Personal memo regarding the shutdown of the league.
Four years. It’s incredible to think that an online Pokemon battle simulator league lasted that long. I am one of the oldest members and have seen the league transition from one phase to the next, seeing the league born, bringing it to the peak of its glory, witnessing its slow but steady decline and finally, its inevitable closure.
Let’s start with a little bit of history, the league was founded on the 19th Of May 2013 by Neith, out of spite. Neith recruited me on the 20th, which is just the 2nd day of the league. The concept of leagues was foreign to me at the time, but I thought it’d be fun and gave it a shot. And boy was I not disappointed. It quickly became a daily routine of mine to immediately open Pokemon Showdown (Later the server, when we have it) when I turn on my computer almost every day. Even though I might be doing other stuff, I would leave it open in the background.
Through these four years, Sora has seen many changes, from a chatroom on Chatzy (only a handful of you would remember this), a room on main server, merging with Biblia League, losing our room when main started to think leagues were a bad idea, hosting our very first server on my computer (remember when the lag was like 5 minutes) and of course to where we are today, hosting our server on a VPS, courtesy of Noah.
I never would have thought that I would end up still being a part of this after 4 years when I initially joined. Even though my activity was not what it used to be in the last two years due to real life commitments, my heart has always been with Sora. Administrating this league have taught me many things, such as how to deal with all sorts of people from different backgrounds and nationalities, learning to be responsible and working together with the Admin Team to brainstorm for ideas. All of these has helped me grow and learn to handle things in real life, making me the person I am today (I have held many leadership positions irl over the last few years).
I would like to thank all members, both old and new, those who have left and those who are still with us for making this league possible. To think that we have formed such bonds over an online game is hard to believe. We are much more than just a Pokemon league, Sora become a retreat for everyone from the hardships of real life, helping some people to cope with mental health, giving some a home and family they never had and of course bringing so many people from all over the world together and form lasting friendships.
I will not be able to write a personal message to everyone as there is just too many people, but here are a few honourable mentions: