friendyousohard | 27th Spell [Video]

Good morning, everyone. I'd like to talk to you all about competition.

I don't have to tell you about the usual way people compete in this world, I mean we're saturated in it every day we're here. But what if, say, you have a Pokemon who doesn't really like to fight? Or you don't enjoy battling them? Or for that matter what if you just want another option aside from Pokemon battling? Most Pokemon, and for that matter a lot of us as well, still enjoy a good competitive atmosphere, so what's the solution?

Well, me and my friend Korra hit on an idea last month. Some of you might have seen the post she made about that snow creation she and her Pokemon made using nothing but various moves from their arsenals and the surrounding materials. So we got to thinking, what's stopping us from making that into some sort of event? Creative team-building exercises for our Pokemon and ourselves that we can show off the results of, maybe even submit them for judging if some of us want to be on a panel. And that's just the beginning! We could make an entire set of sports around this if we put our minds to it, I'm quite sure.

This is really just the seed of an idea, and I'll be honest, it'll take a lot of effort and interest to get anything out of it, but it was just something I really thought should be brought up to the regions as a whole. At this point we are still very much in the brainstorming part of things, so if anything I've said has sparked an idea with you, let's hear it! And I encourage discussion in the middle of this post.

That's all from me, so anyone whose attention I've got, go ahead and let's hear what you have to say. I'm really looking forward to thoughts on this!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

You speak as if you've done this kind of thing before yourself.

Oh, not at all.

*just, y'know, things like political games and such. it's all about selling people on something either way, right?*

[Twilight doesn't believe him for a second, but it's his business if he doesn't want to talk about it.]

Well, regardless, I'm taking this one phase at a time. Once I have every idea people can give me written down, it'll be time to worry about which ones can actually be brought to fruition, and how many.

I imagine one or two games per volunteer will probably be the final call, but that's just a planning estimate. I'm certainly not doing this all alone.

*it's not that he's being deliberately evasive in this case, just his usual brand of bs, really*

Depending on the scale of the events you have in mind, you may want more organizers than that. Aside from finding and arranging the space needed, there may be supplies to acquire, registration to set up, and a means to coordinate participants at the event itself. Not to mention any arrangements required for spectators, prizes for the winners, and instructing and coordinating judges...

Of course, some of those same resources can be used by multiple events, but even with them all running simultaneously, if you expect or want to plan for a large amount of participants, you'd like want a few people to help with each.

... And you expect me to believe you've never done this sort of thing before?

[Seriously. Just... seriously.]

You do have a point, though. Or rather, several points.

Not in the least. Organizing large competitions has never been an area I've dealt with.

*he's just, y'know, ruled an entire kingdom, so he's not technically lying... he's having too much fun with the charade to tell her that just yet, though*

Which is why I'd suggest focusing on one to begin with. Once you've worked out how to do it well, it would make any subsequent endeavors much simpler.

[Well that's... specific. She reads that as him having organized large events before, just not ones that involved competition.

Why he'd feel the need to hide that, she doesn't know, but then again it hardly matters.]

I'll take your advice into account when I reach the next phase. There are a lot of variables to take into account, not the least of which is how many volunteers I get to actually help do this.

[And how competent they are.]

*mostly, he's just being obtuse for the fun of it; he's never made a secret here in Johto of the fact that he's a king back in his own world, after all*

Of course. Not to mention how many competitors and spectators you expect to host, and so on.

With any luck there'll be some overlap there.

*nods*

I'd imagine participants would likely enjoy watching other competitions, yes. Though having a large audience might make it more appealing to compete; that way even if the prize isn't much, the potential fame would be an incentive.

Let's be honest here. With how much money most of the people around here have amassed, we wouldn't really be able to offer any prizes that would really be incentive anyway. Not without being able to get our hands on things like reusable TMs, anyway.

All the more reason to hope to attract a large crowd, then. Though if monetary rewards won't do, perhaps specially-made trophies and such would...

*...good going, now you've gotten him actually seriously pondering this*

I'll be honest, I was kind of thinking most people would drop by just for novelty and the thrill of competition. Still, if we were going to hand out awards, something that isn't easily duplicated would probably be best.

Well, if you're just organizing a small event for fun, there'd be no need. But if you'd like it to become something on a larger scale, then people would need a reason to find participating attractive. Ideally, if you could get enough people interested in competing, the competitions themselves would become a draw for spectators, which in turn would fuel competition, and so on.

The advantage of that would be it would make it an option that may be around for some time, which it sounds as though that may be your intent. Something to do other than just challenging the gyms and such, at least. A small event would satisfy that to a degree, but possibly only temporarily.

In any case though, a trophy or medal of some sort would be worthwhile. Similar perhaps to the gym badges, I suppose.

*yeah, he's definitely giving this way too much thought now*

You seem to be under the impression that I intended for it to get this big. While I'm not entirely unhappy that it has, it was really just a passing idea I had that seems to have grown quite beyond what I had envisioned.

That said, the fact that it's spiraled out of my control so fast does imply a very large hole that needs to be filled here, so I feel obliged to see this through as far as I can take it.

When you suggest that having a judged competition is 'just the beginning' you seem to rather be inviting quite a lot of potential for growth from the start.

Besides, if you organize it well enough, you could probably pass responsibility on to someone else and then go back to participating at your leisure.

Fair point. Though you'll also note I mentioned it taking a great deal of time and effort to get anything out of this.

Still, I do have a gift for organization. It's definitely the best use of my talents, in addition to apparently getting the word out.

27th Spell [Video]

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