Pokemon Go trainer calls out Niantic for encouraging “Cruelty to Pokemon”
Pokemon Go trainers are incentivized to keep their Shadow Pokemon unpurified, and one player claims this mechanic is Niantic’s way of encouraging “Cruelty to Pokemon.”
Since their appearance in 2019, Team GO Rocket have used Shadow Pokemon to do their evil bidding. However, players strong enough to defeat the Grunts and Team Leaders were given a chance to capture one of their shadow Pokemon.
Once captured, players can choose to purify their Pokemon which allows them to level up, give them increased IVs, and drastically increases their starting CP. But there is also a benefit to keeping Pokemon in their Shadow form.
Shadow Pokemon has a boost in their damage output which is admittedly very helpful for low CP battle leagues. Now, one trainer is calling out Shadow Pokemon users for being just as bad as Team Rocket for not choosing to purify their suffering Pokemon.
@PokemonGoAppShadow Pokemon promote “Cruelty to Pokemon”
This point was raised by Reddit user cashforcatss who titled their text post “Not purifying your Pokémon is ‘Cruelty to Pokémon’ and makes you no better than Team Rocket”.
They started their post with satire stating, “Shadow Pokémon are created by Team Rocket through a process that removes the Pokémon’s emotions in order to make it obey orders and do Team Rocket’s evil bidding. Your “cool Pokémon with red eyes and purple smoke” is actually a soulless creature unable to escape the internal torment placed on it by Team Rocket.”
They went on to explain that they were overdramatizing their point but still didn’t see the reason for not purifying Shadow pokemon. And they even offered a solution to make purifying Pokemon a more enticing option.
“The purifying process should be made a little more expensive/difficult and then should come with a stat/attack boost for essentially rescuing that Pokémon from a terrible life,” cash stated. And with a few hundred upvotes and over 100 comments, users seemingly agree with this sentiment.
However, there were trainers that believed keeping a Shadow Pokemon wasn’t the most inhumane thing Pokemon Go players do. “I transfer my unwanted Pokémon to the meat grinder to feed to my stronger ones,” one user stated, while another pointed out, “Pokemon Trainers are nothing more than glorified dog fighters.”
So, while OP does have a fair share of supporters, trainers don’t feel too bad about keeping their Pokemon in the Shadows. But it would still be neat if Niantic did give a better incentive to purify Pokemon.