An article from Matt Alvis regarding the elimination of the 15+ age group at the STS

==[Rant Mode Started]==

Ever since I started playing Pokemon and got into it and knew more about the game and the people behind it, I have stood by you Wizards. I have stood by you with Prop 15, no, I don’t believe it was a "smart" move, and many will agree with that, but none the less, I stood by. I stood by when Hasbro came into the picture, and I stood firm believing that Wizards is playing it all out smart, and this will all help in the long run. MANY people have stood by you, but you (and mabey not knowingly) continue to push us all to the edge with all of these new rules, and stipulations, and what not. Right now, I think you have pushed us to the very edge, and we are about to break (does anyone like Linkin Park :P). Eliminating the age group of 15+ from the biggest event in Pokemon… This time Wizards, I stand here, laughing at you. Why would you do this? It doesn’t make ANY sense. Lets take a look at what I am talking about.

[Pokemon: Is It Really For The Young?] Pokemon may have started out to target the younger population of the world, but many more became interested. And this game just exploded with different players, from different races, sexes, and ages. This was just a game that anyone could play. Everyone liked it, and from what I understand, this was all peachy! But why would you try and ruin all of this? Well, lets rephrase that. Why would you eliminate the 15+ age group? Lets face it, Pokemon is fun for all ages, from 6-60, anyone can play, but you want to focus just on one of group of players, the young. Now, I am not saying that older players are more important than younger, or vise versa, but it makes this game unfair to the older players who play this game and invest much time and money into it. Just plain not fair.

[The Money] We ALL spend much, much money into this game. Old and young, we use our hard earned money to purchase your game, and isn’t that fine? Of course it is! We all seem to be happy, but now, you want, basically, to make many of us to stop investing money into this game, and then mabey we can buy a new car (seriously, probably if you but 10 older players’ investments into this game, they could probably buy a Porsche). Though we all spend a lot of cash on this game, we know that the older players put more money into this game, and I am not talking just about the card game itself. Like the other guys said, when are you gonna see a 7 year old in line to purchase a ticket to New Jersey. Not often, its gonna be the older guys and girls, it gonna be the Pojo team (but personally, I think Pojo such have their own private jet with a big Pikachu on it! :P), and the ones really lookin to play the game with the other serious players. You lose money eliminating half your sales (obviously), losing profit, and just becoming some stupid old fad.

[Random Obvious Facts] Everyone knows that once someone learns how to play Pokemon, their gonna want someone close to them (a sibling or such) to play with them, and will attempt to teach them how to play. There ya go, 2 new players. Everyday more and more players get into Pokemon, and bring more into it. Eliminating the older ones, they aren’t gonna teach the older players. For one, they are just gonna be mad at you and not want to do anything to help (all though that’s just a little unlikely). Older players are like role models for the younger, (we are looking at you Pojo staff!), and if they leave, you have to know, others are gonna follow. Monkey see, monkey do (bad analogy), but none the less, people will follow. Pokemon IS fad, but we don’t normally think of it as one, and as fads go, if you get rid of half your players, no one else will want to play a unpopular game. Sure some of us will stick around (I know I will), but for the most part most players are gonna leave. [!IMPORTANT!]- I read this from Bret at Pojo in the Featured Articles, Pokemon is a way for father and son, mother and daughter, and so on, to bond! Pokemon is a great resource to get in touch more with your kids, and this is just saying (like Brett said), that the parents cant play, and their children can. They can only watch their kid participate instead of being there with them playing side-by-side. It’s a great thing to see, as oppose to see a bunch of bored, gloomy parents behind blue barricades watching their kid play. My dad and I play Pokemon together, and we are always thinking of new things, and trying new things, and bonding! We play all the time trying to beat each other, both sometimes having the advantage. Pokemon is a brilliant way to bond with your kids! =[BTW, parents reading, if you don’t play Pokemon, give it a try! It isn’t as "stupid" as it may look!]=

So Wizards, once again you do it again. You have managed to anger up some blood and bring this game more to the brink of destruction. And what for? That, I don’t know, it doesn’t make sense to me, and many others as well. At the VERY least Wizards, give us a GOOD, REASONABLE explanation to why in the world you have decided to eliminate the 15+ age group at the STS. Thank you for reading this, I appreciate your time reading this and hope that I have encouraged you to email or phone WotC about this decision. I will let you know the email and number (if you don’t already know) at the bottom. Thanks again, this is Matt A., no longer standing by Wizards, just watching from a safe distance.

==[Rant Mode Ended]==

Phone to Wizards of the coast regarding this decision at 1-800-324-6496

(Please though, show some maturity, don’t start swearing and cussing out Wizards, think it through, and sound intelligent, it will help, trust me)