Earlier this month, a competitive Pokémon Go player was stripped of his win at an Orlando tournament for what was deemed “unsportsmanlike” behavior when he popped off after his competition-winning match. After weeks of blowback from the community, The Pokémon Company confirmed it would not be reverting its judges’ decision. Now, Firestar73 is telling his full side of the story.
Firestar posted a six-page Google Doc write-up recounting his entire experience at the Orlando Regional Championships, in which he says he had been dealing with stress and nerves throughout the event’s second day, which manifested in physical reactions, such as hitting the play table twice in disappointment during one match, which led to a warning from the judges.
This was my first official warning in all of my prior tournaments with Play!Pokémon and I had seen other competitors do similar things without issue, so this also continued to exacerbate my nervousness. I lightly hit the table in spontaneous emotion I felt in my in-game position, not to maliciously affect the opponent. The judges never claimed otherwise. I felt hopeless to appeal this ruling as it had been given by the head judge of the tournament who was officiating my games personally, so I continued on…
Firestar describes his feeling heading into the final match as “shaky and on edge,” but when it became clear to him that he had the upper hand and was going to win, he “spontaneously fist-pumped,” which caused the table to shake again, though he describes the shaking as “very minimal.” Then, the now-viral moment of him tossing his headphones onto the table and fist-pumping in victory happened, followed by him signing a match slip that signified his win. However, this is when the judges let him know his game win was in contention over “unsportsmanlike conduct.” While he waited for a final verdict, he says he was approached by people on staff who said the ruling was “unjust and unreasonable,” before he was finally brought a new match slip signifying a loss.
“I assumed that my best course of action was to be as cooperative as possible with the judges to hopefully appeal the ruling,” Firestar writes. “I signed this match slip and the judge disappeared once again. In total, I spent just over an hour waiting on a final result, just for the result to be given to me by a judge simply handing me the second place medal with a grimace. I became emotional as multiple staff members continually came up to me to reassure me that, ‘You are still the Orlando Champion to me,’ as they each headed off to their flights and accommodations.”
Firestar says this was the extent of what he was told at the time, and that it wasn’t until the official Pokémon statement came out that he was made aware that the second shaking of the table was the reason for his infraction. He also disputes that his actions had any tangible effect on the game, and says that the statement noted that table shaking “can” have a negative impact on the game, regardless of whether or not it actually did, which he doesn’t believe to be the case. He also proposes an amendment to the Pokémon handbook that would protect players from being given penalties for accidental disruptions and a reform in the appeals process so players can appeal directly to the head judge making the call in later tournament matches.
“I am again so grateful for all of the support I’ve received,” he writes as he signs off. “I hope you will help me to do all that we can in order to ensure something like this never happens again.”
