Ethical Issues in Pokemon

[Sir Quaffler]

What do you think of the moral aspects of keeping Pokemon in tiny balls? This was brought up in the latest game, and it made me stop and ponder certain aspects of the world.
What about the rights of Pokemon and the treatment of them by their trainers? They are sometimes subjected to inhumane treatment, even by their supposed loving masters. If you really loved your Pokemon, why would you subject them to being shoved into cramped balls all the time?
What about the ethical implications of letting little children command creatures that have the potential to cause some serious damage and death around them, in some cases even alter the physical laws of the world?
What about the fact that there is no schooling system in the Pokemon world? Are you okay with letting uneducated children run about where they are susceptible to the dangers of the world?
There also appears to be no organized government in place. Aparrently the rulers of the regions are the league champions. Are you okay with the fact that they decide their leaders not by some form of election but by who has the most powerful monsters?
These are just some questions I have to spark debate. If you have responses or you also have some other lingering questions post away!

 

[Sydney]

What do you think of the moral aspects of keeping Pokemon in tiny balls? This was brought up in the latest game, and it made me stop and ponder certain aspects of the world.
What about the rights of Pokemon and the treatment of them by their trainers? They are sometimes subjected to inhumane treatment, even by their supposed loving masters. If you really loved your Pokemon, why would you subject them to being shoved into cramped balls all the time?
What about the ethical implications of letting little children command creatures that have the potential to cause some serious damage and death around them, in some cases even alter the physical laws of the world?
What about the fact that there is no schooling system in the Pokemon world? Are you okay with letting uneducated children run about where they are susceptible to the dangers of the world?
There also appears to be no organized government in place. Aparrently the rulers of the regions are the league champions. Are you okay with the fact that they decide their leaders not by some form of election but by who has the most powerful monsters?
These are just some questions I have to spark debate. If you have responses or you also have some other lingering questions post away!

First off, there IS a school in Pokémon. No offense, but are you blind? There's a school in a believe every Pokémon game. Just because they're children does not automatically make them uneducated. Not everyone is a child in these games, and you need to realize that. Secondly, champions do their job very well and they're not alone. They have the Elite 4 by their side as a sort of "second in command". Hell, even in the anime they have a police force creating and maintaining order around every city. Not to mention you have your Gym Leaders, 8 of them to be exact. Next, Pokémon are contained in small Pokeballs to prevent them from running out into the wild and leaving the trainer vulnerable to attacks by various wild and untamed Pokémon. Trainers and their Pokémon build their bond by fighting side-by-side together.

 

[A Link In Time]

The ethical side to Pokémon was best presented in Pokémon: The First Movie. There, however, it was a Pokémon, Mewtwo, lashing out against his own kind. Nevertheless the question remained the same: Is imprisoning the creatures and using them to gain fame and glory as well as exact revenge what it means to be a trainer? Quite bluntly, the answer is No.

These same issues permeate the world around us. Why is human life so treasured while we experiment with animals daily in order to save our own species? Is this not a double moral standard? Generation V did justice by introducing the cause of Pokémon liberation and acutely presented its argument through the mysterious N. The lesson learned though was the humans and Pokémon can coexist just as we do with animals here on Earth. The key is to be respectful to each others' environments and recognize we are all living organisms sharing the same sun, water, and air.

 

[Sir Quaffler]

Well damn that one got shot down quick...

 

[RegalBryant]

Pokeballs aren't cramped.

 

[MW7]

I actually thought of something disturbing recently. I was playing RBY and trying to find an Abra, a Voltorb, and a Gastly with great IVs so naturally it took me about 30 captures of each before I found one with at least one perfect stat IV and good ones for the rest that mattered (for instance who cares about Abra's Attack). So basically what I'm doing is casting aside about 97% of pokemon because of their genes. It somewhat parallels a real world ethical debate about genetics and the idea of "designer babies."

 

[Sojourn]

Though I agree with the former opinions that humans and pokemon can coexist peacefully, I do have to point out the enigmatic workings of the pokeball, and its ethics.

Pokeballs aren't cramped.

Although pokeballs may or may not be cramped, that is not the main problem. Consider this; when a pokemon is in a pokeball, is it conscious or unconscious? Consider that for a moment.

1) If it is conscious: Imagine that one Rattata collecting dust in the bowels of your pc box. If it were conscious since the moment you caught it and stored it in the storage system, it had to live through every agonizing second. And if you never decide to take it out, it's going to stay in a small digital existence for the rest of eternity.

2) If it is unconscious: Now let us assume that the pokeballs put the captured pokemon into a sort of unconscious state to prevent the above from happening. So instead of living through the excruciating process known as time, it doesn't have to worry, because it's snug in its little blanket of a portable capsule. But hold on a second. Let's say you have your usual, overly EV trained team with you. Each is in its respective ball. You embark on your journey, steamrolling trainers and repeatedly knocking out Tentacools to raise your pokemon's Sp. Defense. But your pokemon isn't always outside of its pokeball. The remainder of its life is spent living a chain of battles in which either it knocks out the other combatant, or is fainted itself. Don't forget that it can be burned, paralyzed, poisoned, or even frozen solid (a condition in real life that is not reversible). When it is not battling or using pain killers to numb it's pain (potions), it is stuck in an imprisoned and thoughtless existence. You may argue that Soul Silver and Heart Gold allow your pokemon to roam free from their miserable reality, but you can only bring one out of a time. Time to pick favorites.

 

[HyruleHistory10]

It is a hard debate to go about. The only answer we may have about treating digital pictures created by a binary code in a portable computer maybe up to the individual trainer. i do think that the 5th gen brought it up as a great point but even the trainers in the game that you talked to (and your pokemon N talked to) told the same thing. NO MATTER what the pokemon and trainers felt a bond that broke past the general confines if keeping them in the pokeballs. This trust kept them alive.

Plus if you watch the show, even ash and whoever travels with him let their pokemon to eat with them and play games. Just because that does not happen in the game while you play it doesnt mean that it wont happen. so maybe when the game is off, instead of your character sleeping they are folicing in a field of flowers with their partners.

Personally i was into competitive battling in the past but i am shunning away from it because i am not getting a positive feedback from trainers online (ok i know you dont wanna lose but stop disconnecting your games so i can claim a victory for a change) and it makes the game more tedious to me.
plus they have been adding games like musicals and stuff to do things except battling with your pokemon but i think that they should do more. More co worker say that they should have all 6 out of their balls

 

[PokaLink]

As much as pokemon has cool life lessons and awsome morals alout of the time Pokemon tends to be quite redundant, in Pokemon they claim to love there pokemon and that respecting them is everything, and then they turn around and let them fight eachother for sheer enjoyment until the other is knocked unconious, not unlike a dog fight, wich are of course illegil. A point well chosen in Pokemon the first movie were Ash helps teach the pokemon clones and pokemon that they are all brothers and sisters of kin who have absolutley no reason to be fighting eachother.