"the pokemon effect"

[mint]

I posted this on the pokecommunity forums awhile ago, but since I've decided to be active here I thought I'd post this here as well and see what kind of reaction I would get. Plus, bulbagarden forums seems to have more people around my age and older. If posting this is not allowed or if it was posted already please let me know and I'll take it down.



So I found this comic on somone's pkmn blog, which I thought was very interesting. I'm currently in high school, and I can tell you that the high school section of the comic is definitely true for my school, although I know some people who secretly play the games for stress relief. What I want to know is what college students (and older adults) think of pokemon in general. Is the college section of the comic accurate as well? what about for older people who are no longer in college?

 

[thetifftiff]

From what I've seen it's pretty true. I'm 24 and I went years without picking up a new Pokemon game after Crystal but somehow last year I started playing third gen games and then fourth. Then I got my best friend playing again (she'll be 21 in a few weeks) and later another good friend started playing it again when I was talking so much about it (he's 20). All the while some guy I know from another site had been playing it since maybe a month or two after Platinum came out, he's 30 and had never played the series before that. And a bunch of people I knew from the deviantart forums had been playing Pokemon despite most of them being adults.

When you've reached adulthood, it's a lot easier not to get made fun of for such things because you lose certain fears you may have had in high school about not fitting in and people mature in the sense that they stop making fun of you over stupid things. Of course, not everyone does but hey, I still play games made for kids and watch cartoons so I guess most people don't mature in at least one area.

 

[Falconwing]

That comic is pretty accurate. In college, no one really cares that I'm a pokemaniac.

 

[MetalGearFlaccid]

In my college, a large group of us gather around and play Pokemon and talk pokestuff.

Just before summer break, I caught a shiny Taillow while I was just starting a game of Emerald; my friends all were cheering me on. it was was awesome.

 

[Battaman]

I know that the two first is right, for the third, in my experience, and in the experience of a lot of people I know/have spoke on different fora whit is that people get a lot more accepting when they become older, and start at "College" (which is grade 11 (15-16 years old, I'm starting in the 11th grade after the summer) here, dunno about the US or other places). This is especially accurate for the "hard-to-get-into" places, these people are just mature and intelligent enough to not bully each other. After "College" you will be accepted at any kind of school/university/job you go to, sure you might get teased, but people suddenly become much nicer when they get older. Then at age 40 they start to become annoying again

 

[gallowsCalibrator]

Hahahaha oh this is so true. I used to be a closet Pokegeek up until I hit Year 10, then I got strong enough to not care what people think of me. And Ive been a full-on Pokegeek ever since. ^^

 

[Rocker32703]

I was just at the Screw Attack Gaming Convention, and I went to most of the meet-ups. I was surprised to see that I was the only "younger" one around (15 years old). Most of them were at least 23-25 and up, and a few of them came from New York and one from England just to come to the Convention and visit the meet-ups. (Couldn't blame 'em, there was a guy in there giving out every DPPt/HGSS event Pokemon you could think of.)

But yeah, I would imagine a lot more people after high-school mellow out to things like Pokemon. Either you like it or you just don't care. xD

 

[SquirtleMan493]

I theorize that most of the High School population are too busy trying to fit in with their social groups and do their "pseudo-mature" thing where they abandon parts of their childhood in an effort to increase their supposed "maturity". That phase passes after High School with the collapse of defined social groups and the embracing of childhood interests. I went through High School happily embracing my love for Pokemon, Godzilla, and other things while my other friends shunned their adolescent loves. Some of my friends have begun picking up Pokemon again, thus supporting my hypothesis. =P

 

[JAK]

I theorize that most of the High School population are too busy trying to fit in with their social groups and do their "pseudo-mature" thing where they abandon parts of their childhood in an effort to increase their supposed "maturity". That phase passes after High School with the collapse of defined social groups and the embracing of childhood interests. I went through High School happily embracing my love for Pokemon, Godzilla, and other things while my other friends shunned their adolescent loves. Some of my friends have begun picking up Pokemon again, thus supporting my hypothesis. =P

^
It's because as a teenager you shun your childhood in a desperate attempt to be a grown-up. By the time you reach college, you have your first experience of the adult world; jobs, responsibility, etc. As a result, they embrace their childhood because they now realise that being an adult is difficult, and they have lost the freedom of being young forever.

You don't know what you've got 'til it's gone.

 

[Bulletproof Scales]

This is really accurate, yeah. In 6th grade I would in no way have picked up ruby or sapphire or bought a gameboy advance. Now I'm 20 and everyone is like "hey, I love pokémon!". Back then it was regarded as a fad for kids.

 

[Soulweaver]

I've seen this pic before, but this is very true. There was this phase when everything Pokémon was childish and stuff. I'm glad it's over in my life already

 

[Zekurom]

For the "giftie" community in our school, the "College" stage is more like Grade 12, and the "high school" stage started around Grade 5 or so. But it's likely to phase out next year when we move to Grade 12.

I was never a Pokemon fan until Grade 11. I preferred things like Digimon and Yu-Gi-Oh because they were less well-known.

 

[GloomyDayze]

I'm going through the 'High School' stage, except no-one knows I play it. XD

Everyone played Pokemon in primary school, then secondary? No-one touches it. If it gets mentioned, it's usually mocked or sumthin'...

University? I have yet to find out...

 

[DracoMan]

I'm going through the 'High School' stage, except no-one knows I play it. XD

Everyone played Pokemon in primary school, then secondary? No-one touches it. If it gets mentioned, it's usually mocked or sumthin'...

University? I have yet to find out...

You probably will see at least some of your classmates in college playing Pokemon. I did back at the lounge at the university.

 

[yourlilemogirl]

haha wow, i remember seeing this on the pokemon community on livejournal
my response is there, if you so choose to read it

 

[Quest]

That comic is awesome. And pretty accurate.
I guess it's just my group of friends or something, because in high school pokemon is everything...

When HGSS came out, I was the only person not playing Pokemon, so it was reverse for me

 

[mint]

haha wow, i remember seeing this on the pokemon community on livejournal
my response is there, if you so choose to read it

I didnt know they had a pkmn community on livejournal xD
do you have a direct link?

That comic is awesome. And pretty accurate.
I guess it's just my group of friends or something, because in high school pokemon is everything...

When HGSS came out, I was the only person not playing Pokemon, so it was reverse for me

haha youre pretty lucky, I only know one other person who played HGSS, but shes not as into pkmn as I am so we dont talk about it much





I guess in general at my school, there are a number of people who play the games (even though they dont tell anyone about it, haha) so its not that bad. But if you do anything more, like watch the anime or read the manga, then people would think you're weird like me xD

 

[Brent]

I agree with the comic too. Though I never played in grade school (didn't exist then). I started playing around the middle of that comic. I was startled at how many people I met in the military that played (and that is where I played much of third gen). Now in college (fourth gen came out right when I was done with military service) I see Pokewalkers everywhere and I've had some great battles with people on campus. Tons of fun!

 

[Ranger Jack Walker]

Totally true. A few years back(Around 2002), everyone I knew was obsessed with Pokemon including me. Then the craze died down and people laughed at me for playing Pokemon. Now the interest has risen again and now they all come to me because I'm the only one who knows what EVs, IVs and Natures do.

 

[Miss Alex]

I didn't play my freshman year of college, but when I started playing again sophomore year, nobody cared -- there were more than a few nights of beer, Wii, and Pokemon, and all was well in the world.

Since I moved back home for my junior year, I haven't seen much, sadly. It's a great way to kill time on my 45-minute train ride, though!