With the addition of mega evolutions, new Pokémon like Volcanion and the incoming additons that will strike in the future, it has been decided to finally establish a dedicated group that focuses purely and solely on the PvP aspect of Pokemon Revolution Online. In this thread we will explain as clear as possible why it has been established, the objective and future plans that awaits for it, as well as answers as many questions that may arise from the public.
The PvP Council is the entity in charge of managing and overseeing the competitive side of the game, looking after the meta in lookout for Pokémon, moves or combination that prove to be harmful or unhealthy for it with the help of the moderation team, and decide a favorable approach in order to make competitive more enjoyable and balanced for everyone. Players will be able to interact with the council members directly through a dedicated discord server in which they will be able to see the inner works of the group, for the sake of transparency.
Players will be able to join the discord as Observers and read the council discussions in their council-chat for the sake of transparency, without however being able to participate into them directly.
To access this discord you can use the invite below, however before you do so please be mindful of the following rules:
Respect the Game Rules.
Only use English in order to communicate since English is the "official" language of PRO.
Respect all the members, doesn't matter if they lack enough knowledge in PvP. Members of the server should be respectful towards one another, including staff.
Excessive foul language, deplorable behaviour, toxicity, spam and verbal assault are not tolerated.
Do not use any racist or homophobic words as an insult, even if it is just meant as a joke.
Do not promote suicide in any form.
Excessive amounts of symbols, letters, numbers, emojis, images or lines will be deleted and the infringing user will be punished.
NSFW, other inappropriate content, topics and malicious links are strictly forbidden. This includes anything sexually explicit, inciting hate or anything illegal.
Do not message Staff members or Council Members for private support. Staff members reserve the right to have their messages disabled and moderated under PRO's T&C and Rules. Do not message PRO Staff and Discord Staff for the following reasons:
Appealing a ban.
Reporting a player.
Looking for support.
Enquiring about the server/ forum status.
Applying to the team.
Staff impersonation is strictly forbidden and users will be punished if attempted. This includes mini-modding; members who continually act through moderating other members behaviour or assuming the role of staff. Mini-modding will result in a warning.
Members of the server should have an appropriate Username, Avatar, Playing Status and Custom Status
Do not advertise other Discord Servers and Pokémon fan-games here or in PMs.
By joining the discord, you hereby agree to follow the rules aforementioned and are completely aware of the consequences that may carry if breaking them.
https://discord.gg/YcVhsnH
1. What is the PvP Council?
Quoting what OU Smogon Council said, which is the mindset/view we agree on:
"The OU Council's purpose, ultimately, will be to guide the community and the metagame to the best of its ability. We will try our best to make decisions as transparent as possible while also providing you with the "best" (the quotation marks are extremely important) possible metagame on which to enjoy wasting as much of your personal time as possible. The most important thing I can tell you is that competitive online Pokémon is subjective, and this subjectivity is inherent in ban philosophies, metagame preferences, definitions of "broken", and many other factors. While I am certain that you will not agree with all of our decisions all of the time, I hope that the justification we provide will be enough for you to at least accept our decisions, even if you cannot agree with them entirely."
Source: https://www.smogon.com/smog/issue31/council
2. Why does PRO need a PvP Council? Why now?
R: To start things with, PRO is not Showdown. With the lack of features and Pokémon, PRO has created its own combination of older generations with newer mechanics. However, a major PvP rework and a HUGE list of implementations & fixes has struck recently, violently shifting the course of this meta which in return causes a chaotic metagame difficult to adapt to. With more Pokémon and features being implemented, it has become vital to create and hold a council to regulate and ideally maintain this unique metagame for everyone to enjoy, because as said before, PRO is not showdown.
3. How and where will the council operate?
R: The council is in charge of managing proposals and solutions (Bans, Unbans, Complex Bans, etc.) for administration to review, this however, does not come out of the blue. Discussions shall be made between the council members to identify possible threats and/or possible solutions that can balance out the metagame towards a healthy course. Afterwards, the council shall decide between which of these threats/solutions should be dealt with first, and define a list of priorities. Once this list has been made, they shall define among themselves the appropriate course of action and ultimately carry on a vote between themselves to decide whether these proposals should be forwarded to administration for them to approve or deny. These discussions take place in the PvP Council discord.
4. What if the Council abuses its power?
Safeguards are in place in order to minimize the likeliness of self-driven decisions. Although we cannot guarantee these from happening, council members are heavily monitored by the moderation team in order to identify any kind of shady business/activity. In case the moderation team catches a council member behaving toxically, disrespectfully or egoistically on a constant basis, the member shall be removed and replaced with the selection procedure explained at the end of the FAQ.
We cannot allow the council to do as it pleases, and as such all proposals are to be reviewed by Admins to prevent this from happening. We do not want this to be a failure nor hurt the game and its community, and thus administration holds the power to approve or deny all the proposals approved by the council, either due to lack of argument or another reason. Quoting what an old moderation lead said:
"A completely free player driven council is simply not possible, nor is anyone willing to take the risk however we try to give as much powers to the council as possible".
5. The MMO side-effects from a PvP Council
R: A major concern that arises is how can it impact other aspects of the game, such as the economy for example. The council strives to maintain a healthy metagame, and thus we cannot avoid these decisions from having an impact on the prices of Pokémon (See Speed Boost Blaziken, for example). We know council members are also players, so they're still able to interact and play with others without any kind of restrictions.
People interested will be able to apply for the position, filling an application, and said person will be then discussed within the council chat to see if he's worth to be taken into the council or not.
6. How can I join the PvP Council?
The initial council members have been hand picked accurately in order to start the project itself and considering all of the below listed requirements/factors. We are aware not everyone might agree with the council members, some will do it for personal reasons and others simply cause they think the selected people are not worth, however we do ask you to have trust/faith in us and to not worry about it as the council will definitely be updated with time and everyone who meet the below listed factors have a chance to join it.
In specific, whenever a current member of the council drops/is removed from his position (or whenever there will be the need of new people), whatever the reason might've been, a new possible member is selected based on their PvP Record, their participation in discussions/debates, their contribution to these discussions/debates and their overall insight. Being able to communicate in English is a requirement in order to be eligible in this process.
A council member must:
Have an extensive knowledge of Pokemon PvP
Must be able to communicate in English.
Have a clean record in regards to boosting related offenses, behaviour record may not be looked at
Have an extensive ladder and ladder tournament experience in PRO, you can not evaluate a meta without actually playing it.
Must be following all #council-rules (can be found within the discord)