Article MOTM Interview - March 2016

Hello everybody! Zero here with a perfectly-timed MOTM interview featuring our latest wonderful Member of the Month!

Perfectly timed? We're four weeks past the start of this month, and still a few days away from the start of the next. So what's the deal? You know what they say: a wizard is never late or early, rather he arrives precisely when he means to.

Well, I am late, because I'm no wizard. That's our MOTM's job! Here with a spotlight interview with the Potato himself: @[member='Wizard']!

So, Wizard, first question: who are you and how did you find your way to Lake Valor?

My name is John, I'm 18 years old and a senior in high school who plays jazz tenor saxophone in a jazz band. I've been playing Pokémon inconsistently since Emerald came out, and I was looking into the competitive community a few months ago. While scrolling through the different Showdown servers, I found a server called "Lake Valor", and I discovered that it was a server that belonged to a forum. I had been a part of a small forum with a group of friends before so I decided to investigate, and I liked what I saw.

It's almost as if mysterious forces were at work, how sometimes these great things happen on a whim, and a stroke of luck brought you to this site. Since then, in your short time here, you've already found a niche in our very own Social Crew. How do you see your social role outside of that title and task?

I see myself as being the kind of person that anybody can talk to, regardless of who they are and what they believe. I'm relatively nonjudgmental (if that's a word that applies here), and I believe strongly in treating everybody with respect. Also, I believe that as a member, it is my job to post many topics in a wide variety so I can boost activity in all parts of Lake Valor.

And we do appreciate that, helping keep the backbone of our community strong. Speaking of our community, what is it about Lake Valor that keeps you here instead of at a different Pokémon forum?

Two words: staff team. On most other forums, the staff team is a group that is to be feared, and they often don't socialize at all. Stepping out of line can often become dangerous, as they will attack you unnecessarily. I don't feel that happening here at Lake Valor. The staff team is super friendly, helpful, and reasonable, and they try their best to make as many people as possible in the community feel welcome. If there is another reason, it is the overall design. The coding stood out to me a lot when I first joined, and the overall look and feel is far superior to any other forum I've been on.

So we're pretty and we're nice? You're such a flatterer. But now that we're talking about the best parts of Lake Valor, what's your favorite thing about our site and community?

The almost unanimous mutual respect felt around here is kind of touching, really. You rarely see people arguing or tensions getting high, and if they do, they tend to go down quickly. Also, I love how most of the overall community is mature enough to share their opinions, and respond to others' opinions without over-dramatizing it or making an unnecessarily large deal out of it. There are some good minds here, but somehow everybody knows how to have fun, which is also rare.

We're all doing our part to be welcoming. After all, we want to make sure that the next chance encounter with a future pillar of the community like yourself will be want to stick around. But enough about us for a moment, there was recently a major announcement made in the Pokémon world, that being the coming arrival of our next main-series games, Pokémon Sun and Pokémon Moon. As that news continues to evolve, what do you think of the future of Pokémon gaming and the changes to come?

Nice evolving pun, I believe that Pokémon games will continue to be made as long as there is money to be made, that is just basic marketing. I believe that Pokémon will continue to pump out solid content that everyone will enjoy, but I also believe that they will continue to not capitalize on many of the amazing ideas that they have already missed out on. I doubt there will ever be other games with more than one region, and I don't know if we will ever get story based games such as Pokémon Colosseum and Pokémon ΧDː Gale of Darkness. Just like all the other games, Sun and Moon have potential, we just need to see what Game Freak is going to do.

There's always room for improvement, and I think we can all appreciate that kind of outside-the-box thinking. Who knows, maybe these kinds of ideas are the next things we'll see after Pokémon Sun and Pokémon Moon. Only time will tell. So, one last question: do you have a message that you would like to give to everyone at Lake Valor?

I'd just like to tell the rest of Lake Valor that I love them. They are some of my best friends in the world, and they make my stay here rather enjoyable. I love seeing all the opinions, cultural backgrounds, and differing personalities that have somehow come together as friends, to make the greatest known community on the interwebs. Member of the month is something I didn't expect, and something I believe that I didn't entirely deserve, but I'm grateful regardless of that, and I'd just like to say that you guys are all great. I've been here for hardly two months and I already feel this way. Dang.

The feeling is mutual, Wizard, and I'm sure I won't be the only one to say that you absolutely deserve this title.

There he is, folks! Member of the Month of March, overdue, but not forgotten. Let's all give him a round of applause, because he's deserved it!