Is Pokemon evil??
 

Recently my son asked if he could get some pokemon cards. A close family member instructed me that these are evil and provided me with a tract that says so. The tract quotes lots of scriptures & even more opinions...both of which I think are honestly misguided.

I do not want to endorse/approve something that is harmful for my son....so I was wondering if anyone out there has had this debate...has pokemon cards...has seen any bad effects from them....etc.

Thanks.

It's fantasy. So it depends on if you think that's evil. Think Start Wars, Harry Potter, World of Warcraft.

Re: Is Pokemon evil??
 

I don't know that they are evil, but it is something that I personally would stay away from since I don't like role-playing games. I probably wouldn't forbid but would discourage use.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pok%C3%A9mon

Re: Is Pokemon evil??
 

They are still around? I thought they went away with the nineties.

Re: Is Pokemon evil??
 

The game, like guns, are not evil. They can be mis-used by individuals obviously.

Re: Is Pokemon evil??
 

It's not a role playing game. It's more of a strategy game/collectors hobby

Re: Is Pokemon evil??
 

From the Wikipedia link.

"Originally released as a pair of interlinkable Game Boy role-playing video games developed by Game Freak, Pokémon has since become the second most successful and lucrative video game-based media franchise in the world, behind only Nintendo's own Mario series."

The trading cards may not be, but it is based on a role playing game.

Re: Is Pokemon evil??
 

I'll go with "evil" for $750 please.

Re: Is Pokemon evil??
 

It's NOT a role playing game., thought I always thought the idea of making a MMORPG version of Pokemon would rock

A ROLE playing game is where someone takes the ROLE of a character. Most RPGs aren't true RPGs. The are simply video games where someone's character can get stronger and stronger but there is no role playing involved.

RPG came from the old Pen and Paper version of Dungeons and Dragons as well as some other brands where people sat around a table, rolled dice and pretended their characters were real in a real world

Today it's nothing more than manipulating pixels on a screen

There are several genres of video games

Action
Adventure
Strategy
Role Playing

are the most popular

Generally though the line between Action/Adventure and RPG is thin but most action games are first person shooters

Most RPGs are adventure oriented with on screen dialog between characters and None Player Characters but aren't truly RPG in the sense of the word. Really what the are is Fantasy Adventure games but they are often just called fantasy RPG

I've watched kids play Pokemon on a console vs the computer and it was anything BUT RPG

But as far as RPGs go, there is nothing inheritly evil about them unless you take on the role of an evil character. Even ones I've been involved with people's characters had evil alignments but that was strictly because the alignment was necessary in order to play a certain class of character. Otherwise the person playing the game played that character like any other

In any case we were talking the card game

Re: Is Pokemon evil??
 

I guess 1 particular pokemon game was considered by some as an RPG. Ive read others say it was an adventure game with elements of RPG. Simply the ability to "grow stronger" to some people makes it an RPG

But that's not true. I've played FPS multiplayer on line where over the course of time I got stronger, but nobody would call it an RPG