Justice for Firestar

L for Play! Pokémon.

Look at Firestar hugging his Jirachi plush. So unsportsmanlike.

There has been a firestorm of controversy surrounding Pokémon GO this past week. In a departure from the norm, however, the blame lies not with Niantic or Scopely, but rather with Play! Pokémon and the decision-making that has led to condemnation from within and from outside the PoGO community. It feels strange to say, dear Reader, but it's true.

So, what's all the hubbub about? This latest public relations nightmare arose when Firestar73, battling his way back from the losers’ bracket in the Orlando regional Play! Pokémon tournament, bested NiteTimeClasher in the grand finals, beating him 3-1 to force a second best-of-five series, ultimately prevailing in a decisive Game 5. Except after the fact, Firestar73 was handed a game loss, thereby awarding what would've been his first ever regional tourney title to his opponent. The livestream of the event ended without any mention of such a reversal, with dismayed fans only finding out about the change after the fact.

What was Firestar's sin necessitating the assignment of a game loss and denying him a coveted championship? Dropping his headset on the table and pumping his fist in celebration. You read that correctly—this seemingly tame post-match celebration was apparently an act of poor sportsmanship. I say “apparently” because, at least as of this writing, Play! Pokémon has yet to issue a statement on Firestar73 being stripped of his title, so we don't even have confirmation on the matter.

With any fandom, especially one of the size of Pokémon and Pokémon GO, it's hard to find an issue that unites players amid a cavalcade of different viewpoints from people of varying ages and walks of life. Re PoGO, it usually occurs when Niantic/Scopely screws up so profoundly that nearly everyone thinks it's wrong. The Orlando regional switcheroo is one of these moments. Almost universally, folks took to the Internet and social media to express their disdain for this decision. In the vein of “How bad was it?”-style jokes, it was so bad that ZyoniK, one of the OGs of Pokémon GO PvP content, came out of quasi-retirement to make a video protesting this result. Better yet, it was so bad that even normies not involved with the game were commenting on the affair. Normies. I'm shuddering just writing it.

For my part, I have watched the replay of Firestar's victory celebration alongside ItsAXN's commentary on the situation, and nothing seems excessive or mean-spirited about it. Could Firestar have more gently placed his headset down when getting up from his chair? Yes, but this wasn't done out of malice or disrespect for NiteTimeClasher. He was, if anything, careless in that moment with a piece of personal property, of which I'm sure we've all been guilty at some point. He even shook hands with his fellow competitor after the battle had concluded. If Firestar73 violated any rules, it certainly wasn't in the spirit of unfair play.

And what do the rules say anyway? I found nothing in the Play! Pokémon code of conduct referencing accidentally dropping a headset too loudly or anything else that Firestar did to warrant censure in the form of a game loss. More specifically, the official Pokémon GO tournament handbook states that a game loss should be assessed “when a mistake severely impacts the integrity of the game state.” It didn't in this instance, though. At that point in the match and as the saying goes, it was all over but the crying. Firestar's win wasn't in doubt.

Again, until we hear from Play! Pokémon on the specific set of circumstances leading up to the application of a game loss penalty, we can't know exactly why it or an affiliated corporate entity ruled in the fashion it did. There's still the hope, moreover, that the powers-that-be will recant and reinstate Firestar73 as the Orlando regional champion. In the interim, we're left with a highly unpopular top-down adjudication that appears to fly in the face of past player celebrations which were yet more pronounced and which have been used in promotional material for these very tournaments. If this result stands, it's at best an overreaction and at worst an arbitrary move which erodes confidence in competitive Pokémon play as an institution.

Not that optics mean the same as right and wrong, but this episode is such a bad look for Play! Pokémon and, by proxy, Pokémon GO, when the latter doesn't need any help generating ill will—let's be honest. Justice for Firestar. He and the rest of an embattled PoGO PvP community deserve better.