On the Buying and Selling of Gameplay Elements

Many Pokémon games require the possession of certain things in order to be successful in certain aspects. Those who are determined will surely be willing to spend time and effort, and effectively money, to possess those things. But for those not who may not possess the first and therefore the second, they may desire to spend money for obtaining certain gameplay elements, if they know what it is they want and where to look. This may look neat, but this is an area full of caveats, so making this post on it is like "opening a can of worms". But because it is real and it happens, particularly for some situations I've discovered, I feel it's important to explain them, specifically in terms of the caveats.

The first caveat is that it is definitively illegal, as in the selling of accounts for Pokémon Go. People are supposed to be playing the game for fun, fitness, and enjoyment, not to make money off of it for someone else. Niantic has clearly taken many measures to prevent this, but the fact is that this still can and does happen; a simple search can lead people to this "underbelly", with certain enterprising people who have spent time and effort for this purpose, and accounts available with different compositions from different times. It would be simple to not demand this, but this is easier said than done. The fact that it is actually illegal has to be the prime deterrent for people to be interested in this, whether to provide or to purchase.

The second caveat is that it may be insecure. One phenomenon that may be relevant to this is the providing and subsequent selling of the Mystery Box for Meltan in Pokémon Go. Those who know the process will know that the Pokémon Go account must be linked with the Nintendo Switch and the Let's Go games. The "insecure" part is when this is to be done remotely, which will require the provider to access the account; those who are protective - and that should be everyone - may not necessarily want to take the risk to allow the provider to access the account, and it would be wiser and better to own a personal Switch or link with a friend, the latter being what I've often done. Certainly the planned link for Pokémon Home to be able to do the same thing might sidestep the issue, possibly also the purchase aspect.

The two situations with the caveats above share the same thread of the involvement of purchasing something that really shouldn't be purchased in the first place. In contrast, the involvement of aid by an expert, such as in breeding certain Pokémon, may still be permissible if no monetary transaction is involved and the rest of the process is handled by the Trainer being aided; not any Trainer may have Ditto with 6 IVs just lying around, for instance, and I've sometimes noticed aid requests in the form of this. Yet this may lead into the caveat of dubiousness of acceptance, particularly if the aid is known. Still, even with everything that eases competitive play today, some assistance may still be needed, though money is and should not be an issue.

In this "can of worms", what seems to be clear is that the purchase of possessing certain gameplay elements outside of the games themselves is the biggest issue, entailing the caveats of illegality and insecurity, followed by just the dubiousness of things. While it may be true that the Pokémon games need money to make money, the time and the effort that goes into playing them are really the invaluable things, as is the fun gained from them. The important thing is to avoid illegal or insecure situations while also reducing dubiousness. Only the fun and enjoyment in the process of possessing things for Pokémon success should matter aside from the money spent (in a good way) to allow them to happen.

One year ago: Hunting for Physical References

Two years ago: What Pokémon Eat

Three years ago: Pokémon Jigsaw Puzzle