Pokemon and the Competitive Exclusion Principle

[Wedge]

Another of my random Smogon writing topics

Laws of nature tend to appear in any place where competition exists, especially in games with mechanics like Pokemon. For those of you who don't know, the Competitive Exclusion Principle states that no two organisms can occupy the same niche in an environment for an indefinite period of time; one of the two organisms will be driven to extinction. The relationship between Pokemon such as Lucario and Gallade is prominent example of this phenomenon. Lucario and Gallade are, all in all, similar Pokemon in terms of the role that they play on teams. If you have a Lucario on your team, chances are that you don't also run a Gallade since the roles they generally play are remarkably similar. Over time, when both of these Pokemon were commonplace in OU, people started to realize that Lucario's greater Speed, movepool, and typing enabled it to be the better sweeper. Hence, natural selection and the Competitive Exclusion Principle took effect, forcing Gallade out of the niche and into extinction (BL/UU). The same is true of Rotom-A and Dusknoir. Both are used as bulky Ghosts and spin blockers, but Rotom-A's better typing, ability, and movepool pushed it past its spectral competitor. When was the last time you saw a Dusknoir?

Dragons are probably the best example of natural selection and the CEP. Garchomp and Flygon originally occupied the same niche. Comparing them side by side, Garchamp clearly had the advantage over Flygon in stats and movepool. As such, Garchomp forced Flygon out of the niche and became the sole occupant. However, once Garchomp was removed from the environment, Flygon started to rise in usage and has recently flourished. You'll notice that Flygon and Salamence both thrive because they occupy different niches; Salamence is a DDer or a Mixed wall breaker while Flygon preforms revenge killing duties as a Scarfer. If both tried to only fulfill the position of a mixed wallbreaker, Salamence would most likely drive Flygon to 'extinction' due to its superior movepool and Special Attack. Salamence was about to push Dragonite into obscurity because they both filled essentially the same niche in OU, but then Dragonite received adaptations in the forms of Superpower and Extremespeed and it claimed a niche, however nebulous, for its own.

As Darwin said, it is not the strongest nor the most intelligent organism who survives, but the one who most efficiently adapts to a changing environment. This is why Pokemon such as Salamence, Gyarados, and Heatran have withstood the test of time and remained top players in OU. It doesn't matter how the metagame is structured at any given time because these Pokemon have the means to adapt to it. Pokemon such as Electivire have declined in usage because the changing metagame offers too much competition for it to fulfill its fundamental niche and results in it acquiring a much lower realized niche.

In nature, organisms often adapt to accommodate the adaptations of other organisms. This is true in Pokemon as well. The most common example of this that I can provide is the Scizor/Gengar relationship. Scizor's newest adaptation, Bullet Punch, provided it with the means to easily eliminate Gengar. Because of this, Gengar acquired a new set in the form of MysticGar which allows it to beat Scizor in individual combat. It was only because of the challenge presented by Scizor that the MysticGar set became viable. In any other situation, the change from the standard Gengar would be perceived as a waste of a moveslot. Gengar's response to this change in the metagame allowed it to continue to function, and saved it from extinction unlike Pokemon such as the inflexible Porygon-Z and Electivire.

[Macawmoses]

I love how the application of Biology to anything. Gause's principle holds true again.

[Drezford_the_Rebell]

don't forget that there's a HUGE difference being that pokemon can come back as the metagame changes.

It's like if T-rex became alive again.

We'd be intercourse ed.

[Neerb]

I hate Salamence for pushing the classically awesome Dragonite into what is essentially obscurity. I actually use Dancing Dragonite instead of Dancing Sal almost entirely out of spite.  :)

[Drezford_the_Rebell]

I hate Salamence for pushing the classically awesome Dragonite into what is essentially obscurity. I actually use Dancing Dragonite instead of Dancing Sal almost entirely out of spite.  :)

Doesn't help the fact that using Salamence for that job would be a lot better.

[Neerb]

Doesn't help the fact that using Salamence for that job would be a lot better.

Stop reminding me.  :(

[えっちーせんぱい]

Gallade looks better so Gallade > Lucario.

Yeah, I don't battle to kick everyone elses ass, I just do what I can with my favorites; intercourse  categorization.