'Pokémon Go' Trading Is A Terrible Idea

There were a bunch of features originally in the Pokémon Go trailer that never made it to the real game. You can’t catch Mewtwo in Times Square, fight players without a gym or trade. Two out of three of those are great ideas and it’s a real shame that they aren’t in the game yet. However, trading in Pokémon Go is a bad idea.

Right now, Pokémon have no monetary value. Whatever you catch in your own game is yours and can’t move anywhere else. If Niantic created a trading system it would be open the opportunity for a Pokémon black market. You want a Magmar more than anything? There’s a guy on Ebay selling one for 200 bucks. It cheapens the experience by allowing lazy players to just pay for the best Pocket Monsters.

People have already been trying to make money off Pokémon Go . There are cabs that will drive you around while you catch Pokémon. There are even people calling themselves “ Pokémon masters ” who will actually walk around and catch Pokémon for you. If there’s a market for something, entrepreneurs will try to capitalize on it.

Trading will make Pokémon Go even more dangerous. According to Buzzfeed, a man was assaulted for catching a Mewtwo . Though the story is most likely bullshit – you can’t catch Mewtwo – it poses an interesting dilemma. If you have a rare Pokémon in your game, your phone could be stolen and then traded away. A hacker could even get your SIM card and take all of your Pokémon – though that would be the least of your worries.

But why would trading be bad? You have a friend who has a Lapras while you have three, wouldn’t it be better if you could just share some big blue love? Well, on a casual level it would be great, but you have to look at the bigger picture. That Lapras could be worth a couple hundred bucks, which your friend might not want to give away for free.

I’m sure Niantic has already taken this inevitability into consideration, which would explain why we still don’t have trading yet.

Pokémon Go is a great game that makes people walk around and move. If you could just throw money at it and still be a Pokémon master, what fun would that be?