Fans Angry Over Pokemon Go Champion's Disqualification For Allegedly Shaking the Table (aftermath.site) 47
It's "the curious case of... the Pokémon Go pro who celebrated too hard," reports the gaming news site Aftermath. It all started on the first weekend in April...
Firestar73, a competitive Pokémon Go player who placed seventh at last year's world championships, managed to narrowly cinch a game-five finals win at the 2026 Pokémon Orlando Regional Championships after battling his way out of the dreaded losers' bracket. As stress and adrenaline gave way to relief, Firestar73 stood up from his chair, threw off his headphones, raised his arms in a sort of victorious flexing motion, and then fist pumped for good measure. Immediately afterward, he politely shook his opponent's hand... [T]he tournament's staff went on to deem Firestar73's conduct "unsportsmanlike" and stripped him of his win.
"After weeks of fans flooding The Pokémon Company's social channels to demand a repeal of the ruling, the company has finally issued a statement," reports Kotaku. "Spoilers: It will not be reverting its decision." Their official statement? "[D]uring game one of the bracket reset series, a player was issued a Warning for the action of hitting and shaking the table during gameplay. Actions such as these can have a negative impact on the experience of participants and disturb the match in progress. Then, during game five, this same player's behavior continued to be disruptive, including shaking the table to the point that there was a disruption to the broadcast experience. These repeated infractions resulted in a penalty that was escalated to Game Loss. "
Meanwhile, Aftermath now reports, Firestar73 "has disputed Play! Pokémon's account of events entirely "The 'incident' you are now, for the first time, claiming was the basis of the decision did not affect the gameplay at all, yet decided the whole tournament," he wrote on Twitter. "Section 2.1 requires a 'clear explanation of any infraction and its penalty,' and I was never given this as the basis at all."
NiteTimeClasher, who won the tournament by disqualification, doesn't seem pleased either. "Was not my decision," he appears to have written in a Pokémon Discord. "Firestar is the Orlando regional champion. Hope you all understand." Others have attempted to divine what the company meant by a "disruption to the broadcast experience," and what they've found doesn't look all that severe.
Not long after Play! Pokémon handed down its edict, one judge who was not involved in this particular match, Professor Rex, publicly voiced his outrage. "As a judge I'm not supposed to discuss ruling[s] publicly," he wrote. "However, I also believe that as a judge my job is to give players a fair space to compete. If a player in a high stakes battle can lose out on thousands of dollars for shaking the table, what kind of space have we built? If the table can't handle the intensity of the competition, that's not the players' fault. I've judged multiple Go regionals, [and] I just can't support how this was handled."
After posting internal correspondence meant for judges and asking "some questions they didn't like" in the Discord for those who judge and otherwise help out at Pokémon events, Rex was banned from the Discord. That's when, to the extent they had not already, things spun out of control. Rex went on to share judges' personal information in a perhaps-misguided attempt at forcing transparency, which caused other judges — some of whom mostly agreed with him — to call him out and take issue with his conduct. As of now, almost no one is happy.
"After weeks of fans flooding The Pokémon Company's social channels to demand a repeal of the ruling, the company has finally issued a statement," reports Kotaku. "Spoilers: It will not be reverting its decision." Their official statement? "[D]uring game one of the bracket reset series, a player was issued a Warning for the action of hitting and shaking the table during gameplay. Actions such as these can have a negative impact on the experience of participants and disturb the match in progress. Then, during game five, this same player's behavior continued to be disruptive, including shaking the table to the point that there was a disruption to the broadcast experience. These repeated infractions resulted in a penalty that was escalated to Game Loss. "
Meanwhile, Aftermath now reports, Firestar73 "has disputed Play! Pokémon's account of events entirely "The 'incident' you are now, for the first time, claiming was the basis of the decision did not affect the gameplay at all, yet decided the whole tournament," he wrote on Twitter. "Section 2.1 requires a 'clear explanation of any infraction and its penalty,' and I was never given this as the basis at all."
NiteTimeClasher, who won the tournament by disqualification, doesn't seem pleased either. "Was not my decision," he appears to have written in a Pokémon Discord. "Firestar is the Orlando regional champion. Hope you all understand." Others have attempted to divine what the company meant by a "disruption to the broadcast experience," and what they've found doesn't look all that severe.
Not long after Play! Pokémon handed down its edict, one judge who was not involved in this particular match, Professor Rex, publicly voiced his outrage. "As a judge I'm not supposed to discuss ruling[s] publicly," he wrote. "However, I also believe that as a judge my job is to give players a fair space to compete. If a player in a high stakes battle can lose out on thousands of dollars for shaking the table, what kind of space have we built? If the table can't handle the intensity of the competition, that's not the players' fault. I've judged multiple Go regionals, [and] I just can't support how this was handled."
After posting internal correspondence meant for judges and asking "some questions they didn't like" in the Discord for those who judge and otherwise help out at Pokémon events, Rex was banned from the Discord. That's when, to the extent they had not already, things spun out of control. Rex went on to share judges' personal information in a perhaps-misguided attempt at forcing transparency, which caused other judges — some of whom mostly agreed with him — to call him out and take issue with his conduct. As of now, almost no one is happy.
The real story (Score:2, Informative)
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Re: The real story (Score:1)
You should be more tolerant and inclusive about this, or else!
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Alledgedly? (Score:5, Insightful)
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Re:Alledgedly? (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Alledgedly? (Score:5, Informative)
That's because to say otherwise might accuse someone of a crime they didn't commit. And even if they commit it, the rule is "innocent until proven guilty".
So if you were arrested stealing a car, you aren't actually guilty of sealing a car, yet. Because you were just arrested on suspicion of stealing the car. No court has found you guilty, so you are innocent. It is up to the police to find evidence that you stole a car, and the prosecution to prove you stole a car, and a judge and jury to find you are guilty of stealing a car, before we can say, you stole a car.
And until that ruling comes down from the court, you are innocent, so you are alleged to have stolen the car. Maybe you didn't steal the car and it was your friend.
Innocent until proven guilty. Allegations are not fact and you haven't been found guilty until a court says so, so until then it's still just an allegation.
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Is this some weird cultural stuff? (Score:2)
Re:Is this some weird cultural stuff? (Score:5, Informative)
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Nah, NFL players get fined for celebrating to much as well. It's really fucking stupid. Unsportsmanlike behavior. For celebrating to hard. It's really dumb. It's even worse when they penalize the whole team with a yardage penalty instead of just a fine outside of the game. In no way should someone having a little celebration ever have an impact on the actual game.
Of course, what can we expect from the trophy generation. Whatever happened to "grow a thicker skin" or "Sticks and stones my break my bones but w
So, basically... (Score:5, Insightful)
Instead of dealing with the issue privately, calmly, and respectfully, the judges decided to push the issue, causing the winner and the defeated player to demand an explanation, and another judge to go nuclear. Going nuclear is rarely the best option, but is frequently the only meaningful option because the other side has made any kind of civil discourse impossible due to their conduct and attitude.
Whilst I cannot judge what happened at the tournament, as I wasn't there, I can judge that the complete breakdown in communication was the fault of the judges - as they are the ones responsible for managing that communication and the situation. "They're only human" is to ignore the fact that if you assume a position of responsibility, then you are the one responsible and if you're not up to the job then that is indeed your fault. If you're not capable of handling responsibility, then you're not capable of handling positions of authority. It really is that simple.
Rex may have overstepped bounds, in order to try and force the judges to actually have some sense, but that is when you CALM THE SITUATION DOWN. You do NOT inflame it further. Competent figures of authority have an obligation to de-escalate situations that are spiralling out of control in order to ensure that everyone gets heard and everyone is happy - or at least happier. The judges were clearly not competent.
Does that mean Rex was competent, or that he should be given a license to violate confidences? No. He was also in a position of authority, albeit in other respects, and that means that he needed to be competent too and to de-escalate. However, I am sympathetic to his stance and feel that his attitude was probably the more understandable and rational, to the extent that the information in the OP is correct.
The players concerned are the only ones I consider to be wholly innocent in this matter and the only ones who seem to be interested in handling it maturely. They got emotional, nerds and geeks do that. And, yes, the table should have been set up to cope. They have decided who morally won, regardless of who technically won, and I consider that their right.
Re: So, basically... (Score:5, Insightful)
As a volunteer international sports referee myself, Rex sounds like a dick. You don't post internal communication. You don't throw your peers under the bus. You don't dox them because you disagree with their ruling.
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And I can sympathise with that stance, too. He was in a position of authority and misused that position, escalating rather than de-escalating the situation.
The problem a lot of us on the outside have is that we can't know all the details, we can't know all the ins and outs of the situation, so I'm trying to be fair to all sides whilst not approving or condoning any behaviours that were abusive by any side. It's a very delicate line to walk, with only one side presented. Hence all the hedging in my post rega
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As a volunteer international sports referee myself, Rex sounds like a dick. You don't post internal communication.
Have you ever refed an international sports event that resulted in what you believe to be a total miscarriage of justice that isn't in any way aligned with the rules of the tournament and done behind closed doors? Rex could have handled this differently (at least the final escalation), but it sounds like you would prefer to stay silent on the matter, which I think is far worse. It's good at least someone raises hell in these cases.
The "as a xxx" posts are largely irrelevant unless you've been in the actual
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There's a few things to unpack here, let me try.
Have you ever refed an international sports event that resulted in what you believe to be a total miscarriage of justice that isn't in any way aligned with the rules of the tournament and done behind closed doors?
I don't know if that matches what you mean by your statement, but I have made bad calls. As far as I am aware, I have owned all of them; when possible, I have fixed them. In all other cases, I have admitted them and apologised for them. I have also witnessed bad calls from others, and helped them fix the situation whenever possible. I have always spoken up when disagreeing with a decision. In some cases I have written negative peer evaluations, with consequenc
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The outrage! (Score:5, Funny)
I suspect I'll be able to sleep tonight. Somehow.
It'll be a struggle knowing some guy was told he couldn't have a Pokemon award because he couldn't stop banging a table, but I'll manage.
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Please tell us what competitive events you like so we can shit on it for a funny mod.
Unsportsman-like conduct .. (Score:4, Informative)
An aside: I thought Pokemon Go was an AR (Augmented Reality) contest, played out in public. Not like a chess match between two competitors. What's up with the table?
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Being happy you won is unsportsmanlike because it makes the losers feel like losers.
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100% this. How dare you celebrating winning! You could hurt the loser's poor little loser feelings. They need to play the Queen song "We are the Champions" on repeat until it sinks in. We're the Champions. No time for losers.
If the losers feel bad, they should use that to practice harder, refine their skills and come back and kick ass next season.
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Context: I'm a relatively new (~20 months) POGO player, currently level 75/80, with 34 platinum medals (you need 50 to get to the top level, 80). That probably makes me knowledgeable, but not entirely an expert.
The thing that has made POGO so successful, I think, is that "gameplay" is really broad -- there are a bunch of game mechanics in the game, and you can progress while specializing in some and ignoring others. You want to go
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Thank you for this explanation. I was unaware of half of those features, though I'll readily admit I have never actually played the game, though I do remember when it first landed because several of my coworkers were insanely addicted. I remember catching a couple of them staring at the corner mashing away on their phone, only to realize, oh, you found a pokemon in the corner.
Clever game idea though. I can fully understand why people were so hooked if they were already Pokemon fans.
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.. rules are a thing. Even in the NFL.
Absolutely. But what part of this was unsportsman-like? Even the opponent disagrees that this was unsportsmanlike.
Re: I'm not sure I get the commotion (Score:2)
game play disruption after the game is over? so yo (Score:2)
game play disruption after the game is over? so you are opening the door to rule sharking where players who have lost can call some very small thing that does not matter and change that loss into an win?
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Yep, as I suspected. That's right up there with calling a penalty in the NFL when a player throws his arms up in the air after executing an awesome play against the other team. It's really dumb.
Remember everyone, don't be happy as a winner or else you could hurt the losers feelings and they'll take your win away.
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Did it alter the game itself or just shake the table about as much as a light earthquake or a large truck driving by? Seems like an overly critical judge that has his panties in a bunch over a technicality. The players even politely shook hands after the match.
Oh well. Rules are rules but I've always felt punishing people for celebrating to hard was just lame, especially punishing the entire team instead of just a fine to the player outside of the game.
It doesn't actually sound like this "shaking table" cha
Pokemon GO (Score:2)
is such a badly designed game. The PvP is ass and requires absolutely zero skill.
Put an tilt bob on it with 2-3 Warnings before til (Score:2)
Put an tilt bob on it with 2-3 Warnings before tilt
do remove an superbowl win for spiking the ball af (Score:2)
do remove an superbowl win for spiking the ball after and game wining TD?
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They'd probably call the play back and make them do it again, because that's just how lame the world is today.
WHAT A BUNCH OF PEDANTIC FUCKWITS (Score:1)
fuck nintendo and all that they spawn.
fond childhood memories marred by fuckwittery at the highest levels.
nintendo does not understand culture or humanity.
they only understand how to rip people off and how to be cunts to anyone who doesn't do everything preciously how they have ordained.
wake me up when they stop being cunts, and when they start selling their games on PC. hell will freeze over twice before those cunts grow up and start being reasonable.
By rule when is a game over? and to give some an D (Score:2)
By rule when is a game over? and to give some an DQ for something after they have won and is not like they cheated the game.
Like after you win they get to you for running back to the scores station should that really let the other player win?
Now do e-sports / other games need some kind of un (Score:2)
Now do e-sports / other games need some kind of union to fight over powered judges / push for more fair rules?
Conflict of interest? (Score:2)
I think it would be worth investigating whether any of the judges or those affiliated with the tournament (incl sponsors) had any bets on the outcome.
The whole thing looks like a very flimsy attempt to change the outcome of a tournament final, that no doubt had people betting on.
Given the guy was an underdog, I think it's fair to assume most bets would be on the other guy to win.
Walk it off (Score:2)
What, there are Pokemon Go champions? Doesn't it require you to walk around? I don't understand how a table is involved at all. Also, who cares.