I spent a lot of time fighting other players in Pokemon TCG Pocket, especially when I was waiting 12 hours to get another pack. In doing so, I witnessed a truly unfortunate disaster. Sometimes I hit numerous tails with my Marowak EX deck. Sometimes the enemy’s fog card never hits the head. I’ve seen second round concessions. I’ve seen people throw in the towel on the first round! That’s the fun of the card game, it relies on luck to a certain extent.
But I cannot express my joy or disappointment at such a magical moment. Yes, I can laugh or cry into my phone at 3am, but Japanese Charizard EX players don’t know that. To them, I’m just a faceless Pokémon trainer wearing a Pikachu badge. What I want is an opportunity to connect in these moments. For this reason, I looked to Hearthstone for some inspiration.
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If you didn’t know, Activision Blizzard’s own card game became incredibly popular for a variety of reasons when it launched a few years ago. But without a doubt, one of the most interesting parts of the game is the emote system. It allows you to send short (pre-written) messages to your opponents during a match. Like, sorry, well played, hello. Totally innocent stuff. However, in the hands of players, this kind of thing is very important. Innocent players use them as intended, while others like me fall in love with the ability to spam them for fun.
Unlike Pokemon TCG Pocket, Hearthstone didn’t rely heavily on coin tossing when I played. When your opponent draws a dead hand, or gets hit by some nasty public removal spell, the spam emote is here to stay. In Pokemon TCG Pocket, you can easily obtain the body of Lady Luck. Of course, you can play the game correctly, minimize risk, and build your deck wisely. But every now and then, inevitably, you’re going to suck. These aren’t bad moments, but hilarious moments worth making fun of. So give me an expression to express this.
While Pokemon TCG Pocket is an online game, it doesn’t have a ton of content to keep you Feel It’s like you’re part of the global Pokémon community. You can’t really interact with people other than saying thank you to other players after a match or a miraculous choice. Deals that will be launched in the near future will help solve this problem! But at the same time, the strangers you battle online can also be faceless, faceless, personalityless decks. I would love to have the opportunity to really interact with these people. If the goal of Pokemon TCG Pocket is to replicate the fun of collecting and playing Pokemon cards, it’s currently missing a core part of that enjoyable experience.
Because if you’ve ever been to a Pokemon TCG tournament, or even a casual gaming-centric gathering, or any card game for that matter, you know that half the fun comes from the social aspect. It’s about the laugh you get when you flip a coin and hit tails three times in a row. It’s about the cheers when you’re dealt the perfect hand. These moments, all of them, require an element of back and forth between players. While saying thank you after a game mimics a handshake or GG, it lacks the sauce that makes playing these games with other people so compelling.
So add some expressions! Allows me to actually interact with all the other players who enjoy the game as much as I do. I hope people who own a wacky deck feel proud when I express surprise, or laugh when I draw poorly, or feel comforted when they have a run-in with a coin. It would make Pokemon TCG Pocket feel much bigger than the game on my phone.
