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Subj: My opinion about Pokemon event organization (forward to the appropriate powers)
Date: 9/9/2000 1:18:53 PM Eastern Daylight Time
From: NickWhiz1
To: nintendo@noa.nintendo.com

NOTE: First off, I don't want an automated response to this. Every e-mail I've sent you has either not been answered or has been answered using your automated e-mail system. Second off, I am good internet friends with Ian Garvey (EeveeTrainer), your "America's Pokemon Master", so if I don't get to you directly, I'll get to you through him.

I would like to address two key points in this e-mail:
1) The lack of organization in your events
2) Selection of where the events are to be held

1. The lack of organization in your events

First off, I'll say that you guys did a terrible job with the so-called "national championships". How did you handle them? If you forgot, here's how you handled them:

*You announced them on Pokemon.com around a week before they happened
*You only held the qualifiers in 4 Wizards of the Coast stores
*You only allowed 32 people to each one
*You spaced them apart too far (two on the West Coast, one in the South, and one in New York)
*You made sure that almost 100% of the actually deserving trainers (I'm not putting down Ian, he's a very good player, but there are people all over the country that could beat him quite easily) couldn't make it due to distance away from where they live
*You pour salt in the wound by calling the winner (Ian) "America's Pokemon Master", therefore calling him the best player in the U.S., but like I said, it's an unfair statement because the VAST majority of Pokemon players didn't even get a CHANCE to try to participate
*The UK had a tour for a couple MONTHS to allow people to qualify for their national championship. 1,792 people had a chance to participate in the UK, a country MANY times smaller than the U.S., because they organized it well and actually let most of the country compete. In the U.S., you restricted it to 128 in an OPEN competition, and had actual competitions for 2 DAYS (the qualifier day and the championship day)
*I'm sure the other countries involved had more fair championships than YOU did

And that's only for your "national championships". I could go on and on about how you organize events, but it wouldn't matter any, considering I'm WASTING MY TIME typing this up, because you'll just throw it through your automated e-mail system and give me the same reply you give to hundreds and thousands. I'm not even to my second point yet:

2. Selection of where the events are to be held

I have noticed a pattern of where you hold these events. You give preference to the big cities (Chicago, LA, NYC, etc...), so you practically hold ALL your events in the SAME cities, over and over and over and over again, therefore you meet the SAME people, over and over and over and over again. Aren't the point of these events to let EVERYONE have fun? Well, apparently, your definition of "everyone" is the people in the larger cities. I'll take Ohio and Michigan for an example.

You have held/will hold events in the following cities of Ohio and Michigan (note that I'm counting WotC events):

Ann Arbor, MI (early tour)
Detroit, MI (Stadium tour, G/S Adventure Tour)
Troy, MI (East Coast STS qualifiers)
Columbus, OH (G/S Adventure Tour, you cut this one apparently, or haven't posted info on it yet)
Cincinnati, OH (East Coast STS qualifiers)

That's all I can think of.

Think of all the cities you have not gone to yet in these 2 states (OH and MI are two of the more populous states, in fact OH is in the top 10 I believe):

Anything in Ohio north and east of Columbus, OH (including Cleveland, Akron, and Toledo, my hometown)
Dayton, OH
Akron, OH
Lansing, MI
Kalamazoo, MI
Anything in Michigan north of Detroit/Ann Arbor, MI (not counting Troy, it's a little north of Detroit)

I won't even mention the "national championships" again (Point #1).

CONCLUSION

Well, I have just wasted my time again writing you guys a long e-mail, because I DOUBT you read this or at least 99% of all your e-mail talking about how poorly organized your events are. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad you guys are holding these events. I'm just not happy about how they're organized. Thank you for reading this, if you even do read it, that is......

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NickWhiz1

E-mail: NickWhiz1@aol.com

My Game Guides: http://www.gamefaqs.com/features/recognition/1589.html

GameFAQs message boards: http://cgi.gamefaqs.com/boards.asp
*Look for me on the Pokemon board as "RandomPokePlayer"

Azure Heights: http://www.azureheights.com
*Look for me in the forums as "NickWhiz1"

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Was I correct in sending them an e-mail like this? Was it WORTH sending? There's a 99.9% chance they'll put it through the automated system without even giving it a glance.

Until next time.....

>_<

UPDATE: I mistyped the URL to the GameFAQs MB. Oh well, there's a good chance they won't read my e-mail anyways, so I shouldn't be too worried.

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I hate that Gamblers Rapiddash! I hava Mewtwo, horn drill hits on first try. I bring out Poliwrath, horn Drill takes me out on first try! I bring out ElecriBuzz. HORNDRILL HITS ON FIRST TRY?! GOD **** THAT GAMBLER! He eats up all my Continues so I dont have them when I really need them! Stadium SO cheats!-Vaporeon of the mist, on Stadium's R2 Prime Cup Gambler

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"Today Chicago, tomorrow Saturday"-Kelly Bundy
"90% grunts and yelling at each other, 10% boring recycled animation." Mr.K talking about Dragon Ball Z
cesar@infinity.net

Messages like that are easy to dismiss as being from real loons, tho. Sending complaints to Nintendo is a good idea, but being whiney and insulting is not.

In the U.S. I'd say around 85-95% were not within 100 miles of the nearest stop.

I won't even mention the number of stops

Look at this, for their Fall Mall Tour:

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Check us out at:
SEPTEMBER
16/17 - Kitefest (Markham, Ontario)
23/24 - Fleur de Lys Mall (Quebec City, Quebec)
30/Oct 1 - La Place Vertu (St. Laurent, Quebec)
OCTOBER
7/8 - Square One Mall (Mississauga, Ontario)
14/15 - Oshawa Centre (Oshawa, Ontario)
21/22 - Niagara Square Mall (Niagara Falls, Ontario)
28/29 - West Edmonton Mall (Edmonton, Alberta)
NOVEMBER
4/5 - Guildford Town Centre (Surrey, British Columbia)
11/12 - Eaton Centre Metrotown (Burnaby, British Columbia)

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This makes the SECOND stop they've EVER MADE in Canada. And even then, BC gets last pick for the stops. At least G/S will be out by the time it gets to my area... u_u;;

If Nintendo were to pit me against the random player from a big city on America, I'd be slaughtered even if I had a team of the most powerful Pokémon imaginable.

The best opponents we Canadians have is not the local hotshot trainer, it's the R2 Stadium Gamblers.

quote:

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Originally posted by Marril:
The best opponents we Canadians have is not the local hotshot trainer, it's the R2 Stadium Gamblers.

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Hear Hear!

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Originally posted by Da Fwifta:

Also, I entered for the British Championship, but didn't get selected. they allowed, about 132 participants....thats hardly gonna define the british champ, is it?

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*refrains from knocking the **** out of Da Fwifta*

They *have* to know that. I'm sure there was a very good reason, budget or otherwise, which limited what they can do in the US at this time. My money would be the Gold and Silver tour, which they likely recognize as being a better income source than a national championship. This probably diverted some resources, and I can't really blame them for that. They have supported pokémon like few other products, in my opinion (I'd love an F-Zero X tour! Me and the 20 other fanboys! ).

I have faith that they will have a real championship for Gold and Silver some time next year, with real resources being devoted to it so that I and others might actually be able to reach it...

I doubt that the great volume of dissatisfaction is falling on deaf ears there, but please remember that they could have not done it at all in the US...

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-cfalcon

And how do we have money to waste? Yeah, maybe on the millenium dome, but still, it doesn't mean we have $2 million just lying around. Tell the new president to stop spending it on child welfare or something, but there is NO WAY in hell that the UK has more moeny than the US to spend on a Pokémon event!

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Originally posted by cfalcon:

(I'd love an F-Zero X tour! Me and the 20 other fanboys! ).

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Yay! Me too, even though i'm not that good at it (beat Master but thats the height of my F-Zero X skills)

There is nothing stopping Someone from doing a non-Nintendo pokemon competition. In the UK recently there was a Console Championships which covered the 3 main home consoles, it was sponsored by an internet games shop. Pokemon however (seirous GB battling anyway) is too much of a niché market to have a non-Nintendo Pokemon comp.

In the U.S. you the occasional Pokemon GB tours that don't come close to most trainers. At the same time you have the Pokemon TCG League. There are TCG League locations EVERYWHERE. My town has a Wal*Mart and that's it for a 60 mile ratios in the middle of south Georgia. We have a TCG League in this town! Why? Because there is profit in it.

With the Game Boy game there is a limit to how much you'll buy. Let's assume you want to get the works so over the course of time you'll purchase:

- a Game Boy
- up to three Pokemon game paks
- 1 to 3 strategy guides
- 1 to 2 storage/carrying cases for your GB
- a link cable
- Pokemon Stadium
- Mega Memory Card
- GameShark Pro
- a few other small items

A good deal of money spent...yes. But once you have all the accessories you want then you're done buying, forever. With Gold/Silver you'll get two more game paks and a new stragegy guide or two and that's it.

Now look at the TCG. You have hundreds of cards to go for and most of them are obtained by a lucky purchase of a booster pack. New sets can come out as soon as an idea is thought up and the cards printed...there is no limit on how many cards you can own. The buying possibilities are limitless.

Now let's compare the two in a store hosting a tournament. The Game Boy tournament might induce the sales of a few new game paks and some link cables and batteries but that's about it. The TCG tournament will have a much larger sales of cards. Why? Because at least half of the kids are going to lose and what do you do when you lose in the TCG? You buy better cards! Kids see a new card at the tournament and they like it so they buy one of their own. Every store that holds a weekly Pokemon TCG League meeting gets a boost to their Pokemon card sales because the kids have a stable enviroment to play and so they will continue to play and upgrade and since they play there they will buy there.

Personally I hate the TCG. I never got into it and I just don't see the purpose of a parent blowing hundreds of dollars on cards that can't be trained. But it's a much better way to make money. Imagine if every Pokemon TCG League location held a Game Boy tournament, even a small one with 32 trainers in each store. Imagine the winner from each League moving up into local, then state, then regional, the national tournaments. The TCG could do it if Wizards organized it and the store would go along since they are already having the meetings. I doubt the stores would see much profit for their troubles doing the same for the Game Boy trainers. But would it be nice to imagine...

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Undefeated in 6 vs 6 battles!

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