TRAINER'S EYE #93 - "Pokemon GO in Oregon" ft. Pokemon GO Central Oregon

In this Pokemon interview, we are joined by Christina and Mario, two Community Ambassadors for Pokemon GO Central Oregon!

They both share their initial experience with Pokemon. Mario was always involved with the franchise, but stuck to mostly the Pokemon TCG. Christina's first experience started with Pokemon GO.  What brought these two together is seeing how Pokemon GO connected and brought people together in the world.

Finally, they both share insight in building up the Oregon community with the Niantic Ambassador Program. They even share how they have expanded and spread the passion for Pokemon GO to more rural areas in Oregon!

Sources
Opening Song: "Forget You" by Alex_MakeMusic from Pixabay

Transcript

Pokemon GO Central Oregon: 0:00

We're Pokemon Go Central Oregon, and this is our Pokemon story.

David Hernandez: 0:45

Welcome to as the Pokeball turns where we interview people about their experience with Pokemon My name is David Hernandez and today I'm joined by the Oregon Pokemon Go community If y'all could how about y'all introduce yourselves to the audience know whose you are?

Pokemon GO Central Oregon: 1:01

I'm Christina, or, oh, it's Christina in Pokemon Go, and I am a community ambassador for Pokemon Go Central Oregon. I am Mario, AKA Crow Shadow in Pokemon, and I'm also a community ambassador just recently for Central Oregon as well.

David Hernandez: 1:16

Awesome Thank y'all for coming on the show and I'm excited to kind of dive into like what it's like to play in Oregon So for coming on to the show

Pokemon GO Central Oregon: 1:23

Of Yeah, our pleasure. having us.

David Hernandez: 1:24

Now, before we get to dive into this, so I do my research on like what the area is like. So Oregon is known as the beaver state. And I got to ask, so do y'all have like a lot of beavers over there? Is that like common in your area to see beavers like floating around the park and everything?

Pokemon GO Central Oregon: 1:37

Sometimes, oh, we actually live near the Deschutes River. There are beaver dams. You're more likely to see the dam than the beaver. but yeah, there's more Bidoofs for sure than actual beavers. Yeah.

David Hernandez: 1:49

There you go. I like to how you tie in the Pokemon.

Pokemon GO Central Oregon: 1:51

Yes.

David Hernandez: 1:52

Have y'all ever like done some kind of contest with the community like Bidoof because it's a beaver or that's I've looked into yet.

Pokemon GO Central Oregon: 1:57

So we have a wonderful community member who has like, she was a day one player. She suffered a medical emergency and was in the ICU and we did a fundraiser for her years ago to help her with her medical bills where we did a Bidoof contest and I would burn that Bidoof box is like the prize. So we've definitely tied that in Oregon State University, which is one of two universities in the state is in Corvallis and their mascot is a beaver. And she went there, for college and Bidoof is her favorite. We raised a lot of money for her and helped her out a lot. And she's still a community member and she really credits. The fact that, we really rallied around her, and tied it into her favorite animal. Like what people that didn't know her, know a little bit about her while she was going through the hardest time of her life. So yeah. Bidoof's around. Yep. Bidoof's are kind of, uh, tied into our community.

David Hernandez: 2:46

Just to touch on that real So, she didn't know that y'all were trying to do the fundraiser? Like, how did y'all do it? Like, was it just like a big surprise?

Pokemon GO Central Oregon: 2:53

want to, um, disclose too much about what happened with her, but she, she was in the defensive care unit, so she didn't know, she wasn't, um, we're talking about like a near death sort of medical emergency. Um, and she was in the hospital for a while and she went through physical therapy, but while she was still in the hospital, we did the fundraiser for her where we started. So she didn't know about it until we were wrapping up the fundraiser. That way we could kind of surprise her with, the money.

David Hernandez: 3:18

That's great. Even to this day, she's still part of the community. And do people still kind of talk about that? Or still remember

Pokemon GO Central Oregon: 3:23

She, so I went to her, um, she just got married recently and I went to her bachelorette party and it was something that she discussed in front of everyone. because I was there and a few other women that she's met through Pokemon go and she wanted her like, quote unquote, real life friends and family and coworkers to know what are Pokemon Go community meant to her and how, we really helped her through a tough time. Like it isn't just a game for us. Uh, we've had like love connections through our Pokemon Go community, babies born. we've been there for each other, like for birthdays and hard times. And, I feel like this game is so incredible because what other game, can I say I've had that sort of experience where I've seen that sort of impact and I, I can't, I can't name anything else where it's been like that. So I went to her bridal shower and I watched her wedding through zoom because she had a destination wedding and I know her because of Pokemon Go. She knows us, like we came together. Some of us were her friends, some of us were acquaintances, some were strangers for her because of Pokemon Go. So I love this game. Sorry to get emotional and off topic a little bit,

David Hernandez: 4:33

No, that's what my podcast is about. So I didn't want to stop

Pokemon GO Central Oregon: 4:35

Yeah,

David Hernandez: 4:37

So let's bring it back a little bit. So, you know, you talked about how Pokemon go is such a huge, important part when it comes to your life and within the community, and we're going to dive into that course in the future, but let's talk about your, each individual journey of how you got started playing Pokemon go. So who wants to go first? Who wants to talk about their experience with Pokemon go? And when it first started,

Pokemon GO Central Oregon: 4:54

You can can go Mario. I just talked a bunch. Oh, okay. I came to the game late. or I feel like it's late. I started playing in 2017. My husband and kids started playing, like, I don't know if it was day one, but definitely first week. And I thought it was ridiculous. I was not interested in it at all. And I would drive them around in circles in like the Walmart parking lot or through neighborhoods so they could catch. I remember thinking I would see other people because it was during the craze, seeing people out like standing in the middle of the road to catch an EV and thinking like, oh my gosh, like I never want to do that. And then I, um, I started applying to help them out with raids and I got an EX raid invite to a Mewtwo raid. That was the first one in my town. So I went and I was very nervous. I had no idea what type of people would be there or if they would be nice to me or if I would even be able to win the raid, if there'd be enough The group there because I'd always just played my family and there were something like 80 or 90 people in my small town with less than 30, 000 people in the middle of day on a weekday, and I just fell in love instantly with it. I was shocked there were families there, there were young single people, there were couples, there were retirees, just all sorts of people who I'd never met before in my town, and just all there for the same reason, to take down Mewtwo and hopefully catch it. And, that was it for me, that, I was like, okay, I get it now, I get why this is such a big deal. I would say not day one, like Christina said, but week one for sure. In fact, it was my ex who tried to get me to play immediately when the, when the game was first released and I kept telling them no. And I was like, no, I, I think that's going to be probably a problem for me if I download that game. Um, I got convinced to download it and I pretty much haven't put it back down since they've probably stopped playing, but I, I've continued to play since 2016 I have Pokemon in my storage still from 2016 cause I'm OCD compulsive about like not trashing stuff. So my decks is full for sure. but yeah, it was one of those things where I started playing and. Was just going downtown bend and seeing like, I'm not joking. It was like everyone in their grandma had their phones open, catching Pikachus, catching Charmanders, like freaking out. Cause there was a Charizard scene somewhere and people running to go catch it. And, it was such a cool experience and, kind of just sucked me in. me and my ex would literally like pack. Backpacks of snacks and like drinks and stuff and leave our house at like 10 30 at night and then like get home at like 2 in the morning we would just go through downtown drake park and just catch pokemon until the wee hours of the morning and just like hang out and just be so excited because it was such a different experience than the typical kind of thing that a lot of other gaming experiences offered, which was getting out and about and kind of exploring your city and, being able to kind of have a small interaction with somebody passing in the night. You know, you see somebody on their phone with their head down and you just whisper like, got to catch them all. And like, they'd be like, Oh yeah, yeah. And somebody be like, yeah, there's like a Bulbasaur over there if you want to go catch it. Like, cool, sweet. Thanks man. Like, seeing people huddled around gyms and just kind of like, Trying to get people in numbers to help out and stuff. So yeah, I've been going since then. It's been an awesome experience for me.

David Hernandez: 8:01

So it just seems like how both of y'all's story, even before y'all became community leaders involve people, you know, you talk about Christina, how she liked seeing all the families come together and all the people come in, even in the Walmart parking lot. And then even before, you know, Mario tried as hard as he could to avoid it, but then just spending time with friends and be able to play this game do you still find that people. Important even with the community today.

Pokemon GO Central Oregon: 8:23

Absolutely. I think that the game is awesome. Don't get me wrong. I love the game. It's absolutely fun. But if I was to really put into perspective about what it is about Pokemon that I love, I would say it is the community. I think that the game is fun to play. I mean, it can be a little repetitive and mundane at times, but overall, It's still a fun game to play and get you out and about. For me at least, it's a social experience. It's the ability to connect with fellow nerds and, hype each other up about your catches and your shinies and new raid boss that you defeated or just some random thing that happened in the game for you. I think that it's such a socially driven game. In so many different ways, and it's awesome to see people from all walks of life gather together around this game and kind of create more connectivity and build upon that community. Yeah, I definitely agree. It's a completely different game when you have a community. I spend a lot of time on Reddit and, different websites and a lot of the complaints that people have about the game are because they don't have a community and I feel like that's where the community ambassador program really comes in. Because of Niantic amplifying our community and other community ambassadors can use, people can find each other. you're no longer kind of stuck, hoping that somebody will drop into a raid if you're in there too, you can find people to do raid hours with, or you can light flares on campfire. can, make friends through Pokemon Go and through Campfire and connect with them, communicate with them through that, to set up times to meet up and raid. So I just really believe in the program and I, I believe that community is what makes this game special.

David Hernandez: 9:52

so before we dive into that, Christina is Pokemon Go first experience with Pokemon?

Pokemon GO Central Oregon: 9:58

Um, embarrassingly, yes, I'm an elder millennial and my younger brother was obsessed with Pokemon, all things Pokemon. he played Red and Blue and he played the card game and because I was a very bratty older sister, I did not want anything to do with Pokemon. I grew up playing platformers and then survival horror games. I love video games. know if I should say this, but my favorite video game is Minecraft. so Because of that kind of like mental block where it's like, Oh, this is what my little brother likes. I don't want to get into this. My first experience with Pokemon was Pokemon Go.

David Hernandez: 10:30

awesome, because I know it sounds like Mario has a little bit more experience. Is that fair to say, Mario, you have more experience?

Pokemon GO Central Oregon: 10:36

I mean, I grew up as a kid watching the cartoons. I mean, I knew the Poké rep up and down. I collected the cards as a kid, so I definitely had my kind of like foot in the door with it. but I didn't play the actual video games like on Game Boy, like every once in a while, but for the most part. Pokemon Go is like really the only game that I play that is Pokemon. But beyond that, I collect cards as well.

David Hernandez: 10:56

What about the cars that you enjoy collecting?

Pokemon GO Central Oregon: 10:58

so I had a collection back in the day when I was a kid from middle school up and through like high school age. And I left for college and my sister and mom were having a garage sale. And, I, I, it gets worse. I got back from college and. My, my sister decided not only did she not sell them, she just gave them away. I had binders of like Pokemon cards, X Men comic Superman, Spider Man comic books. I had X Men cards. Like I had some pretty awesome stuff. That's probably worth a lot of money. And her response was, I thought you grew out of it cause you left to college and you left them I'm like, okay, cool. I'm going to go ahead and take your first child when they're born and give them away. You have no idea the value just gave away. But I, I recently started up my collection again recently. So I have a, I have a solid two binder full of Pokemon cards right now. And I have insane luck apparently. So I have a buddy who helps me kind of, pseudo grade my cards when I send him pictures and stuff. And he's like always texting me, you should buy this pack. You should buy this pack. Cause he just wants to see my luck. Cause I have apparently insane pull luck on the, on the TCG cards. So

David Hernandez: 12:10

You know, going back to what we were talking about, that's the cool thing about Pokemon go is it's kind of connected both people who, example, you got Christina here, never experienced. Pokemon was basically a Pokemon hater, no respect. used to be the same way. then you got Mario here who was really into the card games and you know, what game would be able to bring those two polar opposites together other than Pokemon go. It's amazing.

Pokemon GO Central Oregon: 12:30

yeah, that's pretty cool.

David Hernandez: 12:31

So my next question is for each of you, what is y'all's favorite Pokemon?

Pokemon GO Central Oregon: 12:35

Oh my god, I'm gonna go first because love to talk about her. I love Jynx. because I, when I first saw her, since I had no experience with Pokemon, I had seen Pikachu, obviously, and like Charizard, but um, I didn't know any of the Pokemon's names until I started playing Pokemon Go. The first time I saw Jynx in the wild, I thought it was a glitch in the game. I could not believe that it was a real thing. I thought she was so bizarre and gross, I didn't even want to catch her and the more I looked at her, the more I grew to love her. She's so over the top. She is so dramatic. I love the fact that draining kiss is one of her moves. Like, I love the way that she says hands. She's just everything I wish I could be. And as like a five, 10 half Panamanian, I will never be a four foot 10 purple skin blonde, ice witch, but I just, I love her. I don't know anyone else that loves her or that would even put her in like their top 50 Pokemon. Um, yeah, there, there tends to be a strong reaction whenever I tell people that Jinx is my favorite and that kind of just like cements her as my number one even more.

David Hernandez: 13:40

You know, the more I think about it, because Gen 1's usually looked on very fondly, I would have to kind of agree with that sentiment because I don't really remember people mentioning Jinx, because people say Electabuzz, they'll say Magmar, but they never really mentioned Jinx, so a fair assessment. But Madprox, we all have, there's a common saying, every Pokemon's somebody's favorite.

Pokemon GO Central Oregon: 14:02

Yes.

David Hernandez: 14:03

yeah. What about you, Mario? Yeah.

Pokemon GO Central Oregon: 14:05

Oh, it's so hard. I have definitely have like a list. If I was to have to absolutely pick one, it would probably be Articuno. but otherwise it's like, I love Eevee cause all the evolutions, of course, it's really cool to have like a Pokemon with so many different evolutions, Punkaboo, Ghastly, Gengar, Haunter, I'm definitely a spooky boy. So like all the ghosties I'm always all about. They are really cool. Um, Giratina, Zekrom just because they look super, super badass. I feel like they're, they go so broad.

David Hernandez: 14:33

And some of the Pokemon has some very scary Pokedex entries for the ghost

Pokemon GO Central Oregon: 14:37

Yeah, Korea. some of the lore behind them, they're like, look at this cute little guy. He's so bubbly and cute. And then you read the lore and it's like, each souls of children, like, Oh God, yeah.

David Hernandez: 14:48

Drifloon. Yeah,

Pokemon GO Central Oregon: 14:49

Yeah. Yeah.

David Hernandez: 14:53

If you look into the back of it, then I think that the soul gets captured inside or something like that. so moving forward. So we Pokemon Go. When did y'all start like get involved within like building up a community in Oregon?

Pokemon GO Central Oregon: 15:05

I got involved pretty early on, so I started playing in, like, early summer 2017, and By fall 2017, I was organizing raids. I live in Redmond, which is about a 20 or 30 minute drive from Ben where our community is based. but I, I started trying to organize raid meetups in Redmond and then I got connected with the Ben community. So I helped out with the first community days there. Um, I started off as event staff, for a discord that had been set up in Bend and then moved up to moderator and eventually left that discord, with two people, Jenny and Matt, who were the community co founders for the community that we applied for the community ambassador program with. but yeah, I've been like definitely fall 2017, was when I started organizing and, and kind of stepping up to lead raid meetups. I, I pretty much shied away from the, the bigger crowds. I like when it came to, the, I guess organized group that Christine is talking about. I always saw them and was always kind of nervous to approach them. I was just always like, Oh, I don't know if I'm like. Cool enough to hang with those people. They know so much about Pokemon and I'm such a new, I guess, like in my, I thought was just like a new player. So, I only recently got into the actual staff part of it. Just recently, um, via Christina, she kind of endorsed me slash like encouraged me to join and stuff. which by the way, like I, I have to toot our own horn because our community is super, super, super, super duper blessed to have Christina as our ambassador. She's been like. pretty much. She's, I mean, I'm not joking. She makes stickers, handmade crafts. She makes baked goods. She does so much for our community. That's insane. And like, it's such a blessing to have somebody care so much and to see so much compassion and love poured into every single community day event, every single smaller event. If it's just something that she's super stoked on, like it's been such a huge for me personally to become much more better. Ambassador and staff member just watching her just shower all of us with our, like the love that she has for the game and stuff. So it's been such an honor and blessing to work alongside her just because she just, I mean. I'm obviously biased, but I feel like she's probably the best community ambassador. She's just insane with like the amount of energy and love that she has for our community. It's amazing to be under her wing. So I so much props and kudos goes to her for being so awesome. Christina. cry.

David Hernandez: 17:33

I wish I was a video podcast for this very reason. If y'all listening, cause see her face right now? She's on the verge of tears with a red face blushing like a cherry

Pokemon GO Central Oregon: 17:42

my god, oh my god. Um, I have like severe ADHD and anxiety and it's been a real struggle to kind of try to, you know, Hold everything together, like the community together through COVID and, just personal life stuff. And, I love this community. I love it so much. And the reason I asked Mario to step up and help out with. hosting raid events and community days and to be a community ambassador with me is because I saw the love he had, not just for the people that he knows, like that he's friends with, but every time somebody comes into the group new, even if they just downloaded the game. that day. He wants them to have the best time. He wants them to feel supported. He never wants anyone to feel left behind or ignored. And I feel like that's such, a rare quality in people nowadays. I feel like there's just so many lonely people. It's easy to kind of get lost in yourself and what's going on in your life. But he, Is always looking out for everyone else. It's really incredible thing. He's a great human being. I wouldn't know him without Pokemon go. So, um, like I, I mean, I'm obviously biased, but I believe we have the best community in the world and I've met a lot other community ambassadors. I've gone to other communities, meetups, and like, they're all fantastic. and I know that they all kind of feel the same way about their community, but I really believe that we have something really special here in central Oregon. and it's because of people like Mario and, um, and all of the wonderful people that we have help. So, do

David Hernandez: 19:16

So what is just community like whenever like we go to community day? Like where do people go? Where do people go for raid days? Like, please talk about them.

Pokemon GO Central Oregon: 19:23

we have a couple of hotspots that we, that we like to kind of frequent. Um, we, uh, try our best to be as, as little impact and respectful as possible. Obviously with a public spaces, you're kind of always kind of facing, everything from. Beer fest to some sort of new event, some taco fest or something. So we kind of have to share the spaces and stuff, but we usually frequent the old mill district, which is kind of an outdoor shopping complex and kind of like the heart of Bend, Oregon, it's a beautiful area that's kind of, you know, literally the shops and restaurants and, eateries and stuff like that. So we kind of mosey through there. And, um, Take down gyms and catch all the Pokemon for community days and stuff. So it's got a nice overflow parking area for us to kind of hang out and park and kind of pregame. So to speak, you know, take our pictures and pass out goodies and all that stuff beforehand. And then we also have our downtown historical downtown area, which is really nice because there's of course more shops and eateries and stuff like that, but connected to the beautiful Drake park, which is just lovely to look at just on its own. So being able to kind of have a view while you play is super awesome. We also just recently started hitting up our COCC campus, which has been super fun. They've got a surprisingly amount of gyms and stops up there, so that's been really fun as well. Yeah, I think, as a rural community, we have a lot of challenges that larger communities don't have. 1 of them is that we do not have an indoor area. We could play at, you know, a lot of other community ambassadors are able to meet up at their local university or mall in the winter, or when it gets really hot in the summer. And unfortunately, we don't have that option, but there. is an abundance of natural beauty here. So we always have a really great scenic backdrop for our photos. I feel like just because we're so close to the mountains and the river, but yeah, there's those three locations, but we're, trying to branch out to more neighborhoods and communities. I personally, over the years hosted meetups in surrounding towns. there are some towns in central Oregon that have as few as 400 people. So I really try to reach out, people. To the even more rural players, and try to either go out there and do shadow raids with them so that they have somebody with strong Pokemon that can help them out. I hosted, Mega or Primal Groudon, raid day in a town called Sisters, which has about 2000 people in it. Um, Mario held down Ben for me and, kept Ben's, raid meetup going. But yeah, we did a small one there and we still had, I think, 20 people, which was really, really cool. There were people that came out who didn't even know that there was a community ambassador program. So, yeah, it's kind of neat. we don't just represent one town. We represent, um, an entire region and we're optimistic that more community ambassadors will be able to pop up in these, these smaller towns. but yeah, for now we're, representing central Oregon to the best of our ability and I think we're doing a good job.

David Hernandez: 21:58

You know, what makes you want to go out beyond your central scoping area? Because it's real easy just to stay in your hometown. It's easy to stay in your city. But you're going out to other areas who you don't even know the area. You may not even know people. Why do you focus on trying to expand that way? And what is the reaction like when people find out about your group going into that area?

Pokemon GO Central Oregon: 22:17

Yeah. so I grew up in a town called Newport on the Oregon coast, and there's still only about 8, 000 people there. I went and vacationed there a few weekends ago, and they still don't have a community on Campfire, let alone a community ambassador community. And the reason I want to reach out to places like that is because I believe in the game so much, and I have been personally impacted by having a community through Pokemon Go. I want everyone to have that. I think it's a really, beautiful gift to have friends, where, Pokemon Go is silly, like, video games are, are kind of, you know, silly and wonderful. I know that Mario can see this too, like, we've made friends through this game, like, I've met Mario through this game, and my friendship with him is just as valuable to me as any of the other friendships I've made as an adult. and I want everyone to have that. I that by growing Pokemon Go community, that other people can enjoy that too. Yeah, I agree. I feel like the I think there's a huge desire and want for a lot of players that are further out to want to engage into this game, but it's kind of hard. It's kind of like It's like playing a game of ping pong by yourself. Like if you don't have somebody to kind of bounce that ball off of, it kind of loses its luster. And so being able to find other people who are just as engaged, just as enthusiastic people to hype you up people to kind of like have friendly competition with and be like, look, my shiny is better than your shiny. Like it kind of. Puts a fire under you to kind of want to play more and more. So like by Christina doing what she's doing, it's like, it's able to kind of show other players that like, Hey, you may not know this, but there's actually a really big, strong community out this way. So like, even if your community isn't growing as much as it could be right now, you could at least come into. You know, the more populated area and play with the rest of us, because sometimes playing games by yourself, isn't as fun as like having a huge group and crew to play with. So it's kind of, you know, building through that way by networking and showing them that like, there's a huge, gathering of us out here. So it's pretty cool. Come rain, shine, snow or sleet. We're out there huffing around catching Pokemon. It's pretty cool. And our campfire community has about 1100 people in it right now. And more than half of them don't live in bend where our community is based, bend is a tourist destination. So, a lot of people have come to our area on vacation, or maybe temp work, something along those lines, and they've happened upon one of our meetups and now they, come back. Thank you And visit us for every community day, or they drive from out of state for our Sinnoh Tour and that's been really, really cool. We had a family come up, believe it was for primal Kyogre raid day. And they drove up from California 10 hour drive just so they could attend our meetup because they'd had such a great time at one of our meetups that they happened upon last summer.

David Hernandez: 25:02

So when I first started playing the game, I was mostly a solo player. This is back in 2017, give or take, you know, after I went to the first go fest, raids came out and that's when raid groups started forming in my area and there was a huge difference being able to play this game with people who were really passionate about the game and loved Pokemon just as much as I did. And it makes a huge difference. And I commend you for wanting to go outside of your boundary to give that experience to other people who may not ever experience that or maybe had no knowledge of that kind of experience.

Pokemon GO Central Oregon: 25:30

yeah. I think so. And I'm hoping that, by people meeting me and realizing, oh, I, I didn't grow up with the game, I still mispronounce most of the Pokemon's names, if I'm being honest, I'm not this expert in Pokemon. I, I have a lot of Pokemon, I'm level 50, but. I'm like kind of a dorky, weirdo, middle aged housewife, and I still am a community ambassador. You can build a community even if you're not an expert in the game. I'm hoping that they realize, oh, like, this is something that I could do too. Like, having a community is fantastic. I don't have one here, but maybe I can build one. So I feel like, sharing tips and Mario and I's experience with our community and how we've been able to get to the place that it's at now. I'm optimistic that it will encourage other players to, to develop their own communities.

David Hernandez: 26:19

Because we've teased the community master program, let's talk about how y'all started doing that. So what made y'all want to first get involved with it? And how was it to build up the community with it?

Pokemon GO Central Oregon: 26:29

so our experience is a bit different than other community ambassadors because we were approached by someone with Niantic. So the trainer club is a member of our community. He has been for a long, long time. He, was visiting his family in central Oregon. He had DM me through discord and he said, um, I want to co host a meetup with you. I told him, I didn't think it was a good idea because it was supposed to be 118 degrees that day, but he insisted that we, we do a raid hour together. So I told him, okay, I showed up. It was very, very hot. And he had, um, a gentleman with him from Niantic. At the end of the RAID hour, he said, you know, I love what you guys are doing here. Um, I can't believe how, excited, enthusiastic, and large this community is for being in the location that you guys are in. We're going to start doing something called the Community Ambassador Program. Would you be interested? And I Was right away. he got me in contact with someone that was helping set up campfire. So we got on campfire really early I still have to go through the application process with the Silk Road. and we did that. It was originally a community co founder Matt and I as community ambassadors. He resigned earlier this year. It was kind of nice to have, um, that connection with Niantic and definitely, beneficial to our community then and now to have Billy like such a huge supporter and believer in our community and such a just really great person. So he really, he really helped us get in there early.

David Hernandez: 27:54

So in what ways has community master program being able to help y'all grow y'all's community?

Pokemon GO Central Oregon: 27:58

It definitely helps with visibility. We have balloons that are put up in game for players that are within a certain radius of where we do our community meetups and they pop up for the player. It says, this is a gift from your local community ambassador with a link to our meetup. So that's definitely, increased the number of players who come out. I think that, getting to know the other community ambassadors and having a direct line To Niantic employees who can help if we have a problem or who we can run ideas by that's probably my favorite part of being in the community ambassador program right now. The connections that are made, and just being able to brainstorm with other community ambassadors. We were able to do a large group meet up. It was. Our community and the Burbank community and my friend Tara, who's community ambassador in Canada, her community, and then a community ambassador from New Mexico, down for Sinotour in L. A. So we did this massive meetup, Billy was the co host of it Friday before Sinotour, and I believe it was something like 450 players showed up at this park in the middle of the day, um, on a work day. And so having like those sorts of things where. You're able to bring like a mutual, drive and desire to build community and to make this game the best it can be. that's my favorite part of the Community Ambassador Program. Yeah, I think it's really awesome. I think it's, it's beneficial to us because it kind of creates structure and organization, and I think it entices individuals and, and kind of single players to kind of join in because a lot of those people otherwise, you know, Seeing the daunting task of defeating a five star raid is kind of a scary thing to do on your own. And so having the ability to kind of be able to chime in onto a server, whether it be Discord or on Campfire, and see that there's several people meeting up for this raid. And, you know, it gives them the opportunity to, to join in on that, or for an event that's like community day or for a go fast or any kind of special research day. I think it really is beneficial to us because we are able to kind of get the, perks and, pluses from Niantic, you know, being able to offer that as an incentive to join us and to be able to connect through that way. I think that it helps create a level of, Enticement and, and connectivity in that regard. I feel like it's important for people to kind of see that it's not just like several people who just decided to do this thing. It's like we have a level of structure and, and kind of almost like a schedule. And, yeah, it's, it's pretty cool because it allows us the freedom of playing as much as we want, but also allows us the ability to, do more because we are. I don't want to say sponsored, but so to speak, but like, we are kind of backed by Niantic and in a manner of speaking. And so having the community ambassador program creates a level of like, almost legitimacy and in a lot of people's eyes. And so I think that entices people to kind of join us. A little bit more than they would if it was just like a couple of other, you know, individuals. So. I agree. And I don't know if players know this, but community ambassadors are vetted by Niantic and their communities are as well. We are expected to uphold, I wouldn't call them strict, but, make sure that we're upholding terms of service for the game and that our community members do as well. So we don't have the issues of people trying to sell Pokemon, to each other or of, Spoofing or any of the other things that players do that kind of delegitimize the game and how they're playing. So I think that that's a good thing. And there's also like a level of integrity that's expected of community ambassadors that will make sure that everybody is welcomed into our community. That we don't expect anyone to pay any fees to be a part of our community. And that we will make sure that it's a family friendly, no bullying. Sort of environment, whether it's, on our campfire community or discord or anywhere else that we are online or at our in person meetups,

David Hernandez: 31:51

a lot of people are on the outside looking in right now, you know, y'all are kind of, you know, the minor already, you know, you have the community ambassador program back in you. What advice would you give somebody who's trying to build up the community who's just barely starting out? Like, what would you tell them?

Pokemon GO Central Oregon: 32:04

if they're in a small town, I live in Redmond, which is near Bend, less than 30, 000 people. If you're in a town like mine or a smaller town, I would look on campfire and see if there's community in a large town near you, even if it isn't. Close enough to justify a drive for a raid hour, but try to connect with local leaders. See what's working for them, see if they would be willing to visit you. And maybe help co host a meetup. I think that those would be beneficial, especially if they, they're community ambassadors and they do the community ambassador flair on the meetup. Um, that's going to really amplify your event beyond that. we put things up, posters up, at our local library. I put ads in our local papers, and on Facebook about our meetups, just trying to find every outlet you can to promote your group and our meetups and don't give up when it's hard. There were read hours where it was literally me and one other person, for a while. it just takes some dedication and, a real desire to want to have a thriving community to make that happen. Yeah. And, and building upon that, I think as well as like something that I've observed of our, of our community, it's just like consistency, like just kind of keeping at it sometimes, you know, we're, I mean, Christina, you've mentioned before we posted like 40, 50 events this year, just, you know, spot, Or 55

David Hernandez: 33:28

wow.

Pokemon GO Central Oregon: 33:29

55 events. on that day So if you, if you can, it's kind of the, it's kind of the mentality of like, if you build it, they will come, you know, if you're that consistent, you're that reliable for people, you know, they may not always show up, but at least they know that it like, Hey, if there's an event that I do want to attend, I know that there's going to be at least. 6 to 15 people there on some of our bigger events. We have 50 plus 60 plus 100 plus people. So having that level of reliability and that level of consistency is really key as well. I think that having people be aware that we are out there, regardless of snow or ice or weather conditions. Sometimes it really does create a level of, I guess consistent outcome from the, the people who join us, you know, by us being consistent, we also create a consistent, base and, and people who come to visit us and whether they're out of towners and stuff or just returning players.

David Hernandez: 34:19

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