So...

[icefang]

What goes on here? People come here, but don't do anything?
What exactly goes on here?
It's too quiet here, and kind of spooky...

[HizardcoreMike]

We used to have awesome tournies and talk and such, but we died. It is sad, because I had a great time here.

[GGFan]

History of this place.

I made the forum in July of 2005 as an attempt to revive RBY, as RSE had killed off competitive RBY and GSC. The main thing the forum featured were original analyses for every fully evolved Pokemon. When I first made the forum there was nothing here except for the analyses.

The forum only lasted about a month until it died. My analyses weren't complete and I was considering quitting Pokemon after winning the VBR tournament (it can be found here). However, in October I decided to come back and I also wanted to give this forum a second chance.

So I took advantage of Smogon by IMing skarm and talking about something called "the return" and said the date would be on November 2nd. Knowing skarm would make a ruckus for me, I saw him post the AIM convo on Smogon and "the return" now had big hype.

Right before November 2nd I had gotten into an argument with Makoscientist which caused him to leak "the return" as me bringing back this forum. But honestly it was better this way as when I brought back THE Alternative it garnered alot of attention.

I would go on to finish the RBY analyses and in December I decided to start holding tournaments. THE Alternative's first tournament was very successful and the RBY analyses always got attention because they were something offered that was better than what Smogon did.

Additionally I had forged myself a reputation of being the best RBYer in the world due to the 2005 Smogon Tour when I humiliated Warthog, so me being the owner of an RBY community greatly increased the credibility of the site. Throughout 2006 THE Alternative would have a plethora of tournaments and saw people from various sites competing in them.

THE Alternative created a great spark in a gen that was dubbed dead by many people, and it managed to revitalize RBY in North America. I would even go as far to say that THE Alternative was one of the top communities in 2006, given the site was known not for its social bantering but for the many tournaments and something many sites couldn't do--establish original battlers. Most sites consisted of people from Smogon, but THE Alternative consisted of its own members.

2007 was when THE Alternative started to collapse, due to the absence of its regulars. It got so bad that I dubbed the site dead, but I decided to hold a tournament which would dictate how dead THE Alternative really was. CCBAS (Couldn'tComeBackAnySooner) was actually a success and I saw that THE Alternative still had some life left.

With THE Alternative on cardiac arrest, but alive, I decided to hold TOS6 which was my yearly RBY tournament and the longest running tournament ever. I wanted TOS6 to be the biggest one yet and the biggest tournament in THE Alternative's history, so I got help from AAMS (or TP), PLDH and Hell's Flames. TOS6, a 32 man double elimination tournament, made THE Alternative's credibility skyrocket and it was an incredibly competitive tournament which saw some memorable battles.

THE Alternative was doing fine until around November where the current tournament, Moving Forward, had some inactivity from certain members. It ended very shaky and it was a sign that THE Alternative's time was drawing near. Despite this I thought I could still get the 2008 RBY League in, which was the third installment of THE Alternative's yearly season-esque tournament.

The tournament was a flop and I dubbed THE Alternative dead again. It wasn't until June where I decided to hold TOS7 and that was only to keep it running. It only got 4 people but it was about as good as a 4 man is going to get. The tournament was actually alot of fun and very exciting.

Since TOS7 ended, THE Alternative hasn't seen any activity. Yeah it's pretty much an archived ghost town now, but you never know when I might see potential in the site. I myself am always available, but I need dedicated people to be apart of the site but every gen except DP being dead in America hasn't helped me at all.

Additional facts about THE Alternative:

-Smogon is widely known for being caught stealing from my analyses two years ago.

-The IRBYT was the first tournament to see an American community and a European community directly compete with each other.

-I loved THE Alternative.

[icefang]

The reason I joined your forums was because of your posts on GameFaqs.
At first, I didn't really understand what you were saying about the DP metagame, after I thought about it, realized you're right.

It's also sad that people give you so much shit on GameFaqs just because you have a different opinion then them.

With only Smogon, new players are going to copy existing sets that basically just causes a loop of the same.
With no other sites offering a competitive scene things will get stale. And, in my opinion it's too repetitive.

And, I like that your forums encourage other generations too, even though DP has only been around for two years. Other generations still offer something different, and new ideas can still be found.

I quit RBY a long time ago, but even after other generations,
my best memories are of RBY. And I want to try it again.

Also, don't say that you loved THE Alternative,
it makes it sound like you already gave up on it.

[GGFan]

The problem with users on GameFAQs is that alot come from Smogon and some are obsessed with the site to the point that they'll believe anything they're told. So basically you have people flaming me not because they disagree with me, but because they know I dislike Smogon and that I'm hated on their site.

It's kind of sad that you have users that are desperate enough to fit in that they'll seemingly eradicate any thoughts of their own. Anyways, thanks for agreeing with what I wrote, because I was being unbiased and was just saying the truth. Unfortunately you have people unwilling to accept reality and they think battling in America is better than it ever was before, when it has gotten smaller than it's ever been.

And even though DP hasn't been around that long, it doesn't take long for the effect of the new gen to start. It happened with RSE and now it happened with D/P. However, here the effect is much greater because of Smogon's existence, whereas Smogon wasn't around when RSE was first incepted.

If you're interested in RBY, try sticking around. All I need are 8 people to start a tournament, but until some people show interest in the site I have to declare it as dead. But I am aware that anything is possible.

[icefang]

I also would be interested in a RBY tourney, although,
I'm likely not that good anymore.

I would need to know a date though if it happens, because I currently don't have access to a computer.

I'm using a Wii, which I eventually have to send in for repairs,
but I'm waiting for my computer to be fixed first before I send it in.

So, anyway I'll stick around and try to re-learn RBY.

[GGFan]

Luckily RBY is easy to learn, but it has to be played to learn how to play effectively. A tournament likely won't happen for a long time, and if it did it would be a deadline tournament.

[icefang]

Despite the inactivity, anyone that cares...

...

...

I finally got my computer fixed! (awesome)

BUT!

...don't have speakers... ...yet.

[iyanden]

Its a sinning shame that the Alternative has died.
I used to participate in smogon, and have watched it steadily decline into madness. The tiers are messed up beyond belief, with the removal of BL, UU is a circle jerk of former OU Pokemon, not only that the DP meta game itself is inherently flawed. They also had the brilliant idea of a Hax clause, which in its current form just makes you lose if you win, due to damage range, and CH counters and other silliness. It also makes using a pokemon like scope lens sniper Drapion or super luck Absol an almost certain way to lose. lol gj

If anything, I guess you were right ggfan. This is a good time to make your comeback. Especially with the new net battle. I feel that Smogon- with its perversions of the meta game, is going to lose its authority in the near future. At any rate, I can guarantee you're welcome to come on the Battle Mountain net battle server with us.

[GGFan]

The main problem is that nobody tried competing with Smogon. It doesn't matter if one site is the best; you still have to compete with them to create variety and different options. You can't just bow down and give somebody complete control. That's why everything was so great when Pokemon was more territorial; there was no site that served as the main database. There was no site that could lay down rules and everybody would have to follow them because there would be no other alternative.

But Smogon killed the idea of territories, though Blue Heaven was the main inspiration for that. I guess I have to thank Smogon for a couple of things though: their egos led them to believe that nobody could top them in any aspect of Pokemon, and I managed to prove them wrong with myself and THE Alternative. And of course, the time I spent battling in the European circuit due to Smogon's monopolization and them killing off the gens not named DPPt. What an experience that was (or has been, but I don't know if I'm coming back).

Just look at THE Alternative. This site managed to have 2 years of constant tournament play despite it not being taken seriously by the site that likes to think they control competitive Pokemon all over the world. THE Alternative managed to establish itself as a site that offered something better than the leading brand.
And mind you, without an influx of terrible social topics that belong on Myspace.

It's amazing that a site and a simulator that had good intentions would wind up becoming two of the worst things to ever happen to competitive Pokemon.

Also, thanks for your offer. Should I get around to downloading the new NB I'll head over there.

[klarth]

Honestly I don't think it'll be too hard to get the alternative running again!