Competitive Mentorship Program? (Update!)

[Richard and Blaziken]

I don't think it's any secret that I'm a fanatic about competitive battling. It's also no secret that the competitive scene here isn't very large either. We've tried things such a Gym League, Tournaments, I've got a competitive Pokemon trade stand going (which is starting to see some active trading!), but after thinking about it... all of these things only cater current competitive battlers doing some competitive battling, and usually in short-term, gimmicky ways.

I've had an idea for what I call a Competitive Mentorship Program. It's as simple as it sounds: Are you someone that has had an interest in competitive battling but feel like it's too hard or complicated to understand alone? Do you ever feel confused about what makes a "good team"? Do EVs confuse you (especially complicated EV spreads)? Have you tried battling before, only to find that "better", more experienced players ripped apart all of your hard work without much effort?

If you can answer yes to any of those questions, wouldn't it be nice to have someone that has real experience in competitive battling and knows what they're talking about to teach you the ropes? That's exactly what I'm proposing: one-on-one time with a competitive battler that will teach you in a patient, non-aggressive manner at your own pace.

Obviously, this raises some concerns and problems:

-Who's to say who is good enough to become a "mentor"?
-What happens if the mentor loses interest?
-Time zones can make things difficult for some people
-Is this even something that this community wants or needs?

So let's start a discussion, open to every member of PKMN.net; What are your thoughts about such an idea, even if you have no interest whatsoever? Would you be interested in something like this? What potential solutions to the above problems could be presented?

[OpalRhea]

Personally, I think it's a brilliant idea.

I wouldn't know how to address the issues you raised, but if there's enough interests (on both sides of the spectrum), then details can be hashed out right?

[Hahex and Oshawott]

honestly, I feel that if people want to know more about competitive battling, there's more than enough resources available. They can upload replays from showdown and link them for advice, or if they have particular questions, they can ask them in the respective boards. We also have great articles/guides on competitive battling under the games tab on the actual website. Rather than creating a mentorship program, it may be better to update and point out stuff that's already here.

[sans the skeleton]

honestly, I feel that if people want to know more about competitive battling, there's more than enough resources available. They can upload replays from showdown and link them for advice, or if they have particular questions, they can ask them in the respective boards. We also have great articles/guides on competitive battling under the games tab on the actual website. Rather than creating a mentorship program, it may be better to update and point out stuff that's already here.

i learn better when someone tells me what is what instead of signing up to like 20 places to ask things that i'll probably never check though, tbh.

i'd benefit from this as a student, maybe try to help out in any way i can once/if i pass.

[Richard and Blaziken]

honestly, I feel that if people want to know more about competitive battling, there's more than enough resources available. They can upload replays from showdown and link them for advice, or if they have particular questions, they can ask them in the respective boards. We also have great articles/guides on competitive battling under the games tab on the actual website. Rather than creating a mentorship program, it may be better to update and point out stuff that's already here.

Thans for the feedback! I am actually working on writing a new "Introduction To Competitive Battling" for 6th gen, so that will be coming soon! The main problem with articles, however, is that the wall of text can often feel overwhelming (I seriously don't think a single person has read all of the first Introduction To Competitive Battling article I wrote), and that can cause people to give up because it seems like too much to take in all at once. Maybe I'm wrong about this though, but that's my thoughts on it anyway.

i learn better when someone tells me what is what instead of signing up to like 20 places to ask things that i'll probably never check though, tbh.

i'd benefit from this as a student, maybe try to help out in any way i can once/if i pass.

This is what I was thinking, and I wonder if more people don't feel this way. It's a lot easier for some people tro learn when they have someone that is actually helping them one-on-one, and some people learn better on their own.

Does anyone else have an opinion on the matter? I urge you to speak your mind about it because I am genuinely curious to see what people think.

[Hahex and Oshawott]

Thans for the feedback! I am actually working on writing a new "Introduction To Competitive Battling" for 6th gen, so that will be coming soon! The main problem with articles, however, is that the wall of text can often feel overwhelming (I seriously don't think a single person has read all of the first Introduction To Competitive Battling article I wrote), and that can cause people to give up because it seems like too much to take in all at once. Maybe I'm wrong about this though, but that's my thoughts on it anyway.

This is what I was thinking, and I wonder if more people don't feel this way. It's a lot easier for some people tro learn when they have someone that is actually helping them one-on-one, and some people learn better on their own.

Does anyone else have an opinion on the matter? I urge you to speak your mind about it because I am genuinely curious to see what people think.

One of my favorite articles, and one of the main reasons I got into competitive battling, was the one on prediction by Havak. A 6th gen version of that would be cool, you know, since you're writing a lot anyway

[Richard and Blaziken]

I could look into that as well. The problem with teaching prediction is that prediction is an adaptive thing; you can get a feel for your opponent's risk vs. reward mindset and predict based off that, but they can also predict your prediction and eventually it can become guesswork, depending on the circumstances.

His article really is fantastic, and I could easily teach the basics of prediction, but I personally feel that prediction is something that comes with knowledge of the current metagame, experience in battling, and your presence in whatever battle you're currently in (if you begin with a strong lead, most opponents begin taking defensive measures and playing more cautiously, but it depends on the player and circumstances). Prediction is, in essence, educated guesses at best, and random button clicking at worst. It's not at the top of my list to teach, since experience will do that for anyone interested in battling. I do teach people to keep the opponent's team in mind and weigh each turn's decision heavily, and that in itself will teach prediction I think.

I am enjoying this discussion though, it is certainly bringing some questions to my mind about what it would mean to teach a person to battle competitively, and what people should expect, should this come to fruition. c:

[SirBlaziken]

I'd be interested in mentoring if possible. Although i'd probably only be able to give the basics, then have to hand you off to someone more experienced.

[Del]

I'll preface this by saying that although I find the competitive side of Pokémon interesting and I enjoy spectating and hearing about it, I don't have much of an interest in playing it because I already play enough competitive games that take up a lot of my time.

This sounds like a pretty fantastic idea, since the wall of entry into comp. is pretty high in my opinion. Like, sure, EVs/IVs are pretty simple, but understanding the synergy between teams, like what makes a team good, how do you make a Pokémon worth a slot in your team, stuff like that, is pretty deep and especially as a more casual fan I couldn't explain it to anyone. I'm the kind of guy who goes 6 sweepers and hopes I can K.O them all faster as opposed to this support/wall stuff kids do.

I agree that stuff like prediction is something that has to be learned through experience, but having someone to keep new players about synergy and the meta and stuff could be really handy, and also the basics like EV training, IV breeding, which although there are plenty of guides around, perhaps a newer player may consider it a bit daunting and having it explained by a mentor may help them ease into it.

So yeah, although I'm personally not particularly interested in it (at least right now), this is a pretty fantastic idea and I think it could be a fantastic resource for players looking to get into comp. Pokémon.

[SaRo|Rapidash]

I think this a brilliant idea, but one problem i can see is the lack of peopl who ar both good enough at competitive AND good at explaining. Off the top of my head, i can only think of JSM, Spriter & Yourself (no offence to anyone i may have forgotten xD) and i don't know where theyd stand on the explaining sideof things.

Still, i guess it would be possible to have some people allocated to more basic things (Breeding, how to EV effectively etc.) whilst leaving the 'better' battlers to teach things like synergising. That way you could have more tutors without compromising the quality of the teaching.

[Wolstenholme]

Ugh, Richard you're so full of good ideas haha.

This is a fab idea. I've tried to get into competitive before and have failed because I've been looking at online guides that don't answer any questions I have. To be able to speak to someone live would be brilliant and would make things so much easier to grasp.

If you pull this off we may end up with a site full of rabid competitive battlers. I would be one of them.

[Richard and Blaziken]

Well it seems like a lot of people are onboard with this idea already, but what about the issues I brought up in the first post? Who would decide who can be a mentor? I surely couldn't do it by myself, but I don't know how fair it would be for me to pick and choose who I think is mentor material, you know?

Feel free to keep discussing things, especially people who haven't posted on this thread yet, I want as many opinions as possible about this idea.

[SirBlaziken]

Not including myself (because that's rude), here's the list of who I think is the best for mentoring, top being the highest:

Richard and Blaziken (obvious)
JSM
RubyRobin

That's so far who I have, mostly since I don't know how many of you are. I think the mentors could be decided by popular vote.

[Wolstenholme]

People could nominate mentors and then if we get loads I guess we can just vote so there's about 5 or something. Then you can always take others from the nominees if you need more.

[the bread dragon]

this is a great idea. ive gotten into competitive battling just recently (started messing around on ps to get back in the pokemon mood in the weeks before x/y released) and tbh im not that good :P so this would definitely be something id like, as a student.

as for the issues raised in the first post, ive only been here since november and dont know all of you that well, so id have no idea who would make a good mentor (rich and jsm have both been mentioned here so ill assume theyre both pretty good xD)