Vol. 1, Issue 15 - Interview with PokéJungle
An interview with the long-running Pokémon fan community PokéJungle, the latest Pokémon news, and more from the mailbag!
Welcome to Issue 15 of the Johto Times! This week, we are sharing an interview with the long-running and popular Pokémon website PokéJungle! It was a pleasure to speak with PJ and discuss his website as it reaches its twentieth year online. We’ve also got the latest Pokémon news, and more mailbag content!
News
Nintendo shared their Financial Results on May 9th, which included a sales update for Pokémon software on Nintendo Switch. Pokémon Scarlet & Violet have now sold a combined 22.1 million units worldwide, while Legends Arceus and Pokémon Sword & Shield sold 14.8 million units and 25.8 million units respectively. Interestingly, Scarlet and Violet only requires a further 1.6 million sales to overtake Pokémon Gold and Silver, and will make it the third best-selling titles in the series.
Source: Nintendo
It was sad news for Pokémon GO players this week as Silph Road announced it was closing its doors after seven years. Silph Road was a thriving community that focused on discoveries and analysis related to Pokémon GO, with a significant number of fans. It was sponsored by Niantic for 12 months, as the community struggled with operating costs. Silph Road’s official Reddit account made the announcement on May 12th, and explained the reasons behind the closure:
“Niantic's sponsorship of the Silph Road has concluded. After considering the mounting financial constraints facing our team, along with the momentum and landscape of the game in 2023, our team has come to the bittersweet conclusion that it is time to close what has been an incredibly rewarding and memorable chapter of our lives.”
Silph Road’s community on Reddit will remain, but all social channels tools and resources will wind down up until August 1st 2023.
Sources: Pokémon GO Hub, r/TheSilphRoad
Finally, The Pokémon Company has announced that version 3.0.0 of Pokémon HOME, compatible with Pokémon Scarlet and Pokémon Violet, will release on May 24th 2023. Once updated, the application will allow you to exchange Pokémon HOME Points for League Points, which can be used in Pokémon Scarlet and Pokémon Violet. You will also be able to change Pokémon moves in HOME itself. Full details can be found in the source below.
Source: Pokémon
Feature: Interview with PokéJungle
PokéJungle is a long-running Pokémon fan community that first began in late 2003 and covers news and content from across the different products of the series. It was originally hosted on Freewebs before moving to paid hosting and becoming PokéJungle Network in 2005. From 2006, the website has been accessible from pokejungle.net, and it continues to provide the latest Pokémon news and a wide variety of content. I am delighted to be speaking to PJ, who founded the community.
Hey there! Can you introduce yourself to our readers and give us a bit of background about your website and community PokéJungle?
PJ:
Hi, I'm PokéJungle, or PJ, and [I] created the website of the same name many, many years ago. Although far from a professional endeavor, the earliest iterations of the site go all the way back to 2004. Throughout the site's growth we've had a lot of contributors, to whom I'm incredibly grateful. We've had really talented writers share their takes on Pokémon designs, lore [and] news coverage, and also a talented group of moderators for our forums and Discord server.
Honestly, I really struggled to find a niche for what topics I wanted to cover when I started the site in my teens. There were a lot of other similar fan sites out there, so I experimented with different approaches. Ultimately, now almost two decades later, I focus the most on games and events, while also covering merchandise on social media. I enjoy putting up articles about the latest news and including context within the posts, so fans feel like they have a good understanding of news after reading our coverage.
What made you decide to start PokéJungle in the first place?
PJ:
It was a popular thing to do back in the day to make a fan site, believe it or not! It seems like many people were creating websites for the franchise and usually they were named "Poké" + something else. I like Grass-type Pokémon, so "PokéJungle" just made sense. I actually became interested in creating websites because of Neopets... guilds would have their own small off-site websites (some of them at least) and I really wanted to create my own. In the end, Pokémon was a franchise I was more invested in and decided to try making a site in the same vein as others I had seen.
Many fan websites from the early 2000s have long since closed, but PokéJungle continues to thrive with a huge following on social media. How have you been able to adapt your community to match the expectations of a modern day audience?
PJ:
You know, I don't quite know why I kept plugging away. I think my website has always given me an outlet for content creation, learning new things and allowed me to share my passion for Pokémon throughout the years. One of the biggest disappointments to me was the decline of online forums as social media usage increased. It actually wasn't easy for me to adapt to Discord, which now seems to be the favored communication style outside of platforms like Twitter and Reddit. I prefer the slower pace of threads and posts, and even Reddit isn't the same as the old days of vBulletin and the many Pokémon forums it powered back in the early 2000s.
On the other hand, social media has increased the reach of my website and allowed me to meet many other fans and content creators. I think my laid back and positive approach to Pokémon updates has resonated with some.
It’s clear that your hard work paid off, because at the time of writing, PokéJungle has a healthy amount of support across social media, with a massive 153,000 followers on Twitter alone. How did you manage to pull in such significant numbers, and what was the timeframe of that audience build?
PJ:
I think on Twitter things can snowball, so it was more difficult to get from 1 follower to my 50,000th follower than from that follower to my 100,000th. I would like to think that I post relevant news updates, facts, merchandise and game art. Sometimes I'm able to give some cultural context about game or merchandise themes because of my time spent living in Japan.
If anyone is looking to grow their following as a content creator, I would recommend posting somewhat frequently (and by that I mean twice a day to every other day) and being genuine. Have a unique perspective to what you share if there are similar competitors. Experiment with the types of things you post and see what resonates with the people who follow you and what types of posts tend to bring in more followers. And make friends with a graphic designer if you, like me, lack talent in that area. Moving, who helps me with graphics for PokéJungle, does a great job when I need something to look professional. Also try to deconstruct why you like other creators' posts and what techniques they're using.
Sorry, that was a tangent, but I am also passionate about helping people who may have been like I was when I started PokéJungle and are looking to create content online.
At the time of writing, social media is in an interesting place. Twitter, your largest follow base, looks to be in a difficult situation and its future is uncertain. People are changing their habits. Where do you see PokéJungle in the future due to this changing online landscape?
PJ:
It's extremely frustrating what has happened, and I currently do not like any of the major social media platforms. I'm thinking of channeling 2005 again and trying to start a forum again because I'm just disappointed at how corporations and the ultra-wealthy are twisting everything into echo chambers and data collection vacuums.
Honestly, we are with you there! With Johto Times we are trying not to rely on social media, but you can't deny it’s a powerful tool. Do you think a forum, or a community built outside of social media's reach, can become successful?
PJ:
That’s a good question. I’m an optimistic person and believe it is possible. In fact, there are still Pokémon forums that are fairly active, such as Bulbapedia’s and Serebii’s, so I think there’s space for them alongside platforms like Twitter, Facebook and even Discord.
But I also think that forum software has focused more on honing the same features we’ve seen for 5 or 10 years and playing catchup with social media platforms versus differentiating the experience. So, I hope there is more progress on that front, or maybe I need to take a deep dive into how to use the features of one of the forum softwares to create something more unique than what’s been done.
I was just looking the other day at progress on using a forum for WordPress comments, hoping there was a solution I could use for PokéJungle, but even though WordPress powers almost half of websites on the internet, there isn’t a reliable first-party solution from any of these companies (that I saw). It’s kind of disappointing that there’s not more aggressive development on solutions that can help get communities onto their own platforms.
PokéJungle shares the latest news on Pokémon and does a good job at covering lots of different areas of the franchise, but with so much information coming out on a near-daily basis, can you please tell us about your process of staying on top of the vast amounts of news and content you cover?
PJ:
I will be the first to admit I can't always keep up. For example, the anime news, even from the English account, has come in during the early hours of the morning when the Japanese show aired and I can't wake up to cover it when I have work the next day. But I am incredibly lucky to have a flexible work from home job that allows me to take breaks on my own schedule, which allows me to post and cover news if something pops up.
Unlike some other websites, I also focus the majority of my attention on the main series of games and the console spin-offs. I like some of the app-based games but can't handle the amount of work it would take to cover the minute updates and events that they frequently have. I also stopped covering Pokémon GO on my website out of dissatisfaction on how its developer was running the game, although I still enjoy GO and play it daily.
What have been some of your highlights from working on PokéJungle so far?
PJ:
I think the mention of PokéJungle on British quiz show The Chase was pretty cool. Otherwise, there's always a lot of excitement in the lead up to a new game releasing which is really fun each generation.
Other highlights include learning about emerging web trends, gaining a strong understanding of HTML and CSS, and also working with the WordPress platform. All of those skills very easily translated into things I could use in my career and have been genuinely helpful in my life outside the website.
That's incredible! The Chase is a very popular game show, it must have been quite the shock to hear your website get a mention that way! What was your reaction when you found out about it?
PJ:
It was definitely a surprise! I live in the US, so I didn’t even know about it until someone tagged me in a video they had recorded. I’m very flattered, but I also realize they were just trying to draw out the Pokémon answer using a site that had the ‘Poké’ prefix in its name, so ultimately, I’m just glad they chose mine out of the options available.
I’ve also been interviewed about Pokémon on a BBC radio show, and then again regarding Japan, and was also mentioned in The Guardian. Not sure why I get shown so much love in England, but I’ll take it.
PokéJungle doesn’t seem to show any signs of slowing down. So what are your plans for the future of the website?
PJ:
I have some really fun updates planned for this year and I hope I can fit them all in. First thing is switching to a new template system that will give me more flexibility when building out game sections and other things to make navigation easier. I hope people tune in and find out when some of these things are rolled out!
What do you believe is the secret behind running a successful Pokémon fan community?
PJ:
Patience, perseverance and gratitude. You have to know that it's going to take time and the going is slow, especially when you're starting out. And this applies to any type of community you're trying to build. You also have to have the perseverance to get through these slow (and sometimes discouraging) stretches and have a long-term goal that you'd like to reach. Whether that's social media followers, video views or even content creation goals for yourself.
Keeping the bigger picture in mind can give you that energy. And I think gratitude is also really important. No one grows a community or following by themselves, all things considered. It may be other creators helping you hone your work, or it may be the fans who follow, subscribe, visit and choose to spend time on your content, but it's important to recognize the contribution of others and be humbled by it and thank them.
And I would say the next step, after you have a sizable platform, is to lift others up. It's important to me personally that I [give a] shout out [to] people who send me news, or accounts I may find news on, so that others can grow and know that you appreciate them and the work they're doing.
Thank you for taking the time to speak to us. Do you have any closing comments you would like to make?
PJ:
I really appreciate you reaching out and asking for my thoughts, thank you! And it may be cliche, but I'll also just shout out where you can find me:
https://pokejungle.net, Instagram as pokejunglenetwork and on Twitter, Facebook and TikTok.
And to everyone who has used my site or followed me on social media, thank you!
We want to thank PJ for taking the time to speak with us, for his years of service running PokéJungle, and wish him and his team the very best of luck in the years ahead!
Interview conducted on April 4th 2023
Interview published on May 18th 2023
Mailbag
Want to be a part of our newsletter? You’re welcome to submit content including (but not limited to) questions, fanart, short stories, memories, photographs of your collection, or even Pokémon tattoos! We will happily publish them in our mailbag and share them in future issues of our newsletter. This week’s question comes from one of our readers: Altair.
Back in the day, when playing Pokémon (or video games in general), there was no internet to really use to get updates or news about the games, and a lot of the time, we had to rely on printed guides and magazines to get some neat side information, or, in some cases, help complete the game, which allowed myths to pass on and fool a lot of players.
Did you ever come across any such myths or rumors back in the day, like the infamous Mew beneath the truck back in Red and Blue, and did you fall for it?
Altair
Thank you very much for your question, Altair! I didn’t have access to the internet at home until I was fifteen, but I would go online at school to discover the latest Pokémon news and rumours. The myths and rumours you refer to were pretty common in the late 90s and early 2000s, and while I don’t remember falling for any of them in particular, I absolutely did fall for Mew under the truck, with the rumour claiming it required the Pokémon to use strength to move it. I actually touched on this in Part 2 of my Legacy of Pokémon feature, and encourage you to give it a read, if you haven’t already.
Most rumours would commonly have the player complete convoluted tasks in order to obtain a fake Pokémon (known as Pokégods), and it was usually pretty obvious which ones were misleading. But the Mew rumour was far more believable due to the presence of the truck being in the game data and Mew being officially confirmed as the 151st Pokémon. I purchased a cheat cartridge to give my Pokémon the HM moves Surf and Strength, but discovered quickly that it wasn’t possible to move the truck and Mew wasn’t underneath it.
While it was disappointing at the time, I look back fondly at the creativity of Pokémon fans from those days, who even went as far as creating screenshots and Pokédex data to try and trick people into believing them. It was harmless fun, and I hope to write a feature for Johto Times on the topic in the future!
Great interview!
I enjoy Pokemon related websites, which are existing almost 20 years now. A lot of those sites are "getting older" at the same time as other media, so they are very friendly-user up to this day!
Also, great attitude with learning Wordpress, HTML and C++ step by step, and enjoying it at the same time!