Community Where does everyone go now?

[Echosong]

I quit playing Pokemon at the end of Gen 4 and I remember these forums being very active as well as many others with trades, battles, and even clans going on. There were tournaments happening and lots of people to have fun with. I picked up the games again awhile ago but, I can't help notice the trading and battling scene seems dead here. I am left wondering where did everyone go? Is there some new place everyone goes to now for that stuff?

Or perhaps Gen 4 and possibly 5 were the golden ages of online play? It really makes me sad I decided to stop playing back then since it doesn't feel the same anymore.

 

[Vulpix Yolk]

I think there was a pretty large migration to just regular social media platforms. A lot of people have just left, it also might not have actually been as active as we remember. I just cant imagine that kids currently getting into the game would even think to go an internet forum when they can just have group chats and follow instagram groups and stuff.

 

[PokeMedic]

Back in the day, PokeBeach was your go-to for all kinds of Pokemon news and information. It put everyone else to shame- TPCi folks even got mad at how we benefited from the information and news we all got from here. In many ways PokeBeach still does the best when it comes to news, information, and events. While the forum isn't as active as it used to be, the traffic across the website is very high. People find themselves visiting the forums because Google gives us the first search results for many rulings questions.

The advent of the smartphone may have been great for people to access information, but all it's really led to is fire-and-forget crap-posing on Facebook and Discord. Forums have fallen by the wayside not as a matter of obsolescence, but because it's easier to turn an app on your phone on and inconvenience yourself by not having a mouse or keyboard. Although it's easy, those things are meant to be quick with little effort, and forums by nature require your effort and attention.

I'd like to add that some things just don't exist anymore because there is no one who can do them. The tournaments only existed because two of us were able and willing to do it, those VG events only happened because people did them, and projects in the future will require the same kind of passionate people. A lot of us have had life catch up with us, so I can't fault anyone for not doing something— but there's always someone who can do something if they're given the chance.

I just cant imagine that kids currently getting into the game would even think to go an internet forum when they can just have group chats

A large number of our active members are 15 and 16 years old according to the information they put in their profiles.

 

[StarlightSearcher]

As someone who's been around the forums for over a decade, I've seen a lot of well-known forum members come and go; it's apart of life. It's growing up, and growing out of things you liked as a child.

As people grow up, technology evolves at the same time. When the forum was just starting out, social media was still in it's infancy and was not readily available to the masses (as were smartphones). So, places like PokeBeach and Serebii flourished because they the be-all and end-all for Pokemon news and information. We also flourished as a community with our meticulously maintained TCG database, that put us a few steps ahead of our competition. With smartphones, all you need is a simple internet search and you're on your way. You don't need to sift through an internet forum to find what you're looking for anymore. While a forum is nice to have from a community standpoint, it's pretty superfluous now; what with the shifts in browsing patterns thanks to social media.

The forum can still exist, it can still survive. However, the shifts previously explained may make the forum base into a niche market. Only mildly active, and active in only specific fourm subsections. But, patterns have shifted before, and they'll probably shift again. People's tastes change. You can only do so much to keep pace and not lose the draft. You can only do so much against the monster that social media has become without getting run over and flattened by it.