PXR Summer Event

[Neo Emolga]

Just so people know, I can't take full credit for this. Dani (Daniella Defines Divinity) was the original creator with her Lavender Gym, and I jumped on the idea and started the Pika Gym. And that was followed through with a whole League getting created when people quickly saw how much fun our two Gyms were having. I haven't spoken to her in like seven or eight years, but while the PE2K league was around, it was a ton of fun and I even still have the original Pika Gym badge!



We, of course, can use the 80 x 80 tokens as badges instead, but we can create a smaller badge version if people want to put it in their postbit (like the Valentine's Day Pokémon icons), sig, or wherever to display it proudly.

Neo's idea sound great, but there has to be a way to make the team's fair. Depending on the number of people joining and limit on slots per team. I don't think letting the team leader choose just who joins would be good. Teams might be uneven or have a large group try to join one team but most have to be denied. It sounds like a very great idea to work on though! Definitely leaves for little complaints (not that there were really any to begin with). I'll spend some time and try and think up some more things to maybe throw out there.

I don't think Gym size will be an issue. Having only five members at max is pretty limiting and makes sure the Gym doesn't have too many people as benchwarmers that don't get the chance to be challenged.

I think the limit of 5 per team should satisfy people. I think we should let people form their own teams rather than drafting or anything though. It's much more fun if you get to be on a team with your friends IMO! And really, you're just playing for little sprites. Hopefully there won't be any drama. xD

Yeah, it's not like a Gym of five people is going to take such a lion's share of members that it will be impossible to deal with. Plus, this will also ensure we get a lot of neat and unique Gyms created.

I think there could be an issue with people challenging certain members more than others. For example, Bob might be known to be better in certain areas, so everyone challenges Miriam instead because Bob is too hard to defeat. Maybe instead of selecting who you get to challenge in each gym, you just challenge the gym as a whole, state what area you want to challenge in (drawing, RP, GCEA etc.) and then any of the gym trainers can choose to accept that challenge. (Each gym should need a set number of events they will participate in. So at least they can rule out a few things like the large scale RPGs or writing in general or something that none of the trainers can do. The gym leader themselves could also have a smaller set number. It makes sense for the gyms to be a little restrictive IMO, so that they're all different!)

This is why I think it would be best if Gym Leaders and Members list at least four areas they'd be willing to take part in, as well as how many Gym Challenges they'd feel comfortable doing at once. Otherwise, like Harry said, if someone like Ash K says he's only willing to do URPG, well, I don't see too many people getting past a senior juggernaut member like that and it would make people reluctant to challenge his Gym. But if he has to list three other areas that might be a bit more of a challenge for him to take part in, it'll give challenging members more of a initiative to try to take on his gym. But if they feel spunky enough to give a URPG battle with him a shot, hey, have at it!

As for challengers only picking easier members to challenge, it's unlikely, but it will push the senior members to help guide the challenged member. In any case, it should be encouraged for people to try challenging even the experts just to try their best and to see what they cook up. I mean heck, I would love to challenge someone like Velocity or Lunar Latias in Drawn Art even though I know I'm going to be gearing up my butt to get kicked. I would still like to try my best anyway (and see what they create in response!), but even then, you never know! It's all for fun in the end and great encouragement to sharpen one's skills.

No one is going to think less of anyone if their particular Gym ends up handing out lots of badges or one particular member has a tricky time with one particular Gym. I figure the pressure will be much lighter as challengers can take on Gym Challenges at their pace that feels comfortable and works for them. If one Gym seems too hard at first, try a different one or attempt challenging the defenders at other categories! Hey, Ash certainly didn't conquer every Gym on the first try and I'm sure some of us had trouble with some Gyms in the games (Looking at you, Whitney, and your blasted Rollout Miltank!).

If each gym trainer can only have so many ongoing challenges, that ensures that one person (the most skilled person in that area or whatever) can't just take all the challenges. If no one from the gym accepted the challenge in so many hours (48 maybe) then that could be an automatic win to the challenger. This would also prevent people from refusing to take challenges because they think they would lose, prevent issues with people going inactive (because it's up to the whole gym to cover challenges not a single person) and also will encourage teams to be made from members with diverse backgrounds so they have an "expert" in every event.

I also think this would help, but yeah, it would be silly for people to start Gyms, but then refuse all challengers just to try and make their particular badge more desirable (League Officials could step in if this really gets to be a persistent issue). If the Leader is going on vacation or has reasons to be absent, then they should either put one of their Gym Trainers in charge and be the temporary Gym Leader, or if it's only for a few days, just post a notice. And I would say give them three days to respond to the challenge. Sometimes we miss things or Internet connections get fried.

Having the public vote seems like a good way to judge and since teams are small, there shouldn't be too many issues with bias.

That's the whole idea, and I think it works even better if no one knows who made which entry. No bias!

THE ONLY DRAWBACKS OF THIS IDEA

Yeah, this idea isn't perfect, and these are a few of the things we would need to give up and consider.

No team-based RP - It's easy to make RP Creation a challenge category, but there won't be an RP involved that has the teams/Gyms against each other (no equivalent of a WAR RP). I mean, there could be, but it would just be for funsies and wouldn't have any badges obtained out of it.

Depends on voting charity - Members will need to accept that there's really no reward for voting. I guess we could track who votes a lot and give appreciation tokens in different levels (Copper, Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum, Crystal, etc) to those who vote a lot so the system keeps going. I'd like some motivation for voting to keep going on, as if people stop, the League comes to a halt and that wouldn't be fun.

High potential for an APOCALYPTICALLY HUGE number of Gym Challenge poll threads - We might need a separate board just for judging polls, because there will probably be a ton of them all going on at once.

EXTRA PLUSES AND OPTIONS

Gym Customization and Theme Challenges - This idea allows people to customize their gym however they'd like. Plus, they could make the challenges based on the theme of their gym (for example, a Gym that likes Fairy Pokémon can base their challenges on drawing Fairy-type Pokémon, fairytale fantasy RP creation, battling with only Fairy-type Pokémon (gutsy thing to do, but possible!) and that kind of thing.

Graphics - Gyms are free to make their own banners, design their own badge, and that kind of thing. I'm sure many of the graphic artists we have here (me included) would gladly help other gyms design their own badges if they needed that kind of thing done. I think the only requirement should be that the badge and postbit dimensions remain the same for all the gyms.

Limitless Duration - We can keep the PXR Gym League going for as long as we'd like! There's no real end date and I'm sure Gyms may come and go, but it's an idea that doesn't need to pack up and quit when summer ends.