Getting Accustomed to Your New Favorite Room

Introduction

"Everybody has to start somewhere. You have your whole future ahead of you. Perfection doesn't happen right away." This quote is one that every new user should keep in mind as they begin their journey to finding a room! Firstly, even before you pick a room, you have to remember that you are starting somewhere and changing, and change can be scary. However, change can also be for the better, and changing to fit into a room is one of the best changes that you can make in the PS community. Finding friends and socializing is a huge aspect of Pokémon Showdown! and is tied with battling as one of the largest parts of Showdown. There's a room for everyone, and although it may not always seem as if it's true, there is a room that is waiting to accept you. Another crucial aspect to finding a room is your interests. Are you looking to help people? Do you want to roleplay? Do you want to talk about OU? Everything is dependent on your personal interests and how you react to different things. So, let's get into the steps to success!

Pinpointing a Room

Pokémon Showdown! is a very expansive place, with a total of 54 public rooms! So, as you can imagine, finding a room that you like can be a bit of a challenge; however, it can also be a blessing to have so many rooms. Because there are so many options, you never have to feel "confined", so in a sense, you'll never have to just pick one room and stay with it. I mean, sure, of course some users will stick to a room for an indefinite amount of time and not stray from said room, but that's not always the case. Think of it like playing a metagame: you can play both OU and RU, but you don't have to specifically play either OU or RU. Does that make sense?

Now that we've got this cleared up, let's pinpoint a room. Firstly, you have to think about your own unique interests. If you're a huge fan of football, then going to the Sports room might be a good place to start. If you're not so into football and are more of a biking guy, then you can check out the Health & Fitness room! There's a room for practically everything and, more importantly, everyone. However, I would definitely recommend stepping out of your comfort zone and going to some rooms that you wouldn't even think of going to! Showdown is a large place and can really encourage people come out of their shells and try out new things! One of the greatest places to begin your Showdown experience is the Help room. This room is very useful for newer users to get help for whatever they may need and is filled with people who are willing and ready to answer questions. After you've got your preliminary questions answered, venturing into the Lobby is a great start to finding a room to go to. From here, with these tips, finding a room that suits you is much easier.

Getting Accustomed to the Atmosphere

Now that we've pinpointed a room for us to get accustomed to, we need to start the "getting accustomed to" portion! Let's say that we choose to go to the Other Metas room; we like various non-standard formats, and a friend told us that it was a cool room, so why not? We get to the room and notice that a Balanced Hackmons tour is about to begin. This is a perfect opportunity for you to begin your accustoming process. Joining a tour means that you will be paired up against someone else in the room, and from there, friendships can begin! Let's say that you are matched up against a user named "Ellax012" and begin the battle. From here, you realize they're using Kyogre, your favorite Pokémon! You casually say "I love Kyogre!" and they say "So do I!" You've already made a connection to someone in the room! This is a great start to getting used to the atmosphere of the room. In the large majority of rooms, the users will be nice to you, even when you just say "hello." Right after you enter the room, saying a simple "hey guys!" will yield responses from other users in the room. A large majority of the time, the atmosphere is dependent on the users who are creating it! Larger rooms have more users, thus creating a faster-paced atmosphere, while a smaller room will have fewer users and thus a slower-paced atmosphere. It's all dependent on the room!

Making Friends in the Room

One of the best parts of the Showdown experience is making friends! When you just click with someone and you really enjoy talking to them, your entire Showdown time improves vastly. The easiest way to make friends is to simply chat! Friendship comes naturally, and simply chatting in the room is bound to lead to a friendship. There's no doubt that you'll be able to find someone with similar interests; I mean, they are in the same room of interest as you! For example, you may find a friendship in the OU room because you fight someone in a battle and just go from there. All friendships have a beginning, and it's no different on Showdown. A great way to make friends is to join tournaments. Tournaments pair you against a lot of different people, and sometimes your opponent will even PM you afterwards with a compliment or something along those lines, and you might just click! Another way to make friendships is to spark a conversation yourself. For example, you could PM someone a simple "Hey there! I saw you playing OU, and you're pretty good! :]" and then a discussion may begin. Regularly chatting and coming onto Showdown will lead to great friendships for sure!

Becoming a Contributor to the Room

Of course, once you've become accustomed to your room, made friends, and been there regularly, there's always more that you can do! The main way to contribute to any room, no matter what the room, is to just be helpful. There is a designated Help room, sure, but users in every room have questions. However, this is not to say that you should try and be a "help bot" and answer every question as fast as you can! Others are helping as well, and you may have varying viewpoints from other people on various matters, so you can't catch them all. Another way to contribute to the room is to be a good chat presence. Speaking as a Moderator of the Other Metas room, I always look for people who express kindness and helpfulness no matter what. Consistently exhibiting good quality and helpfulness is also how you can get Room Voice somewhere, or even go further than that! Keep in mind that you should contribute because you enjoy doing so, not because you're seeking a reward. Contributing to rooms is only the beginning, and it's because of all of our excellent contributors that Showdown is the wonderful place that it is; perhaps you could be one of them!

Conclusion

After reading through this guide, I hope you're able to become a long-time member of Pokémon Showdown! We're always looking for helpful people, good contributors, and, most importantly, happy users. Your personal interests should take priority over the popular norm; if you like RU more than OU, then go to RU! Nobody on Showdown is judgmental of room choice at all. The Pokémon Showdown community is a wonderful place to make friends, battle, and just have a great time! So, I hope to see you around soon!

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