Server Crash plot post.

[indigo_league]

We have a little event we plan to run at the start of July, but we feel it will work best if you guys all get a little extra time to plan, so without further ado

Welcome to the Silph Co Server-crash of 2024!


What is happening?

Well, unfortunately for Silph Co their carefully maintained servers are going to run into a little problem starting on July 5th until July 7th. Now, before you start laughing and pointing at the mega-corporation (not that we’d normally discourage that behaviour!), please remember that in addition to just making a lot of money, Silph Co servers are also the infrastructure that supports the Pokemon Storage System, as developed by Bill. You know, that storage system that keeps your pokemon in the computer and communicates between them and their pokeballs? That system?

Yeah. We are all in big trouble!

Server outages? In my pokemon game?

It is more likely than you’d think.

In essence what is going to transpire is that due to a bug in Pokemon Storage System source code, some pokemon are going to get shuffled around and end up with the wrong trainers. You might think you are releasing your darling Cutiefly from their pokeball, but nope. It’s Someone’s Wailord. And where has your Cutiefly gone?

Now! Silph Co will be quick to assure everybody that the innermost layer of the system has not been breached and most pokemon data is quite safe! You won’t need to worry about someone else trading away your pokemon or releasing them. It’s just something in the location software going very wrong and sending the wrong pokemon to the wrong places. They’ll have this fixed very soon!

… hopefully.

So my character’s pokemon will be gone?

Some of your character’s pokemon might be… temporarily displaced. They aren’t gone! They just aren’t… with you.

But! They are also not lost in the digital space! Can you imagine that? Digital Monsters? What a silly idea! No, your pokemon are just, uh… kind of with other trainers right now. And their pokemon are with you. Ma’am. Ma’am, please stop shouting. Yes, we understand this is troublesome, but we assure you your darling Pookiekins is just fine!

So my pokemon could be anywhere?

Not anywhere exactly!

You see, your characters actually have a small benefit. It seems that when Otherworlders first started arriving here, Silph Co set up a separate server to handle all your pokemon. It doesn’t mean you are unaffected (unfortunately), but the good thing is that your pokemon can only have ended up with other Otherworlders!

So, uhm. Maybe you’ll be able to find where your pokemon have gone via the network. Please go consult the network and stop yelling at us, we are working very hard to fix this.

Will all my character’s pokemon be affected?

Not necessarily! It’s up to you to decide how many of your characters’ pokemon will be affected by this. As we all know, Computer Code is a strange esoteric beast that nobody truly understands, and for some reason not everybody is equally affected.

Some people might find that most of their pokemon are where they are supposed to be but a few are missing. Some might find all their pokemon gone. Some might even find they are completely unaffected by this bug. It’s all up to you!

How can we determine whose pokemon end up where?

And now we get to why we put up this thing a little early!

Essentially there will be two ways.

The first way, which most of you will be very familiar with is… plot it out with other players! This post can be used for that. Make a comment for your character and what pokemon you’d be okay with ending up with another player for the weekend and comment around! You don’t need to know a person to accidentally end up with one of their pokemon. So this could be a good way to meet a new friend. Or alternatively, maybe you’ve always wanted the hilarity of inflicting your worst pokemon on some unsuspecting folks.

Also, due to the nature of the bug, it doesn’t mean that all of Trainer X’s pokemon end up with Trainer Y and vice-versa. Your pokemon can go to multiple different trainers and you could end up with pokemon from various trainers.

All we ask is to always make sure to get permission from other players! Even if nothing can actually happen to the pokemon, we still want everybody to have fun here.


Now, the second way to determine this thing is…. To Let Fate Decide.

We will have a separate comment where you can sign up your character plus a number of their pokemon to be randomly distributed across the game. Want that element of mystery and randomness? Then submit yourself to us and our wheel of fate.

For the random selection process, we must impress upon the fact that it will be truly random. We cannot keep any specific wishes regarding pokemon type and species in mind. So if you really do not want your character to end up with a fire pokemon because they have a trauma or something, please skip the Wheel of Fate.

Another thing about our wheel is that when you sign up, you can only sign up to three pokemon to randomly be distributed and sign up for up to three slots to receive a pokemon. This is just for our sake, because if we’d have to spin the wheel for some of you guys’ 100+ pokemon rosters, we’d go crazy.


Of course, this doesn’t need to be an either/or decision! Feel free to sign up a few pokemon for our random wheel, while also taking it to the comments to figure out what will happen to the rest of your pokemon.

This plot isn’t really my jam.

That’s fine. Like we said, bugs are bugs and not every user is affected. If this isn’t of interest to you, feel free to sit this one out.

How about things like gym battles or breeding?

Because this glitch is affecting everybody, that also include the gym leaders! So for this particular weekend, gyms will be closed and you won’t be able to use your temporary new pokemon to beat up that gym leader that has been just out of your reach for far too long.

As for things like pokemon gaining levels or breeding while under temporary new management – we leave this up to you. As long as you get permission from the player who actually owns the pokemon, things like breeding, level gain and even evolution could happen.

Is Team Rocket behind this?!

Hah. Team Rocket wishes they were behind this. No, unfortunately, they are as affected as the rest of you and Mr Giovanni, wherever he might be, is searching very hard for where his precious Persian has gone. Crime is on hold right now, we have to track down that cat!

I have some questions about this!

We figured you might, which is also why we posted this a little early. Ask your questions and you will receive an answer.