WAR SEASON II: Discussion

[Suicune's Fire]

WAR leaders, is it okay to assume that I can stick the WAR threads until WAR ends?

[Pokemon Trainer Sarah]

WAR leaders, is it okay to assume that I can stick the WAR threads until WAR ends?

Do eeeeeeet! :D

[swiftgallade46]

URPG's WAR Section has been posted!! I encourage people to join URPG and get in on the action!
@Neo Emolga; if you could edit this into the important links post that'd be awesome ^-^

[Neo Emolga]

URPG's WAR Section has been posted!! I encourage people to join URPG and get in on the action!
@Neo Emolga; if you could edit this into the important links post that'd be awesome ^-^

*Uses his magical editing powers*

Enchantment complete!

[swiftgallade46]

Thanks! =D

[SassySnivy]

Guys. I need a little advice. And maybe it has nothing to do with WAR, maybe it has to do with me just being mentally worn out from having to work so much lately...idk...

I'm pretty sure I'm getting to the point where I'm taking things too seriously / too personally. I do enjoy a little friendly competition, but one problem that I've had for years is that I tend to take things too seriously after a while. I get upset (be it anger or getting depressed or whatever) when I lose.

Yeah, I know that's normal. But the thing that made me realize "I need help" was a Showdown battle I just had for WAR. I just had a few spectators going back and forth rooting their teammate on and that's cool and all but I just snapped and after a while told them to "shut the **** up." I then immediately felt like a horrible person and it's kinda deterred me from battling for the rest of the night. I have no idea what got into me.

But I've been getting a little upset about my URPG losses, too. I feel like people are probably laughing at me even though they aren't. And even if they are I KNOW I shouldn't let it bug me...but I do anyway. :\ Then I feel horrible like I won't win anything in WAR.

Then I get upset at myself for thinking that way to begin with and it's just a vicious cycle.

Yes, I KNOW it's supposed to be for fun and I shouldn't take it seriously etc. Thing is I am anyway and I need advice. I can take criticism pretty well, but when it comes to losing battles...it kinda hurts. More than it's supposed to. I know it sounds stupid but whatever :\

[Nekomata]

@Speed-X

I know how you feel. I'm one of those people who gets easily discourage in competitive situations- or even in non-competitive areas. Especially when I feel overlooked or everyone else's threads/work/etc. seems to be getting significantly more notice/attention/feedback.

Over time, I think I've gotten a bit better about competitive stuff, even though I actively avoid it being the sore loser I am. I'm in the same boat as you- I don't think I'll win anything in WAR and I'm a bit worried that I'll go in some sort of depressed streak and lose motivation for a while.

Oh, how I wish I could offer some amazing advice to get through this- but... well, I'll try. One thing I find that helps is to have more than one project going at once. This way, if I get discouraged in one area, I can find motivation for another. Read lots of books, watch movies, play games- I find they help stir the creativity in my mind and get me excited to work on my stories/art again. Also- remind yourself that you can't win a contest without entering- and that it's more for fun than prizes. If nothing works- just take a break.

Just know you're not alone. It's tough to compete in stuff for some people for the same reasons as yourself- and while I've never had an instance where everyone was rooting for one side in a showdown fight, I kinda get the same feeling when I see everyone saying "So and so's entry is AWESOME" while my own gets ignored. Just shrug it off and remember that you're competing against people who are good at what they do- and trust me- you're VERY good at what you do. You're a far better artist than I could ever hope to be- and far better than most people I know.

I'm not sure if any of this helped- but I know how you feel. v-v You're more than welcome to rant to me via Skype or PMs. I'm more than willing to listen and offer a supportive ear. ^_^

[Pokemon Trainer Sarah]

I often feel the way you do, Speed. I refrain from competitive battling in general because I dislike losing. xD And I have had similar issues with feeling that way about WAR in the past. This year I have taken a completely different view. I'm only in it for fun and I'm treating the whole WAR as a means of boosting PXR's activity rather than as something I want to win. It's hard to change that point of view sometimes, I know. But by focusing more on my team (and newer members from other teams!), encouraging and supporting them, rather than running around trying to earn points in everything, I am actually having a lot more fun!

Something more concrete that might help is entering contests that you don't expect to win. Entering events you're good at is hard because of the pressure you and your team and the forum at large put on you by expecting you to win. If you enter something that you're not the best at and not expecting to win then it is a nice surprise if you do rather than a huge failure if you don't!

I know it's hard but I guess the thing to remember is that it's all about having fun. If you're not enjoying yourself then maybe it's a good idea to give a particularly stressful contest a miss for that week. Within Trainer, I have done my best to emphasise that it's all about fun and participation. I don't want anyone to feel pressured to enter anything they don't enjoy/feel like doing, let alone pressured to win. In the end, it's not like it will all make a difference a week after WAR when everyone forgets what happened and starts looking forward to the next year. :)

I would probably feel a bit stressed if people were rooting against me in a battle too. But especially for this week, it's challenge cup right? You have absolutely no control over your team or anything. If you lose, it's not really a reflection on you. That's one of the reasons I enjoy challenge cup matches! :D

[lorii]

Aw Speed... *pats you* I can't really comment on URPG or Showdown mechanics since I don't participate in them, but I can see how constant losses would be frustrating and feel really unfair. That's why I've never been into competitive (or even casual lol) battles. I know there's going to be people more invested time-wise in building the most impenetrable team and are more knowledgeable about moves and whatnot than I am, which obviously should pay off for them, but going into the battle knowing my chances are close to nil kinda drains the fun and wonder that I've associated with pokemon battles and how they're illustrated on the show. The only thing I can suggest is doing something not as intense and fun with friends. :)

[Neo Emolga]

Ah, Speed, sorry to hear that but I'm sure people know you didn't mean what you said. If you haven't already, I'm sure people would understand if you just apologize and let them know you just got too caught up in what was going on.

From a personal standpoint, I just can't competitively battle, whether it's something like Showdown, URPG, or whatnot. It's almost to the point where I feel like I don't even know how to battle Pokémon at all anymore. I'm not sure who is still good, what movepools need to be considered, if some crazy move combos came along, or whatever is going on now.

But in terms of your situation, I think it's a pressure-related thing, almost to the point where you feel like it's not a game anymore. Instead, you feel like you're trying to defend your reputation and if you fail, you'll be ridiculed and exiled from teams for years to come. Don't feel that way, by the time the next competition comes around, most people don't even remember that much from what happened last time. Besides, everyone improves, so looking at battles or performance from months ago is just silly.

This may sound stupid, crazy, or maybe even funny, but sometimes... you just need to embrace failure. There was a time when I was RPing a super-powered made up legendary in a Team RP, and suddenly I understood what it feels like to be a MMO raid boss when six or seven opposing RPers ganged up on me attacked me all at once! I wasn't sure whether to panic, complain, or try and work something out, but what I decided to do was probably the most reasonable and realistic thing that I could think of. I just decided to let my character bite the bullet and croak, because hey, after his head got blown open (literally, it did), he had to cash in his chips. And you know what I did after that? Just started a fresh new character, jumped back into the fight, and everything worked out fine. Some people still remember the incident, but you know, it's not like I've been banned from RPs because I had a character die. In fact, quite a few times I had characters bite the dust for various reasons.

Also, a favorite quote from Fight Club I like to remember is this:

"It's only after you've lost everything that you're free to do anything."

Sometimes, you just need to it let go (great, got that song from Frozen stuck in my head again!). Other times, when you fail, see it as an opportunity to start over, learn from the loss, and improve on your strategy or try something fresh and new. If you're ever ridiculed, don't take it to heart. Those that ridicule others are either cowards or have yet to bump into the person that will put them in their place.

Honestly, when it comes down to it, I think we need more forum competitions besides the WAR, because I have a feeling people feel the stakes are way too high when this is like the only one BIG forum competition of the year.