Terminology

[Eevee]

Splitting out of the proposals thread.

To summarize:

- "IVs" should be called "genes" and "EVs" should just be called "effort", dangit.
- Egg group names are semi-canon (mentioned by a single NPC in Stadium), but not very helpful. I have some possible alternatives.
- Body types may also need some totally awesome names, though note that they seem to be absent from gen 5.

Anything else? There have been some scant mentions of standardizing how we refer to generations and games, but I really don't think anything we're doing now is vague enough to be confusing.

[DanLite]

Definitely, egg groups should be renamed. One goal would be to rename the groups that share a name with a type (Ground/Water/Dragon/Flying/Bug).

In my Pokedex app, I chose to use my own names. Here's my take on them:

Current name (My name)

Monster (Beast): Defined as "an animal, esp. a large or dangerous four-footed one", I think "Beast" is a good fit. "Monster" is really generic (and perhaps a bit unfair?).

Water 1 (Aquatic)

Ground (no change): I'll add "Land" as a potential alternative, as well as "Mammal" since that's what (almost) all of these Pokemon are based on.

Water 3 (Invertebrate): This is a tough one, I leaned toward "Arthropod", but settled for the more generic term. Typically Pokemon here are water-dwellers (but I wouldn't classify them as deep-sea), but this rule has gotten more lax with the non-Water 3rd gen fossils, then Skorupi/Drapion, and now the fossil bird Pokemon (which additionally is not even an invertebrate!). I'm more tempted than ever to name this group "Fossil". Also, by name, "Invertebrate" and "Arthropod" would both cover the entire "Bug" group.

Mineral (no change): I like Eevee's suggestion of "Inanimate", though "Mineral" does a fairly good job of describing the Pokemon in this group that actually can breed by way of having a gender.

Bug (no change): I had considered "Insect", but decided against it for the sake of technical correctness ("spiders aren't insects!"). I now support this name. The majority of Pokemon here are based off real insects, and besides, Game Freak doesn't make any spiders with 8 legs, so we're all good.

Indeterminate (Gelatinous): This name was in dire need of change. I chose "Gelatinous" because they seem squishy, and several look capable of fangorious devouring. These Pokemon all appear gaseous or semi-solid, so I considered "Plasma" - not scientifically correct, but relates with being a separate state of matter from gas, solid, or liquid. I also agree with Eevee's "Amorphous".

Water 2 (Fish): No-brainer.

[MetalKid]

While being able to create terms that would better describe what these things are would be nice, I just don't see the community taking it very well. You might be able to get away with renaming egg groups since most people only care about what can breed with what, not what they are called. However, trying to change IV/EV terminology may end up confusing a lot of people. EVs are battling effort... IVs are kind of like breeding effort. But, I guess if all the major websites changed at relatively the same time and people went around to all the major forums and explained the change, we might be able to do it.

What are body types and what do they do? That a Gen 5 thing?

[En-Cu-Kou]

What are body types and what do they do? That a Gen 5 thing?

Body types are a Gen. IV pokédex gimmick, you can search by them. The game only displays an icon, so we don't have official names. See the veekun or Bulbapedia list.

[Aeolian]

Splitting out of the proposals thread.

To summarize:

- "IVs" should be called "genes" and "EVs" should just be called "effort", dangit.
- Egg group names are semi-canon (mentioned by a single NPC in Stadium), but not very helpful. I have some possible alternatives.
- Body types may also need some totally awesome names, though note that they seem to be absent from gen 5.

Anything else? There have been some scant mentions of standardizing how we refer to generations and games, but I really don't think anything we're doing now is vague enough to be confusing.

sorry but smogon's working to standardize it as IV's and EV's :3
as well as the layout..

so erm.. good luck getting them to be genes and effort :L

[Eevee]

Definitely, egg groups should be renamed. One goal would be to rename the groups that share a name with a type (Ground/Water/Dragon/Flying/Bug).

Yes, definitely; name overlap is not a good thing. Especially when, e.g., most of the stuff in "ground" isn't ground-type.

Our names seem to more-or-less overlap, which is a good sign. I do like "Beast".

However, trying to change IV/EV terminology may end up confusing a lot of people. EVs are battling effort... IVs are kind of like breeding effort. But, I guess if all the major websites changed at relatively the same time and people went around to all the major forums and explained the change, we might be able to do it.

Well, "EV" is already short for "effort", so that should hopefully be an easy change. Anyone who doesn't know what "EV" stands for is already demonstrating why it's a bad term.

And I'd hope that "gene" closely enough resembles how the mechanic works that it's easy to catch on to quickly.

sorry but smogon's working to standardize it as IV's and EV's :3

so erm.. good luck getting them to be genes and effort :L

Then Smogon is wrong. These names are meaningless to newcomers, barely meaningful to the rest of us, and far too similar for such radically different concepts.

[Jigglypuff]

I'll also throw in DVs - the IVs from Gen II and earlier - as well as "Stat Experience" as being terms that mean different things than IV/EV, but don't exactly have the most helpful or descriptive names. Stat Experience isn't half bad, and I'm not even sure if that's canon or fanon, to be honest.

[Arty2]

But, I guess if all the major websites changed at relatively the same time and people went around to all the major forums and explained the change, we might be able to do it.

That would work indeed.

Effort Points/Values could be easily renamed to Effort without most people even noticing. IVs turning to Genes on the other hand, may be a bit resiliant.
I think that we will need some sort of two letter abbreviation or acronym either way though. This way they would be visually distinct when scanning through text and make it easier to foreigners too. This seems to be the cause of the "IVs" terminology jumping even to the japanese metagame. I'm good for simplicity and plain words, I just think that we need to think of such terms as symbols instead of words that coul be lost in translation.

Now, I like Eevee's names, some of them could be a little less bookish though. Some don't even return in Google

id,name,awesome_name
2 1,Ball,Pomaceous Spherical
3 2,Squiggle,Caudal Taillike
4 3,Fish,Ichthyic
5 4,Arms,Brachial
6 5,Blob,Alvine Amorphous
7 6,Upright,Sciurine (undecided on that one)
8 7,Legs,Crural
9 8,Quadruped,Mensal Quadruped
10 9,Wings,Alar Winged
11 10,Tentacles,Cilial Tentacular
12 11,Heads,Polycephalic Multiheaded (sigh, I loved that Greek word)
13 12,Humanoid,Anthropomorphic
14 13,Bug wings,Lepidopterous
15 14,Armor,Chitinous Exoskeletal

I'll return later with Egg Groups

[ilexswam]

The egg groups name(Water 1, Water 2 and something) is official. Even they're not mentioned in the Game, but they're mentioned in the official walkthrough books. (Pokémon DP Official Nintendo Adventure Guide P.32, other books use them too.)

And the official term for effort values is 基礎ポイント / Base Point. (NPC in Route 9 Department Store of Pokémon Black & White, as well as the item description).

I like the awesome body type names

[Arty2]

⇧ In this case I'd rather not touch the Egg Group names.
Also, I'll be damned, I did not know about the Base Points. Actually, I like it!

PS. @ilexswam: sorry about the typo in our previous communication ^^