What is our Vision Statement?

Hello everyone and welcome to Hackmons.com!

First, I want to thank you for visiting our website. Since showing off our website to YouTube and Discord, we have seen a huge influx of visitors, with thousands of page views each day. My own YT Channel hit 10k+ subs while my secondary channel on TCG Pocket is seeing fast growth too. I also want to give special thanks to our amazing staff members: @theenigmatist @electra102 @theflyofdestiny for helping out with the server and managing our Moveset database. And last but not least, I want to thank you, our valued community member, for coming across this project and enjoying our many useful features for Pokemon players.

I want to talk about our Vision Statement, or mission statement. The purpose for hackmons.com is to grow the community of Pokemon players who enjoy hacked Pokemon, and to introduce new players to this universe. Whether you are a competitive Showdown player, a casual enjoyer, or anywhere in-between, this is a place where we can all come together and learn from each other, work with each other, and play against each other.

I made the website because I felt there was a need for it in the Pokemon community. To be more precise - I felt like there were resources out there for BH/PH players, but a lot of sets were scattered on various forums, different websites, and there wasn’t a specific place or “hackmons hub” you could go to for all of your hackmons needs.

The website’s primary interest was the “Tools” section - namely Type Coverage, Team Builder, and Weakness Checkers. I felt like all 3 of these were mostly lacking in the community. There wasn’t a good Type Coverage application on any website that offers inter-generational support, Scrappy Mode, Tinted Lens support, or even including niche moves like Flying Press and Freeze-Dry that contain their own separate Type Coverage. Our Weakness Checkers and even our EV Optimizer include aspects that are tailored towards the Hackmons experience, including support for abilities like Wonder Guard. No other website does something like this, and so I decided to make a website that does.

Now, the moveset section was another category that went into the initial plans for this website - it was originally meant to document the more common movesets that people should be familiar with. I talked to different people in various Discords, and found that a lot of people were looking for something similar to what Smogon offered for OU/UU/Ubers, but that went a step further and made significant insights that only seasoned hackmons players would know. Since those discussions, we have made many improvements to the moveset database experience, including the ability for valued members to comment and rate movesets. We hope that this will encourage users to not only submit movesets, but also submit high-quality content that others will appreciate.

One of the things that, for better or worse, I had to concede is that I am not a highly-rated competitive player and I don’t have the time to really invest in pushing on Pokemon Showdown. I prefer casual gameplay because it’s less stressful. For that reason, I’m not the best person to go to for BH/PH advice. I wouldn’t even know where to start other than reading some of the many forum posts about this topic. I have the self-awareness to know my limitations, which was why I have been asking around and connecting with people in the community who can point me in the right direction.

Let me be very clear about something: This website is NOT trying to compete with any other organization. I don’t disrespect Smogon, or PokemonDB, or Veekun, or Marriland; on the contrary, I want to work with other communities and help people who want a starting point like myself. I come from a casual background, and I think the VAST majority of Pokemon players (like 90% of YouTube enjoyers) play casual or really don’t care too much about competitive. What I want to do is somewhat two-fold: I want to introduce new players to hackmons, and give them a fresh perspective. I want to welcome people of all different backgrounds, and provide a safe space for competitive and non-competitive alike.

So yes, for those who have been wondering: I do see a need to unify resources for the various hackmons formats, but more importantly I want these communities to grow. I want to bring more awareness to these communities.

I hope y’all enjoy your stay here at Hackmons.com, and I hope you all have a Happy New Years!

-IS2L