Politics & Real World Issues in Pokemon

Pokémon is a kids game, so I don't see it really happening, but it might be a good thing to like teach kids that war is bad (basically what they did in X/Y) and other stuff.

 

Pokémon touches on real issues, but in an abstract way (or maybe I'm just incredibly dense, which is a possibility). Like KK said, it's primarily a children's game. There's going to be some basic things, like how Team Rocket who does bad things will be painted as the criminals they are so kids don't grow up thinking "Oh I'm gonna steal stuff since Team Rocket did and got away with it!" And then proceed to get beaten up by 10 year olds.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that in a really simple way Pokémon gives some basic life lessons? Maybe not huge real life issues all the time (though war with XY is a good example), but small lessons kids could see when playing.

Or like I said earlier, I'm just being dense.

 

I feel like adding politics and real world problems are okay depending on how subtle it is. If it's just minor things, I think it wouldn't be a problem since it's always interesting to learn what Pokémon adds to give a really real experience into the game and it gives bits of life lessons, however it completely unacceptable if kids are exposed to large scale problems.

 

Pokémon is already doing this, just look at the latest villain teams! Team Plasma, fighting for the liberation of Pokémon and stuff might still be a bit of a stretch, but Lysandre really tries to make a bridge to the real world, even going as far to say that the people are making the world uglier by not taking care of it enough, and let's all face it, that's literally what's going on in the real world right now. By using real world issues, they can carry over a message that applies to both Pokémon and real life. And I think this is a great thing.

I don't want to revive the whole ethical discussion about Pokémon at all, but this is a semi-active topic that links the Pokémon games to the real world equivalent animals. And as stupid as this may seem, I think this is a really interesting topic. And for the same reason that discussion interest me, I'm also all into taking real life issues into the Pokémon games. However, of course, it should never raise to a major plotpoint in the game, because that would be just bad news in general.

As long as these real life influences are indeed just mere influences, and they stay in the background, I think it only makes the Pokémon games more realistic. Without these issues, Pokémon would pretty much lose all of its plot, for as far as you can call it a plot. And this would really make the games less interesting for older players. It is exactly these hidden messages that make the games even more fun for the older, more experienced trainers. Because really, the region in each game is fun and all, but you can switch them between generations and nothing would change. It's the plot that separates one Pokémon game from another, and that's what makes it so special. Without these influences, in my opinion, the games would be a lot more boring...