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Are you a Timmy, a Johnny, or a Spike?

Are you a Timmy, a Johnny, or a Spike?

  • Timmy

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Johnny

    Votes: 1 100.0%
  • Spike

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Timmy/Johnny

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Timmy/Spike

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Johnny/Spike

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • All Three

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
    1

Ophie

Salingerian Phony
When it comes to playing Pokémon, would you consider yourself a Timmy/Tammy, a Johnny/Jenny, or a Spike? These are player psychographic archetypes created by Mark Rosewater, the lead card designer of Magic: The Gathering, but they can be applied to any game with a large degree of customization (and some without).

I'll explain them below and how they apply to Pokémon, but if you want some quick links, here are a couple:
1. The original article describing the archetypes and sub-types
2. A more general explanation from the outside

Timmy/Tammy
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This player archetype plays for the experience. There are two main ways a Timmy/Tammy goes about it: They are either interested mainly in the spectacle and big plays, or they're interested mainly in socialization. The subcategories of this archetype are as follows:
  • The Power Gamer plays a game to see big, powerful things happen. It doesn't matter if it's difficult to get there; they will do whatever it takes to ensure they pull it off. In the Pokémon video games, that would be the person who plays every battle looking forward to using that Mega Evolution, Z-Move, Dynamax, and/or Gigantamax; or otherwise sticks with high-power moves, even if they have drawbacks like low accuracy or recoil damage. In the Pokémon TCG, a Power Gamer's deck would feature a gimmick of some sort, either past or present, such as Pokémon V-Max, or from earlier sets, Pokémon EX, Legend cards, and Pokémon-star. They are also likely to prefer using high-damage attacks, even if they're Energy-costly or have severe drawbacks.
  • The Social Gamer plays the game as a means to get together with a group of friends, all of whom are also very likely other Social Gamers. This can be online or offline. Both the Pokémon video games and card game work the same way: If you are a Social Gamer, you have a circle you prefer to play with and are likely not too interested in playing against anyone else. It doesn't matter what approach you take to play the game itself, as long as it doesn't bring the mood down of the people around you.
  • The Diversity Gamer is more interested in unusual rules and formats. Perhaps only Pokémon of a certain theme are allowed. Perhaps everyone should begin the first turn with a status move. Perhaps only Grass Energy can be played. Perhaps everyone's decks should be twice as big as the official rules would normally allow. The only consistent rule is that they don't stick with a particular set of rules for too long.
  • The Adrenalin Gamer prefers to roll the proverbial dice as much as they can. They're not too interested in the outcome of a match. They're more interested in what outlandish things can happen or how much of a match can be left to chance. If you really like the moves Metronome and/or Assist or your decks are full of coin flips and rock-paper-scissors, you're probably in this subtype.
  • The Griefer plays to intentionally make other people upset. Please do not do this.

Johnny/Jenny
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This player plays the game as a form of self-expression. They want to stand out in some way and be memorable to others, either by being weird and eccentric or by being as clever as they possibly can. Timmy/Tammy players and Spike players exist in all games where there is a competitive scene, but only those with high customization produce a lot of Johnny/Jenny players; it's the customization they enjoy the most. This isn't to say that they don't exist in other games--those with very large rosters, like Super Smash Bros. Ultimate have their own Johnnies and Jennies too. (Do not confuse with Officer Jenny.) These are the different subtypes of Johnny/Jenny:
  • The Combo Player wants to find connections between whatever is available, especially if they haven't yet been discovered. This is the sort of person who wants to figure out why Cursola was designed with Perish Body, a stalling Ability, yet has very low Defense, and once they figure it out, wishes nothing more than to unleash it on the world. This is the sort of person who looks at Passimian from Ultra Prism and realizes it pairs up pretty well with Passimian from the original Sun & Moon TCG set.
  • The Offbeat Designer puts rules on oneself as a personal challenge to see how well they can cope under those restrictions. Offbeat Designers love themes and can't wait to show it to other players. People who use monotype teams in the video games, for example, fall into this category, whereas the TCG might have the inverse, someone using a deck using as many basic Energy types as possible.
  • The Deck Artist follows themes too, but from a different direction. Offbeat Designers focus on mechanics, while the Deck Artist focus on the artistic design or on outside references. If you encounter a team made entirely of Pokémon based on African animals or a deck where every Pokémon is illustrated by Kagemaru Himeno, for instance, you are encountering a Deck Artist. On rare occasions, a Deck Artist may also play to tell a story to their opponent. If you happen to see a team with Celesteela, Lunatone, and one of the rabbit Pokémon in it, they're probably telling you the legend of Princess Kaguya.
  • The Uber Johnny, AKA Uber Jenny, is a nonconformist and maybe also an iconoclast. They pick their Pokémon and strategies based on what the competitive players have rejected or ignored. For them, they play either to prove that something deemed unworkable is indeed workable or that they were the first one to pull off something others have tried and failed. In the video games, if you see a team made up only of Pokémon in the lower tiers or a deck with a strategy you've never seen before, and they are putting up a better fight than you might have expected, they are an Uber Johnny/Jenny. If you can't bring yourself to even touch Pokémon in OU or popular deck archetypes, you are an Uber Johnny/Jenny.
Spike
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This player plays to win. There isn't anything more complicated than that. Granted, nearly all people who play Pokémon multiplayer or the TCG are playing to win, but Spike is seeking the glory that comes with victories. Spike wants to move up in the rankings as far as they can and prove that they were knowledgeable and skilled enough to do it, whether that's proving to other people or proving to themselves. There are different subtypes of Spike too:
  • The Innovator is constantly on the lookout for the next new strategy that will take them to the top. Unlike Johnny, they aren't too interested in being different for the sake of being different; rather, they feel the metagame is incomplete and are seeking to find gaps in it. You are likely dealing with an Innovator if you encounter a team or deck commonly found among competitive people...but with one or two things different about it.
  • The Tuner picks up where the Innovator leaves off. Instead of finding new ways to change the metagame, Tuners observe Johnnies and Innovators and try to refine them further. They believe the key to victory is to take an existing strategy and pushing its potential as far as it can go. It is, admittedly, difficult to identify a Tuner if you've never met them before, and they can be mistaken for other types of Spike because their refinements are not necessarily easy to spot.
  • The Analyst intently studies the metagame. Analysts believe the best way to win is to know exactly what the metagamers are doing and figure out how to counter whatever is popular at the time. To identify one, though, you'll have to understand the metagame itself. During the time in Generation IV when Pokémon-SP were all the rage, Analysts used decks centered around Machamp, who could inflict instant Knock Outs on any Pokémon-SP. Analysts like to pack Sucker Punch onto their teams to be ready for when Dragapult shows up.
  • The Nuts and Bolts is not interested in the customization aspect at all. Instead, they believe that, by copying someone else's team or deck and then honing their play until they understand the team or deck well enough to make perfect decisions, they can climb to the top. Sites like Smogon and PokéBeach cater to the Nuts and Bolts player, as they provide resources needed for the Nuts and Bolts player to put together a deck and instantly close the gap with other competitive players. Based on my experiences, most Spikes are of this subtype.
There are also hybrids, though these are a bit tougher to nail down:
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  • A Timmy/Johnny is most interested in unusual formats that requires them to assemble something from scratch or making unique teams and decks with an emphasis on hard-hitting attacks. They are essentially assembling teams or decks and flexing their creativity, but for socialization or to feel powerful rather than for expression.
  • A Timmy/Spike goes to tournaments and picks existing strategies based on what they would find the most fun. It isn't necessarily the one that wins the most, since while a Timmy/Spike wants to win, they feel a win is hollow if you didn't have fun along the way. This is not to say that pure Spikes don't have fun playing, just that a Timmy/Spike finds some strategies as boring and will not pick those.
  • A Johnny/Spike takes his or her unusual teams or decks and actually brings them to a competition. They are driven by sheer ambition. They not only make exotic teams and/or decks, they will go head-to-head against proven archetypes at public events to show that they can match wits with the best of them.
  • A Timmy/Johnny/Spike is...torn, to say the least. They want to win, they want to be creative, and they want to socialize/do powerful stuff. Rosewater labels this as the rarest type of player, since it's very hard to stay focused on all three facets. Typically, one prefers one or two over the others.
 
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