want is to hear what other Pokemon-fans think of the online game! Thanks