1. On average, how much money do you spend on pokemon a month?
Not as much as I have with Magic: The Gathering, infact I usually spend less on Pokemon than I do with Magic. I usually get my cards via trade, buying singles on eBay, and getting 1 booster box per set. I'm not able to trade with other players online though.
So yeah... :/
2. On average, how much time do you spend on pokemon daily?
TCG wise it's during Friday evenings and Saturdays when I'm off work and sometimes with my sister when she's bored. She sometimes helps me test new decks out with one of my other decks that I've already built.
3. Do you consider yourself a pokemon player, or a person who plays pokemon?
I think what you're getting at with "Pokemon Player" is as a person that plays the TCG exclusively in regards to a person who plays Pokemon also plays the video games on the DS as well.
As for me I consider myself a person who plays Pokemon which is in regards to both the TCG and
the Video Games.
4. Do you find it offensive/demeaning/frustrating when someone calls pokemon a kids a game (I know I do)
Well everyone is entitled to their own opinion afterall, but in truth the person that's calling Pokemon a kids game doesn't know what they're missing out on. If they actually took the time to try it out and see If they really like it their opinion of it might actually change.
It's like the old saying, "You can't always judge a book by it's cover until you read it." Same analogy can be said in video games, TCG/CCG's, and movies as well. At first you might not like it but If you give it a chance you may end up enjoying the ride.
5. What would you catogorize pokemon as: a hobby? A lifestyle? A time-waster? etc.
Most likely a hobby, not sure about it being a lifestyle. I don't see why not as long as you don't get too carried away I guess.
6. If you didn't play pokemon, what would you do instead to fill in that time? More importantly would it be used to simply pursue another hobby?
Playing TCG/CCG's like I have been despite the lack of many in today's Secondary Market, that's kind of a hard question cause I don't have much going on besides working at my part time job which motivates me to continue my hobby of playing TCG/CCG's in the first place, and also being there for my friends who I get to hang out with whenever I'm off for the weekend.
College for me is out of the question regarding the fragile state of the current economy and I don't plan on going to college anytime soon If ever. I've already lost a few of my old friends by them going to college or serving the armed forces though some of them have came back which is great.
I have a really good work shift that I can't afford to sacrifice. So far my life's been going great so far, I'm blessed with a loving family, great friends, a great job (schedule wise), and I appreciate everything God has done for me so far in my life.
As for other hobbies I'm not sure, yeah I got ahead of myself there didn't I?
7. Do you feel that the pokemon TCG has had a good or bad impact on your life, and why?
I think it's had a great impact on my life however I didn't get into it as much until Diamond/Pearl was shortly introduced which was a few years ago. Before then I also had other interests going on playing Magic: The Gathering, Yu-Gi-Oh!, Marvel/DC Vs. System, and other TCGs.
I used to think Pokemon was kiddy at one point, but then I remember back in the early 2000's when I played Pokemon Yellow on my Gameboy Color, Pokemon Stadium, and Pokemon Snap on the Nintendo 64. That was the first time I ever started playing Pokemon but then it kinda died out on me until recently a couple of years ago when I got back into Pokemon. In Yellow I remember getting to the St. Anne at Vermillion City with Pikachu as my starter but that was the last memory I had of it.
I think what drew me off from Pokemon years ago was that it was alot harder to battle your friends or even trade without Wi-Fi and now it's MUCH, MUCH more easier to do it without even needing a Link Cable ALL THE TIME. All you need now is a DS and a AC Adapter or Charger and you're set. Back then there was the bad stuff going around where people would end up getting hacked Pokemon like Missingno, or end up having their game's frozen while having to pay for a new one which sucked big time. Though the threat is still there in the Gen IV games it's not quite as bad as it was back then.
I was also skeptical about the Pokemon Anime at one point but then when I was re-watching the old episodes especially the Hoenn one's I got more into the series (this was a few years ago btw). After watching reruns of Dragonball Z among other Anime from Toonami I gave Pokemon a second chance and haven't looked back. I actually used to be in the Yu-Gi-Oh! craze at one point right back before I graduated from high school in the early 2000's and since 2004 Yu-Gi-Oh! just wasn't the same for me anymore.
So I tried and played other TCG/CCG's, some of which I still play to this very day namely Magic. Another thing as to how Pokemon has made a good impact on me is how other people were interested as well, being able to hang out with my friends and battle with good solid strategy, having an anti-drug in my life when I'm really bored. You could call it an anti-drug but in a sense it "kinda" is.
I remember I was just getting out of the Naruto CCG right when I started the Pokemon TCG and I was so sick and tired of Bandai jacking up the Naruto CCG to the point where I needed to find balance, consistency, but most of all diversity in decks being played without being stuck in a stagnant metagame of not being able to run what I want and have fun with it.
I wanted to be able to build decks that were original (well somewhat original) and though the Naruto CCG now has I guess you could say more diversity than it did back a couple years ago I still find the Pokemon TCG the better card game compared to the Naruto CCG. In the Naruto CCG well after when I was alright at the game I didn't enjoy the game as much as I used to cause for me it was basically a luck sack race to see who would win first.
Pokemon just has more diversity in terms of strategy, decks, and most of all enjoying yourself while playing. That's one of the things we like about playing card games is having fun while doing it right? Of course. Yeah I know I'm repeating myself, but that's the bottom line. Cherish your wins and learn from your losses, improve to become a better player, and have fun doing it at the same time.
I also really like how the Pokemon video games have evolved over the years, never have I thought that the video games would turn out to be as fun as playing a TCG/CCG while being with your friends doing it instead of spending mindless hours on MMORPG's like WoW. No offense to anyone though.
