MCBarrett
i love it when you call me big hoppa
Hey guys, MCBarrett here to propose a few ideas for Smogon's YouTube Channel. Before I get started I figured this would be an okay place to post this but if it would be better served in another Forum or if there is anyone specifically I should run this by to get the ball rolling I would appreciate it if you could let me know.
Anyway, I had this idea a while ago after coming off of a short break from Pokemon only to see that the daily users on Pokemon Showdown had been growing rapidly in my absence. After a few battles I noticed quickly that all of these new users were clearly inexperienced and had no real idea of how to play the game correctly at all. I had been aware of the problems with trying to integrate new users into Smogon for some time and I felt that a good way to make sure new users were comfortable and had a good idea of what they were supposed to be doing would be to introduce them to the site, and to competitive battling in general, before they even made an account. Social Media seemed like a great medium to get this sort of thing out there, and there have been some advances on the Facebook Page that I feel have been positive but the YouTube channel has stuck to being focused on high level Tournament battles and SmogCasts. Now don't get me wrong, I enjoy these programs myself and think it is great for the community and should definitely stay. I just feel that there are some opportunities on YouTube to get people who are interested in Competitive Pokemon interested in the Smogon community, and to properly teach them how to play the game competitively. The Pokemon YouTube community is huge but there are very few channels that actually go through things like Team Building, Basic Prediction, and just useful information for competitive battling in general. And the few channels that do this are usually drastically undersubbed in comparison to people like Haydunn who just encourages people to use derp teams and clog the PS! ladder with new players ranging from mediocre to down right abysmal in skill.
As far as more specific ideas go I think having a few basic tutorials, with ideas along the lines of Shurtugal's How to Battle and Win for Beginners Guide in the OU Forum, some videos showcasing various Forums that beginners are usually drawn to like RMT or C&C, and guides outlining how to be a good user on the Forums and on the Battle Simulator would be a good start. We could also have weekly uploads showcasing the basics of various tiers, or have a Pokemon of the week video similar to what the Facebook page does, and we could take requests and do videos on some specific questions people may have. These are just ideas but I think things along these lines, which will keep beginners interested and excited on becoming part of the community, is what we should be going for. I also realize that this seems like a lot of ideas thrown out there at once, and it is to an extent, but I know there are a ton of capable users on site that would be able to help out with this channel and we have a good amount of users with YouTube experience as well so it shouldn't be too hard to get these things done.
Overall, I think this would help improve Smogon's image and would help new users make a smoother transition from beginner to competent poster/battler. It could also lighten the load on the Battling 101 project as people would have something to learn from without having a one on one tutor.
Thank you for taking the time to read my proposal, any feedback is greatly appreciated and any help to get the ball rolling on this idea would be great!
Anyway, I had this idea a while ago after coming off of a short break from Pokemon only to see that the daily users on Pokemon Showdown had been growing rapidly in my absence. After a few battles I noticed quickly that all of these new users were clearly inexperienced and had no real idea of how to play the game correctly at all. I had been aware of the problems with trying to integrate new users into Smogon for some time and I felt that a good way to make sure new users were comfortable and had a good idea of what they were supposed to be doing would be to introduce them to the site, and to competitive battling in general, before they even made an account. Social Media seemed like a great medium to get this sort of thing out there, and there have been some advances on the Facebook Page that I feel have been positive but the YouTube channel has stuck to being focused on high level Tournament battles and SmogCasts. Now don't get me wrong, I enjoy these programs myself and think it is great for the community and should definitely stay. I just feel that there are some opportunities on YouTube to get people who are interested in Competitive Pokemon interested in the Smogon community, and to properly teach them how to play the game competitively. The Pokemon YouTube community is huge but there are very few channels that actually go through things like Team Building, Basic Prediction, and just useful information for competitive battling in general. And the few channels that do this are usually drastically undersubbed in comparison to people like Haydunn who just encourages people to use derp teams and clog the PS! ladder with new players ranging from mediocre to down right abysmal in skill.
As far as more specific ideas go I think having a few basic tutorials, with ideas along the lines of Shurtugal's How to Battle and Win for Beginners Guide in the OU Forum, some videos showcasing various Forums that beginners are usually drawn to like RMT or C&C, and guides outlining how to be a good user on the Forums and on the Battle Simulator would be a good start. We could also have weekly uploads showcasing the basics of various tiers, or have a Pokemon of the week video similar to what the Facebook page does, and we could take requests and do videos on some specific questions people may have. These are just ideas but I think things along these lines, which will keep beginners interested and excited on becoming part of the community, is what we should be going for. I also realize that this seems like a lot of ideas thrown out there at once, and it is to an extent, but I know there are a ton of capable users on site that would be able to help out with this channel and we have a good amount of users with YouTube experience as well so it shouldn't be too hard to get these things done.
Overall, I think this would help improve Smogon's image and would help new users make a smoother transition from beginner to competent poster/battler. It could also lighten the load on the Battling 101 project as people would have something to learn from without having a one on one tutor.
Thank you for taking the time to read my proposal, any feedback is greatly appreciated and any help to get the ball rolling on this idea would be great!
