Pokécharms has had a special place in my heart for the past 4 years, and while my feelings for it have certainly changed, I think I have a pretty clear view of how I feel about it now. Here are all the reasons I'm leaving Charms.
First off, the rules are downright restrictive. I'm sure this point has been made time and time again, but now I really feel a need to address them before I go. Most of the Pokémon RP Rules make no sense to me, and while I'm sure that they have reasons for being there, I don't think they should be there for a lot of reasons.
Exhibit A: Perspective.
-Sure, I get why you want everyone to write in past tense, it helps with continuity and it makes sure we don't have every single event happen in a millisecond, but forcing people to write in third person (even though it may be easier) for the sole reason that "There is no 'I' in Role Play" is kinda ridiculous to me. Yeah, I like third person more, but this post isn't entirely about me.
Exhibit B: Legendary Pokémon.
-Okay, sure, I don't want to have a player in an RP with a Mewtwo, Zapdos, Ho-oh, Lugia, and Shaymin all at once. However, there are ways to get around that without completely locking certain Pokémon behind bars. I get it, legendary Pokémon are not necessarily "normal", but that doesn't mean that you can't catch them. Have you watched Pokémon Origins? A child literally caught every Kantonian legendary with Ultra Balls. Just because it's a Role Play doesn't mean that it's a deep, philosophical story about bonding with a legendary Pokémon - and perhaps even bonding with one that you don't want to have just because the one you like is locked.
Exhibit C: Mega Evolution, Dyna/Gigantamax, Z-Moves, Battle Bond.
- I strongly disagree with the rules of mega evolution, partly because of my own experiences, and partly because of the written rules. For example:
-Any Mega Pokémon needs to be authorized by one of the RP moderators prior to making references to such, including in provisional character bios - PM us with your request, citing the character (complete with up-to-date character bio), the Pokémon, and sufficient proof of the bond between the Trainer and Pokémon, as well as the way they attained a Mega Stone and Key Stone. These must be plausible enough to be considered.
Simply put, this is stupid. At least, in my opinion, it is. Sure, plausibility of obtaining a Mega and Key Stone are required, but if the creator or other members of the RP can't hold one member accountable, and if the member themselves can't be held accountable, I feel like the situation would take care of itself. Problem players - you find them everywhere - bring their own downfalls on themselves, and setting rules to stop them prior, while it stops illegitimate players, also makes it hard for legitimate players to get their Mega Blastoise or other Pokémon. I totally agree with the Z-Move rules, the Dyna/Gigantamax, and the Battle Bond rules.
That said, these are most of the reasons I'm leaving Charms on the Pokémon side. I might make another post about the general rules if there are other incredibly restrictive items there.
Also, Stel, if you are (and you probably are) reading this, did you really have to leak the name of a sockpuppeter? Did you really have to give away the name of someone who wanted to roleplay but was banned? I get it, they were banned, they shouldn't have done what they did. They were in Pruie with me, and I briefly interacted with them. I fully support the decision behind banning the user, but releasing the original username of a banned user - a username, which, more often than not, is used on other websites - is a plainly ridiculous idea.
Other than that, I think Charms has basically gone from what it once was - a pretty thriving community, active users, and people that enjoyed roleplaying - to a small pit of a few hundred users that have been here for a long time - like Neb, or godjacob - and are continuing their RPs or trying to start new ones together in order to preserve friendships or simply have fun. That is cool. I support that. I left Charms because the rules were too restrictive for Pruie and now only a handful of the old members (including me) use a different app to even roleplay on. I personally do not think that the Charms Pokémon Roleplay Rules should have so much restriction, and I might get ridiculed for suggesting less restriction but not how much, so here are some suggestions:
A) Allow RPers to write in first person, and allow RP creators to set either a first or third person theme. It's not hard to write in first person, but there shouldn't be a mix between first and third person. I think the option to write in first person should at least exist. I can guarantee that there will be a group that uses it.
B) Make all legendary Pokémon encounterable, bondable, and catchable, but only allow 1-2 legendary Pokémon per trainer. Even then, legendaries in a role play situation are incredibly difficult to write and balance, so I doubt people would go above the limit if given the option.
C) 1 Mega per trainer, no permission required from staff, but make sure the majority of your RP group is fine with it. A mega evolved Pokémon in a role play that no one else wants it in is not fun.
Thanks for reading if you did, and here's a TL;DR
I don't like the rules, and so I listed what I have wrong with them and provided suggestions on how to fix them. I also talk about how the community has basically devolved from a thriving website to a couple hundred users a day - if that - that continue already ongoing RP's or start new ones together to preserve online relationships or to have fun. I also tell Stel that it wasn't great to leak the username of a banned user.
Thanks for reading! Let me know what you think. This was fun to write, mostly because I enjoy writing, but please tell me if you have anything wrong with this post. I know some people might, and I don't expect much to change, but I thought I'd leave this here as a bit of an announcement to call out the rules and how they affected me and my decision to leave.
Peace out, guys. It's been a fun four years, and I might return to make trainer cards or upload pieces of writing I can't put anywhere else if I'm not banned. Don't worry, I won't sockpuppet!
First off, the rules are downright restrictive. I'm sure this point has been made time and time again, but now I really feel a need to address them before I go. Most of the Pokémon RP Rules make no sense to me, and while I'm sure that they have reasons for being there, I don't think they should be there for a lot of reasons.
Exhibit A: Perspective.
-Sure, I get why you want everyone to write in past tense, it helps with continuity and it makes sure we don't have every single event happen in a millisecond, but forcing people to write in third person (even though it may be easier) for the sole reason that "There is no 'I' in Role Play" is kinda ridiculous to me. Yeah, I like third person more, but this post isn't entirely about me.
Exhibit B: Legendary Pokémon.
-Okay, sure, I don't want to have a player in an RP with a Mewtwo, Zapdos, Ho-oh, Lugia, and Shaymin all at once. However, there are ways to get around that without completely locking certain Pokémon behind bars. I get it, legendary Pokémon are not necessarily "normal", but that doesn't mean that you can't catch them. Have you watched Pokémon Origins? A child literally caught every Kantonian legendary with Ultra Balls. Just because it's a Role Play doesn't mean that it's a deep, philosophical story about bonding with a legendary Pokémon - and perhaps even bonding with one that you don't want to have just because the one you like is locked.
Exhibit C: Mega Evolution, Dyna/Gigantamax, Z-Moves, Battle Bond.
- I strongly disagree with the rules of mega evolution, partly because of my own experiences, and partly because of the written rules. For example:
-Any Mega Pokémon needs to be authorized by one of the RP moderators prior to making references to such, including in provisional character bios - PM us with your request, citing the character (complete with up-to-date character bio), the Pokémon, and sufficient proof of the bond between the Trainer and Pokémon, as well as the way they attained a Mega Stone and Key Stone. These must be plausible enough to be considered.
Simply put, this is stupid. At least, in my opinion, it is. Sure, plausibility of obtaining a Mega and Key Stone are required, but if the creator or other members of the RP can't hold one member accountable, and if the member themselves can't be held accountable, I feel like the situation would take care of itself. Problem players - you find them everywhere - bring their own downfalls on themselves, and setting rules to stop them prior, while it stops illegitimate players, also makes it hard for legitimate players to get their Mega Blastoise or other Pokémon. I totally agree with the Z-Move rules, the Dyna/Gigantamax, and the Battle Bond rules.
That said, these are most of the reasons I'm leaving Charms on the Pokémon side. I might make another post about the general rules if there are other incredibly restrictive items there.
Also, Stel, if you are (and you probably are) reading this, did you really have to leak the name of a sockpuppeter? Did you really have to give away the name of someone who wanted to roleplay but was banned? I get it, they were banned, they shouldn't have done what they did. They were in Pruie with me, and I briefly interacted with them. I fully support the decision behind banning the user, but releasing the original username of a banned user - a username, which, more often than not, is used on other websites - is a plainly ridiculous idea.
Other than that, I think Charms has basically gone from what it once was - a pretty thriving community, active users, and people that enjoyed roleplaying - to a small pit of a few hundred users that have been here for a long time - like Neb, or godjacob - and are continuing their RPs or trying to start new ones together in order to preserve friendships or simply have fun. That is cool. I support that. I left Charms because the rules were too restrictive for Pruie and now only a handful of the old members (including me) use a different app to even roleplay on. I personally do not think that the Charms Pokémon Roleplay Rules should have so much restriction, and I might get ridiculed for suggesting less restriction but not how much, so here are some suggestions:
A) Allow RPers to write in first person, and allow RP creators to set either a first or third person theme. It's not hard to write in first person, but there shouldn't be a mix between first and third person. I think the option to write in first person should at least exist. I can guarantee that there will be a group that uses it.
B) Make all legendary Pokémon encounterable, bondable, and catchable, but only allow 1-2 legendary Pokémon per trainer. Even then, legendaries in a role play situation are incredibly difficult to write and balance, so I doubt people would go above the limit if given the option.
C) 1 Mega per trainer, no permission required from staff, but make sure the majority of your RP group is fine with it. A mega evolved Pokémon in a role play that no one else wants it in is not fun.
Thanks for reading if you did, and here's a TL;DR
I don't like the rules, and so I listed what I have wrong with them and provided suggestions on how to fix them. I also talk about how the community has basically devolved from a thriving website to a couple hundred users a day - if that - that continue already ongoing RP's or start new ones together to preserve online relationships or to have fun. I also tell Stel that it wasn't great to leak the username of a banned user.
Thanks for reading! Let me know what you think. This was fun to write, mostly because I enjoy writing, but please tell me if you have anything wrong with this post. I know some people might, and I don't expect much to change, but I thought I'd leave this here as a bit of an announcement to call out the rules and how they affected me and my decision to leave.
Peace out, guys. It's been a fun four years, and I might return to make trainer cards or upload pieces of writing I can't put anywhere else if I'm not banned. Don't worry, I won't sockpuppet!
