Thread: Do Pokemon Truly Enjoy Battling?

Well, not really, it depends on the individual Pokemon itself, as I personally believe that Pokemon have interests and feelings just like human beings do, and aren't strictly soulless battling machines made to fight each other.

Originally Posted by DinoRoar

Yes, since pokemon need to battle to get stronger, and it helps make bonds between the pokemon and the trainer.

That begs the question, though: Why would a Pokemon want to get stronger? I'd imagine that if a Pokemon wanted to get stronger for the heck of it, it'd already enjoy battling, not the other way around.

Originally Posted by YamiiDenryuu

Originally Posted by DinoRoar

Yes, since pokemon need to battle to get stronger, and it helps make bonds between the pokemon and the trainer.

That begs the question, though: Why would a Pokemon want to get stronger? I'd imagine that if a Pokemon wanted to get stronger for the heck of it, it'd already enjoy battling, not the other way around.

A pokemon would want to get stronger so it could evolve, or stand a better chance. Besides, in PokePark Wii, when you beat the crap out of somebody, they become your friend! So basically, I have another theory. Pokemon battle since it helps them get to know each other. No offense intended.

Originally Posted by DinoRoar

Originally Posted by YamiiDenryuu

Originally Posted by DinoRoar

Yes, since pokemon need to battle to get stronger, and it helps make bonds between the pokemon and the trainer.

That begs the question, though: Why would a Pokemon want to get stronger? I'd imagine that if a Pokemon wanted to get stronger for the heck of it, it'd already enjoy battling, not the other way around.

A pokemon would want to get stronger so it could evolve, or stand a better chance. Besides, in PokePark Wii, when you beat the crap out of somebody, they become your friend! So basically, I have another theory. Pokemon battle since it helps them get to know each other. No offense intended.

That's still assuming that every Pokemon wants to evolve or "stand a better chance" (against what, anyway?). Your other ideas are sound, though, even if battling wouldn't be the only way to bond with people and other Pokemon.

Originally Posted by YamiiDenryuu

That begs the question, though: Why would a Pokemon want to get stronger? I'd imagine that if a Pokemon wanted to get stronger for the heck of it, it'd already enjoy battling, not the other way around.

They have nothing else to do. Or perhaps it's simply in their blood.

Evolving gives weaker pokemon a better chance of surviving aganist preditors and passing on its genes. like magikarp or sunkern for example there much easier prey in the basic forms if i was one of them i would want to evolve. like animals are programed to get stronger and survive at all cost so would pokemon.

However if i was the trainer of one of these pokemon they would have no need to evolve as there no longer in the wild there are protected and they wouldent have to battle anymore if the dident want to :)

Originally Posted by TwistedSpoon

I think Pokemon have a built in Stockholm Syndrome mechanism. Pokemon always try to please their master, even if that master isn't kind to them, or particularly skilful. If Pokemon get raised by evil people, they even turn 'evil' themselves. They don't run away. They adjust. That's a defence mechanism. In order to survive they need to adjust to the most dominant species on earth, humans. It's natural selection. The Pokemon that survive and live the longest lives are in care of human trainers. Loyalty gets rewarded.

But then why don't they obey a trainer without enough badges? Because they're still loyal to the trainer they've been traded from. That's when you need to earn their respect. A transition is always hard.

So they battle to please their master, and because they feel satisfaction from seeing the master happy because of his badges and wins, they end up liking it. That doesn't mean it's fake though. It's natural, but not fake. I bet they would even get seriously stressed when they lose the rhythm of working.

Yes, this would be a defense mechanism but I wouldn't call it Stockholm Syndrome.

If you're cruel to your Pokemon, yes they will obey you but they won't like you. To me it's the same with an abused child: the child will obey but they will resent the abusive parent in question. To say that a Pokemon raised by an evil Trainer becomes evil rips free will from the equation. It's a bit like saying I myself will act abusively towards others because my mother's chief means of discipline was to (in her words) "beat the hell" out of me. A Pokemon stuck in that situation will battle in order to survive because it doesn't want to be hit or beaten by its Trainer. I did things that I never wanted to do simply to avoid punishment. A Pokemon might feel the exact same way. And if given a chance to escape, I'm willing to bet that it would.

Now personally, I've only rarely had a traded Pokemon refuse to obey. Yet it doesn't seem that it's still loyal to its original Trainer as much as it's unsure of me. It doesn't know me so I have to really work at it in order to build trust. And it doesn't always involve battling either: I've had a number of Golett refugees who were neutral towards me love me within a few hours after biking around on Skyarrow Bridge with them.

As for the topic at hand: I think it depends strictly on the Pokemon and its personality. We saw this in Gen III with the Battle Tent that allowed your Pokemon to battle on its own. My Lax Natured Blaziken nearly lost control of himself because he didn't want to directly attack his opponent but my Rash Natured Gardevoir tore through anything that came at her. It depends on the temperament of the Pokemon; those that are not aggressive in Nature wouldn't want to hurt anyone but those who are competitive probably love battling and want to show off.

As for the Badges I'm pretty sure that the Pokemon would know that you both had a hand in earning it and that builds trust between you and your team. But that's how I look at it. Your mileage may vary.

I think everyday battling is just like play-fighting, and helps them form social bonds and so on, like real-world animals. In fact, I would expect Pokémon of the same species to battle each other for such reasons in wild populations. So yes, I do think they enjoy battling.

Originally Posted by Silverwynde

If you're cruel to your Pokemon, yes they will obey you but they won't like you. To me it's the same with an abused child: the child will obey but they will resent the abusive parent in question. To say that a Pokemon raised by an evil Trainer becomes evil rips free will from the equation.

I don't believe in free will. People are just living robots, acting according to their natures, as dictated by their environment/life experiences. Just as social learning theory proposes that we learn crime from our family, friends and culture, I don't see why Pokémon can't learn to be bad if they're encouraged to be bad by trainers. Certainly, some of the Pokémon of anime villains seem like this.