"Let me give you some advice bastard. Never forget what you are. The rest of the world will not. Wear it like armour, and it can never be used to hurt you."
-- Tyrion Lannister --
The above quote portrays my feelings on the matter quite well. I'll never be ashamed of my preferences. The contrary in fact, I'm proud of them. Non-mainstream preferences say something about your own drive for real authenticity, and of choosing to remain authentic despite resistance from society. It's a strength.
So honestly, my reaction could be described as the 'honey badger'. I just do what I want, and the rest can go frak themselves (or each other while they are at it, and produce those oh-so-desirable mainstream kids frakking up society and making it the--- nevermind I'm getting carried away). Point is, these people assuming individuals that play Pokemon cannot be creative, intelligent, competent human beings aren't worth your time. Nor words. Or energy. If you engage in any discussions with these people, you are indirectly taking them/their statements seriously. They will feel acknowledged (either consciously or unconsciously), and will likely not be enlightened. It has nothing to do with your own skills of communication. It's just their own incapability to appreciate anything that hasn't been spoon-fed into them by society's social standards. Let them figure it out by themselves, perhaps when they are nothing more than old, wrinkled, insatiable and unsatisfied consumers (if they keep this attitude up).
In a practical sense, you have several possibilities of not taking them/their statements seriously.
Some examples:
- Frowning at them in disbelief
- Laughing in their face
- Looking at them as if trying to understand them, then shaking your head as you must have imagined something to be interesting while it wasn't, and continue what you were doing
- Flat out ignoring them
Or any combination of these of course. The list goes on...