Oak would not resort to these tactics.
Owens’ lawsuit alleges that on March 12, 2024, Pokémon Company International informed him he had passed the basic exam for the rank of Professor of Pokémon with a score of 100%.
The exhibits, made public in Owens’ court filings, indicate the background check conducted on behalf of the defendants determined there was a pending arrest warrant, issued by another state in 2022, for failing to appear in court on misdemeanor charges of disorderly conduct by engaging in fighting; possessing, repairing or selling an offensive weapon; and criminal mischief through damage to property.
Sounds like he could apply for Pal Professor instead
The exhibits, made public in Owens’ court filings, indicate the background check conducted on behalf of the defendants determined there was a pending arrest warrant, issued by another state in 2022, for failing to appear in court on misdemeanor charges of disorderly conduct by engaging in fighting; possessing, repairing or selling an offensive weapon; and criminal mischief through damage to property.
He can be mad at the Pokémon people all he wants, but 0% surprised that they won’t sanction him to host events for kids when he has violent charges pending. Seems like the system is working as designed.
Well, according to him the three charges “do not show guilty findings" because he never went to court. So, just don’t get caught and no one should question your innocence.
DEFEAT THE LAW WITH THIS ONE WEIRD TRICK
POKE PROFESSORS HATE HIM
Okay, so I am an actual Pokémon Professor, let me provide some context behind this:
Pokémon Professors are people who are certified by the Pokémon Company to run officially-sanctioned Pokémon tournaments and other events. Local game shops and other events venues depend on the presence of a Pokémon Professor to ensure their events actually have official status. Being an official Play! Pokémon location which runs officially-sanctioned events increases the amount of product that wholesale distributors will send to your store, meaning local game stores rely on Professors running events to maintain their supply of product from the Pokémon Company.
Pokémon Professors get certain powers to officiate events depending on their rank and the certs they possess. For example, people who have the Judge cert can act as referees making official rulings and people with the Organiser cert can “sanction” an event and run it using the Pokémon Company’s official tournament software (a piece of shit called “TOM”), causing it to become an official Play! Pokémon event where the results are recorded on the Pokémon Company’s database. Sanctioned tournaments also appear on the Pokémon Company’s tournament finder website which can drive a lot of customers to your event. Especially for the larger privately-hosted tournaments (League Challenges and League Cups), you need to have a Professor sanction it for people to actually come and you need at least one Professor on hand to officiate it.
Being a Pokémon Professor is sometimes profitable. Most Professors are volunteers or work for local game stores, but getting a high rank and accumulating certs can result in very lucrative gigs. For example, serving as a judge during a regional tournament is a paid role and judges get compensated somewhere between US$1200-1500 (worth of easily-sellable Pokémon product) for one weekend of work. Even the pack of promotional cards that they give Professors with every new set is worth hundreds of dollars. And some local game stores who don’t have an in-house Pokémon Professor will contract it out to one they find locally.
And because Pokémon is a game which attracts lots of children, the Pokémon Company, very justifiably, requires a squeaky-clean background check. Any single blemish more serious than a speeding ticket, and you’re out.
Sorry, couldn’t resist lul
Just curious, what is there to “judge”? Are there situations where the is some ambiguity? I assume the game has rules designed to prevent that.
You still need someone to organize the tournament and generate pairings. You need someone who knows the rules about how to handle game glitches and know how to recognize if someone is triggering a glitch intentionally. The judge also needs to monitor player behavior outside of the game (When does a player celebration cross into taunting? When does a player reaction count as violent or threatening?)
For example this disqualification for shaking the game table: https://aftermath.site/pokemon-go-firestar73-disqualified-statement-community-outrage/
I am a TCG judge, but there are also judges for the video game and Pokémon Go. I can only answer why the TCG has judges.
Sometimes, the rules present some ambiguity, so a judge is needed to resolve disputes. There are also niche edge cases which not all people are aware of (for example, you generally can’t play a card that searches your deck if you have no cards in your deck, unless the card has other effects), so it’s helpful to have a rules expert on hand.
Some tournaments have significant prizes on the line. I’ve reffed events where the total prize pool was hundreds of dollars. When that happens, inevitably, there are disputes and people make mistakes. Judges are there to enforce the tournament rules and serve as the official arbiters for disputes. Sometimes, people inadvertently break the rules, by playing cards they’re not supposed to or by forgetting to perform a required action. When that happens, a judge steps in to resolve. And sometimes, disputes are just petty adults acting like children, like complaining that your opponent did not shuffle their deck throroughly enough (but sometimes we do observe actual children not shuffling their deck well enough, but they’re children so we just go and shuffle for them)
Judges also deal with disciplinary problems too. For example, we have the ability to issue penalties to players for rules infractions or disqualify or ban them for being disruptive. These penalties are recorded on the Pokémon Company’s player database and if a player gets kicked out of too many events (especially prestigious ones like a regional tournament, North America/European Internationals, or the world championship), they eventually may be prevented from attending events.
It’s fortunately never happened at any event I’ve worked at, but an examples of some things that would get a player disqualified would be failing a deck legality check unless the player fixes it immediately, cursing excessively, annoying other players and refusing to stop when asked, being caught cheating, wearing inappropriate clothing/not exercising good personal hygiene, or drinking alcohol or being drunk/high.
It’s nice to have an expert on the game readily available. Any card game is going to have strange interactions that would take a long time to debate between players. A neutral 3rd party being able to have the final say and keep the game moving. I’d also imagine due to there being prize money on the line you need someone to watch out for cheaters and keep score.
Can we stop pretending this is made for children? It’s a way to control inventory and force owners to play by their rules and control the brand. I have been to tournaments and the wife spent 4k on it already this year. MAYBE 2% of people I see are children and every single one has a parent with them. Given the opportunity the two shop owners I know would happily forgo this garbage and keep their events 18+ or just handle safety themselves.
Stop giving feel good excuses for card companies to continue to turn this shit into fomo crazy events and telling people where they can fucking play and with who.
So, I volunteer at what, according to the Pokémon Company, is the highest-attendence Play! Pokémon location in the region.
While it is indeed mostly adults, we do get several children at our events. Specifically, the store runs both competitive and casual Pre-release events and casual ones tend to be around 80% children (of around 30 attendees).
The tournaments are likely adults, but the IP is definitely being sold to kids and I wouldn’t be surprised if childhood is when most players first start playing.
Pokemon has a vested interest in keeping the tournament scene kid friendly even if most of the players are adults.
Not at the show I frequent. When I say I’m close with store owners, our kids have sleep overs. So I assume you in getting their full opinions because I’ve brought this up with the new my little pony tcg. It’s overwhelmingly adults. Even for my little pony. Sold out in a day to adults, every single one. The majority of those guys open in store.
The kids aren’t in tournaments for the most part, you get one or two sometimes in a big one. The trade shows are mostly adults. They aren’t buying boxes off of eBay for $300 a pop. They aren’t buying from stores.
Maybe it’s different outside the US 🤷♂️ but we someone with close ties to owners and a wife spending 6k a year on cards I fail to see more than a paltry amount and I have never seen the kids at school playing Pokemon or any other tcg outside once playing mtg. I just feel like I would have seen some modest population of kids at some point.
But the IP is still for children and it is still very likely that Game Freak and Nintendo want to make sure that the IP stays kids friendly even if the card game is mainly played by adults.
Any single blemish more serious than a speeding ticket, and you’re out
And rightfully so
Really? What if Pokemon literally changed somebody’s life? What if 15 years before they applied to become a professor they have a possession charge and the game is what inspired them to change? Can people really not earn a clean slate?
To be clear, I don’t feel this way, but there’s gotta be somebody that does.
I know someone who fits that description, but when he applied, the Pokémon Company dug up his past and denied his application. His wife was approved though, so he’s fine with it.
But the Pokémon Company has no way to differentiate between a genuinely changed person and someone who has a seedy past and is still seedy. So they err on the safe side. At the location I run events at, some casual events are between 50-80% children so I understand why.
How do you expect a company to properly identify a person whose “life literally changed”. It’s their ass on the line of something goes wrong.
That’s pretty informative, thanks. Do you know why they changed his grade on the test after the background check? Why couldn’t they just say “You passed the test, but we’re not letting you use our brand to work with children”?
The test is 100% multiple choice, so I have no idea. It’s graded automatically and if you fail, you know immediately and you can retake it in a week.
Something tells me attempting to sue Nintendo because you didn’t get the job should count as a pretty major blemish.
How the fuck do you become a Pokémon professor lol
You apply online, take an exam, and pass a background check. Then you go and obtain at least one of the certs, which are just online courses.
It’s not difficult, but to pass the exam you do need to study the provided manuals and rulebooks.
Are you named after a tree?
I asume you need a PhD from the Pokémon university
deleted by creator
by doing experiments on pokemon, what makes them tick.
looks at Pikachu
looks at C4
Pikachu runs
‘wait I need to make you tick!’
Cmon show some respect he is a Professor!
More garbage to create fomo from garbage company that turned a fun game into an addiction.
“Owens” isn’t the name of a tree, that’s the problem
and yes I went into the article specifically to find the last name
That’s all that really matters in this case. Fucking idiotdoesnt even understand Pokémon professorship but thinks he’s entitled
Man needs to change his name.
Professor Stump
Could be a cousin to Dr. Slump, too!
Is there a Professor Maple? Sequoia? Redwood? Spruce. There are so many options!
If Pokemon Professors are named after trees, does that mean that they’re all grass type?
low-level felony
I very much am against discrimination of anybody who has contact with our criminal justice system, but still, lol.
I think the problem is not the crime he is accused of but the fact that he has outstanding arrest warrants he is hiding from. It would be awkward if all the kids gather for a tournament and as the judge is explaining game rules cops burst in and drag him away.
Gotta pump up those numbers. You need 30+ felony counts to be president. Professor probably needs at least a few more.
Nintendo looking shady on this one.
Nintendo???
I thought we bombed that place.
USA: and we’ll do it again
