Gotta Win'em All: How Expert Play in the Online Community of Smogon Changes Pokemon
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Gotta Win'em All: How Expert Play in the Online Community of Smogon Changes Pokemon by Grady Zielke A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts Department of Digital Humanities University of Alberta © Grady Zielke, 2020 ii ABSTRACT The way that people play games has changed. This is especially true for both highly competitive games and online games. Expert play, a category of play undertaken by players who have a strong understanding of the game they are playing and are trying their best to excel at, is particularly affected by this phenomenon. Research has shown that many players now use online communities to support their play, and that these online communities influence the way expert play is conducted within a game. This thesis looks at one online community which is particularly influential to the game of Pokémon: Smogon. It will attempt to uncover the methods by which Smogon influences the play of Pokémon. Additionally, it will look at how gameplay changes when players are familiar with the online community and use that familiarity to enact a very specific type of expert play. To that end, it will also be examining Smogon’s sister website, the Pokémon battle simulator Pokémon Showdown. This thesis undertook a thorough examination of both Pokémon Showdown and Smogon, showing the differences between their structure and that of the traditional way of playing Pokémon. A close reading of three players playing Pokémon Showdown, each with a different skill level and familiarity with Smogon, shows the different ways that expert play is affected by familiarity with Smogon. More experienced Pokémon Showdown players appear to have a greater understanding of the ways that others play the game, an understanding which can be gained through familiarity with Smogon and the content that it produces. It appears that expert play is heavily influenced by the relationship that players have with online game communities that support their game, changing the way that players think about their game and the techniques they use in play. Further research could act to identify the extent of the influence that online game communities have over the games that they are created around. iii Acknowledgements The completion of this thesis would not have been possible without the help of many excellent people. I would like to thank my supervisor Sean Gouglas. This thesis would not be what it is without your direction, understanding, and humour. I would also like to thank my first reader Astrid Ensslin. Her feedback and expertise were instrumental in the creation of this thesis. I would like to thank my parents for their infinite patience and support, and my mother in particular for her insight and notes. I would like to thank my friends and family for their care and support. All of you helped, and this is an accomplishment I share with all of you. Finally, I must thank my fianceé Sareeta Lopez, who somehow managed to put up with me the entire time I spent writing this. Truly, your accomplishment is the greater one here. iv Chapter 1: Introduction, Theoretical Framework, and Methodology 1 Smogon 4 How Smogon Changes Pokémon 7 Rules and Fiction 9 Players and Pokémon 11 Metagame 15 Competitive Expert Play in Non-Cooperative Games 18 Gameplay Analysis 20 Chapter Summaries 22 Chapter 2: Pokémon and Pokémon Showdown 23 Materiality 24 Genre and Overarching Systems 26 “Gotta Catch ‘Em All!”: Creating Pokémon Teams 29 Player-Pokémon Interaction 31 Visual Representation in the Pokémon Battle System 34 Procedural Differences in the Battle System 37 Conclusion 38 Chapter 3: The Paratext of Smogon 39 The History of Smogon 41 The Smogon Message Boards 42 The Strategy Pokédex 44 Changing the Game: Suspect Tests 47 Smogon’s Paratext 50 How Smogon Redefines Expert Play 52 Conclusion 53 Chapter 4: Battle Analyses 55 Transcription 56 Pokémon Battle Case Studies 60 Red 60 Format and Metagame 61 Understanding of Pokémon Showdown 62 Red’s Gameplay 63 Summary 64 Blue 64 Format and Metagame 65 Understanding of Pokémon Showdown 65 Blue’s Gameplay 66 v Chat Interaction 68 Summary 69 Green 69 Format and Metagame 69 Understanding of Pokémon Showdown 70 Green’s Gameplay 71 Summary 72 Overall Discussion 73 Conclusion 77 Works Cited 81 Appendix A 90 Appendix B 108 Appendix C 146 vi List of Tables TABLE 1 Red’s Transcript 90 2 Blue’s Transcript 108 3 Green’s Transcript 146 1 Chapter 1: Introduction, Theoretical Framework, and Methodology Pokémon is a worldwide media empire. What started as a game for the Nintendo GameBoy has become the largest grossing media franchise in history when including the sales of all of the movies, toys, games, trading cards and other merchandise (“List of highest-grossing media franchises - Wikipedia”). Pokémon is prolific as a video game series, with over eighty different games created (“Pokémon Video Games | Pokémon.com”), one of them counting amongst the top ten best-selling games of all time (Sirani). It is massively popular; its characters are recognized all over the world and hold major cultural significance. This is especially prevalent in Japan, where Pokémon was created. Pikachu, Pokémon's flagship character, was Japan's mascot for the 2014 Football World Cup (Gaston). Looking at the variety and sales of the Pokémon games, the swathes of cultural artefacts that have been created for it, and the popularity of the long-running anime and its accompanying movies, it is clear that Pokémon has changed gamers and gaming. Pokémon fandom spans ages, generations, and continents. This fandom includes a wide variety of special interests, ranging from art to cosplay to video game mods to competitive gaming. This diversity of interests in a large fandom is described quite well by Henry Jenkins (142). The breadth of the Pokémon fandom means that its many varied groups of fans can see Pokémon in many different ways, and interact with the object of their fandom in just as many different ways. The academic study of Pokémon has existed nearly as long as the franchise itself due to the rapid rise to fame it experienced soon after its inception. Pokémon became a well-known topic of study not only in media studies, but in a variety of different fields — everything from analyses of the phenomenon of Pokémon to close readings on how Pokémon shapes environment perspectives (Tobin 4; Bainbridge 400). The breadth of the different studies conducted on Pokémon in Tobin’s The Rise and Fall of Pokémon reflects this diversity. One can draw a picture of the many things Pokémon can mean from those studies. Sefton-Green’s study of how younger children interact with Pokémon shows that children have a complex relationship with Pokémon as a text and as a strategic game. On one 2 hand, they try their best to learn and execute the strategy of the game; the goal is, ostensibly, to become a Pokémon master (Tobin 142). On the other hand, mastery does not necessarily mean becoming the best battler in their social circle, as there are many other goals based on collecting and befriending Pokémon, though these goals are more “unfocused” (Tobin 149). In some ways, the academic pursuit of Pokémon mirrors the fandom of Pokémon above; Pokémon has become so prevalent that the research done on it has splintered into dozens of different groups. This thesis focuses on Smogon, a group within the online competitive Pokémon community, which is a small subset of fans’ varied practices. Smogon imagines Pokémon in a very different way from the larger Pokémon fandom, and as such, how it interacts with the game of Pokémon is very different from most Pokémon fans. This thesis explores how Smogon changes Pokémon through expert play, and, in a more general sense, how competitive game communities affect the games that they play. I identify as a fan of Pokémon, which is important because my insight into Pokémon does not only come from my position as an interested academic, but also from my experiences and expertise as a fan. I got my first Pokémon game when I was eight, and after spending three days looking at the manual and deciding what the best starter was, I picked Bulbasaur (a choice I defend to this day). I have played Pokémon on and off my entire life, followed the anime throughout my childhood and into my adulthood, bought many, many Pokémon cards, and can still name the majority of Pokémon by sight. I have dedicated much of my time to Pokémon, and the fact that Pokémon is part of my life will be apparent in my research. It is for this reason that I turn to Henry Jenkins’ work on the idea of the aca-fan in order to properly position myself as a researcher to this object of research (4). I play the Pokémon battle simulator Pokémon Showdown, I read threads and Strategy Pokédex entries on Smogon as well as other message boards, and I still interact with the object of my study (Jenkins 5). I am not the most skilled player, but I am certainly competent and experienced enough to understand the differences between battle systems, the ways that the Teambuilder works, the reasoning behind bans, and the strategic thought that goes into the Strategy Pokédex entries — terms I will describe in greater detail later in the thesis. My fan knowledge is important in the way that I approach this subject, as it gives me unique insight into the background of my object of study. On the other hand, it is also important that I acknowledge my biases arising from my familiarity with Smogon, as it can have a negative effect on my research as well.