This has always been my position, since I got a gameshark, and found these codes. Except for the Mew and Mewtwo I purely Trained to level 100, I'd only sharked. But now, after reading what happened at the UK tourney with Philbo, and reading Hoppip's replies, I have now began to question my beliefs. Is it truely ethical? Sure, I've beaten the game more times than I can count, and I've trained many pokemon, and thought of hundreds of move sets, but does that make me any different than another trainer that choses not to shark?

Should we as Pokemon Trainers, attepting to become "Pokemon Masters" use traditional methods, train our pokemon individually up to level 100, and spend time to catch the best one ourselves, without the use of an external device? Should we form bonds with all of our pokemon, the way we did the first time we played the game? I remember the first time I used Charizard. It came down to Charizard vs. Lance, with no healing items to use. I KOed pokemon after pokemon, against all odds with him, even though I now know the moveset sucked, I can't describe how proud I was of him, taking down five pokemon single handed, while they had moves that could easily take him down. Is it our duty to uphold this way of training? Or is it something reserved for "newbies"?

Perhaps we should revert to the old ways, training like everyone else. We shouldn't need to use a gameshark to perform these tasks for us. Only those who are lazy would need to use that method, and most of us are perfectly capable of training pokemon. The true meaning of being a "Pokemon Master" is different person to person, but perhaps we should look at it as being the person or persons that can make the best team, can train them by themselves, and don't need to reduce themselves to external devices to win. Perhaps the true "Pokemon Master(s)" are really the ones who don't know they CAN use a shark to train their pokemon for them, so they don't use one.

I'm not really sure. I've been thinking about it for the past few days, and I probably will for the next few weeks as well. But I just wanted some input here. What do you all think Pokemon "Masters" should have as ethics and morals?

(I.E. no Magikarp with 999 special, or Snorlax's with Agility...)

At the risk of losing all ... faith, trust, honor, whatever - I shark almost every pokemon I use for tournies...

I really don't have THAT much time to spend catching 65,535 (I think...) pokemon to find the perfect one...

I also don't think Philbo should have been disqualified! That was so lame!!

Those are just my opinions...
-Givera

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"In fact, if you'll look back to where this originated, it's in Azure's attempt to "get a good laugh" out of TPM. Now how mature is that?" - Dodrio, posted on Azure Heights

To crown someone as a pokemaster is to say that s/he won their battles fairly. Correct?

The word fair, would mean that both sides would have to be equal. A g/s user would have a stat advantage, thereby making the battle "unfair".

But if both trainers trained their pokes normally, it is possible for one of them to have some DVs higher than the opponent. Can that be labeled as unfair too?

Howerver if both trainers have sharked max DVs for all their pokemon, then that IS a fair fight.

Only with a g/s (or I admit, amazing luck) can a fair battle be fought.

-> Don't use a glitch as a monster (MissingNo. isn't pokémon, it's an error message)

-> Don't enter the battle with status modifiers in play.

You can tack more on to yourself, but these are the only ones I feel comfortably enforcing. If I suspect my opponent of being fishy, I'll demand he box and unbox his monsters, and I'll do the same. I'll demand he pokécenter, and I'll do the same. I won't fight against MissingNo.

If I suspected my opponent of cheating, I'll examine his monsters after the battle.

Aside from "Gentleman's rules" (no Mewtwos, no DT, etc.), which I don't usually use but are willing to if my opponent wants to fight that way, that's it.

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-cfalcon

That gives you the lowest possible HP, in case you didn't know...

Wow, I appear to have actually made a difference. Amazing.

I don't have a gameshark - but when I had the ROM I sharked creatures - but it felt horribly dull - the battles went by quickly and easily, one pokemon would fall after another - but there was no sense of accomplisment.

Back when I was training my themed team (Dragons) it was very cool to see how far I could get (often winning real trainer battles) with them and is even more fun when you play Lance on R2 and totally thrash him depsite your team being in all respects equal.

Some Azurians have actually called me names and caused touble over my lack of respect for Gameshark. But since the UK fanals I've been even more pleased as I know that if I ever had an official battle they wouldn't be able to scrutinise my team as it is all home-grown produce...

quote:

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Gameshark is for wannabe masters!
Pokémon masters do it for real!

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The closest I've cuaght to a max was a 14, 15, 15, 15, 14 Tauros, and that was the day before I recieved my shark.

I usually fuck about with it, like give Pokémon the TM07 move, if any of you remember how powerful that was!

Greatly increases Evade, hehehehe.

Nothing can get you genes of 14 in all statistics. Here is why:

Each gene has 16 values, meaning it is four bits long. Let's call these bits Attack[3], Attack[2], Attack[1], and Attack[0] for the four bits of attack, and give similar names to the other attributes.

There are only two bytes (8 bits a piece, 16 bits) to determine the gene values. Since there are five attributes (20 needed bits), some bits have to be counted twice.

Here are the sixteen bits:

KLMN OPQR STUV WXYZ

Attack[3..0] are the first four bits of the 16 (KLMN).

Defense [3..0] are the next four bits of the 16 (OPQR).

Speed[3..0] are the next four bits of the 16 (STUV).

Special[3..0] are the next four bits of the 16 (WXYZ).

Hit Points[3..0] are the wierd ones: they are composed of Attack[0], Defense[0], Speed[0], and Special[0], in that order.

That means it would be NRVZ.

You can see that specifying EE EE = 1110 1110 1110 1110 would yield 0000 (0) as the hitpoint gene and 1110 (E) as the others.

You might try DE EE to get 8 as your hit point gene.

Again, it should be in Sakaki tower, but since I've written it buttloads of time there, it won't hurt to be somewhere else

I have to mostly agree with Fanha: simply playing pokémon lots doesn't give one the right to have better monsters. That's like saying that only by playing Starcraft lots should you be able to use certain units, or only by playing Magic: The Gathering lots should one be allowed to own rare cards.

The simple fact is that I've played the damn game plenty (more than I should have, probably), and will continue to play it. That does not mean, however, that I deserve to use better monsters than anyone else. I also enjoy not having to level a monster from scratch every time I want a certain moveset.

You can argue that that is part of the charm of the game. I can't disagree: I like to raise mine too. But the simple fact is that I don't always have time to raise every fool thing, and often I don't even know if I like a certain moveset until I've played it some.

Basically, you own the game, it doesn't own you.

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-cfalcon

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That's just downright disgusting that someone would take the time to constantly do this all the time (considering I do admit to using Rare Candies and such). It isn't about patience, it's about life. The fact is, most of us don't have 15 hours a day to spend on Pokemon. Most of us have jobs and/or schoolwork, and that doesn't make us any less of a "Pokemon Master" just because we won't ruin our lives spending ridiculous amounts of time on a video game. I do admit to spending hundreds of hours playing, but I definitely don't take that time from homework, appointments, or obligations.
-said soemone

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I on average clock the equivalent of less than 1 hour a day - yet I can train a single Pokémon from 15 to 65 in two days, without sharking or rare candies...

quote:

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Originally posted by Ryuujin:
I on average clock the equivalent of less than 1 hour a day - yet I can train a single Pokémon from 15 to 65 in two days, without sharking or rare candies...

I'm also a project co-ordinator for a half-life TC, a web master and a college student - and still see my friends - so it can be done...

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Ok I'll beleive that, but 65+ is where it gets difficult.

As for battle, my personal sense of honor won't allow me to use Mewtwo or go in pre-poisoned. I also usually go by sleep clause.

I think Nintendo took this into account, and expected people to have to live with non-maxed Pokemon.

It makes having a good Pokemon something special.

In my opinion, of course.

That's all.

Example of the Bad: My Brother, MM2

He has used that Gameshark to do things that are just plain... out of this world. From Sporing Electrodes, to Swift Dancing Dodrios, SuperKarps, to Hazing M2's, he has sharked it all. He even gave a Cloyster a Amnesia/Recover/T-Bolt/Ice-Beam Moveset. MM2 only uses GS to show that Cheaters do win.

For the good side... some Imaginary Trainer Named... uhh... Ogra:

Ogra is a good Pokemon Trainer, he is very skilled and a powerful PBS player. He own a GameShark, but does not go to the extreme heights that MM2 will go to win. This talented player only uses the GS to get things that can ge gained in the game (Saving Time), such as catching certain Pokes with max Genes, along with unlimited TMs. He never uses it to get things other players can't get, he'll even let other players use it.

In closing, Gamesharks can be ethnical, but only if you put limits on them.

GOOD NIGHT EVERYBODY

If you are against the shark, you should 1)move out of San José, CA, and 2)play a game that only lets you cheat in singleplayer (like Starcraft). As an alternative, Nintendo should have two poké cups: one for strict players and one for pokésharks. Why I say that? If the memory in Pokémon is so easy to decipher, then they should just allow sharking, or a sharking rule in poké cups. Otherwise, there is no point in having the memory so easily mapped out. If Pokémon was a game that where it was impossible to shark without hitting a kill switch, then we would have no suspicions about who is cheating. But unfortunately for strict nonsharkers, Pokémon is not like that, and it will probably never will be unless you stick to Pikachu's beach in Yellow, in which I believe that there are no cheats to.

I got somewhere around 7500 points in PB just by triple back flips! Now if I can only connect on a full Z flip (a full BF and a full FF) cuz it's worth 500 points a wave!

Examples: Parasect with Spore, Dream Eater, Twineedle, Hyper Beam. Not only would sharking this dumb (your Parasect would still go down in one hit), but cheap (if your parasect lived). Why? Spore, Dream Eater, rinse, lather, repeat.

name a marine mammal pokémon and a bunny rabbit pokémon.

Seel and Nidoran.

If anyone says "Wigglytuff", my Wiggly's going to have to open up a can of whoop-ass...

Ok - Wigglytuff is a bunny Pokémon!

*5 minutes later Ryuujin and all 6 of his Pokémon are lying in a pile - each brandishing a black eye*

quote:

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Originally posted by ZZTRaider:
Should we as Pokemon Trainers, attepting to become "Pokemon Masters" use traditional methods, train our pokemon individually up to level 100, and spend time to catch the best one ourselves, without the use of an external device?

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Two words: HELL YEAH!!!

I'm going to have to say, it is cheating using a gameshark. I use a gameshark, only because I don't have all the time in the world looking for max-stat pokemon. And boxing/missingnoin is soooo boring. So, I just speed it up. I have to say, that in G/S I will have a Gameshark team, and a real team, just for those who think its unethical or whatever.

quote:

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Originally posted by Scarab:
You could box your pokes on stadiums 64 box, start a new game, get more Items and use them on the boxed pokes ad infinitum with no problems.

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I wouldn't say that. Theoretically, yes, but...