Blogpost 8: Gems

Different gems were used in Pokemon as held items. It was said to power up certain kinds of attacks, eventually dealing more damage to the target. Gems in the real world have different purposes, however. They are held as items and they are shown as decor. They also possess magical properties as some believe it true.

There are eighteen different gems in Pokemon, as they were incorporated to the eighteen different types. Also, these gems have corresponding colors with them. Orange for fire gem, blue for water gem, yellow for electric gem, green for grass gem, light blue for ice gem, brown for fighting gem, lavender for poison gem, gold for ground gem, silver for flying gem, pink for psychic gem, light green for bug gem, light brown for rock gem, dark purple for ghost gem, a mix of silver and red for dragon gem, charcoal for dark gem, grey for steel gem and peach for fairy gem. What do they mean? 

Have you seen the new Pokemon Diancie?

According to Patti Wigington, gems possess magic because every stone had a connection to some aspect of human life. In her article entitled Magical Crystals and Gems, she discusses about the different properties and meanings of gems. 

The article just enumerates the names of the gems and what they do. The article states that "There are literally hundreds of stones out there to choose from, but which ones you opt to use will depend on your intent." 

If I were a girl I would totally dig this.

The orange gem, or called carnelian, is used to prevent impotency and fires up passion for fertility. It is used as a shield to prevent psychic attacks. The blue gem, or sapphire, is said to relieve respiratory problems. It is used in rituals such as prophecy and spirit guides. The yellow gem, or amber, has thought to aide memory loss. It is thought to have stress relieving and calming properties. The light blue gem, or turquoise brings upon wisdom, intuition and clarification, much like how ice is clear and how you see yourself in it. The brown gem is called the Tiger's eye and it enhances overall energy and general physical health, much like how fighting Pokemon are equipped with enhanced fighting skills.

The lavender gem is referred to as an amethyst and is believed to clear and cleanse sacred space. The gold gem or the agate is used to bring the truth. The silver gem is referred to as itself, meaning it has sensitivity and kindness. The pink refers to as quartz and it relieves us of pain and emotional disturbances. Light green would be peridot and it promotes abundance and prosperity. Light brown would be jasper, it relieves us of pain and cures us of debilitating diseases. The dark purple is the amethyst, and it aids us by reducing insomnia. The silver and red gem would be zircon, and it promotes beauty and elegance. The dark gem would be onyx and it promotes control over emotions. The grey gem is obsidian and it helps in pulling toxins downwards. The peach colored gem would be rose and it affects us by relating us to love and friendship.

But what do these things mean? Are gems really that specific to those kinds of things? Can gems really heal? An article talking about Crystal Healing was written by Kyle Hill and I think it was a good read. 

The article tells us about an experiment that was given to test crystals on 80 volunteers, 40 crystals were given and were New Age genuine crystals, while the other half was plastic and fake. They were all made to believe that all were giving them spiritual energy and the effects were from magical vibrations, auras and frequencies. 

""I'm definitely going to be protected by this piece of plastic around me!"

Dr. Christopher French was the one leading the study. He used control and blinding to make the volunteers believe that all of these were true and used the suggestion of experiencing the number of benefits into tinkering their minds to believing that these actually work. The volunteers were then asked to report sensations that they would feel when wearing the crystals.

He found no difference in the sensations reported by those holding a real crystal and a fake one. If the fake produces the same results as per the real one being used in the experiment, then there is no effect coming from the one being studied. People have also been primed prior to the experiment. They were altered into a mindset where they would anticipate an outcome. The conclusion was the expectation of the effect, and not the crystals, were the source of any reported effects.

"I wasted 500 dollars for this?"

He says that "The fact that the same effects were found with both genuine and fake crystals undermines any claims that crystals have the mysterious powers which they are claimed to have." 

In conclusion, crystals are pseudoscience. Crystal sellers are just making these things sell for them to gain money. It is really disgusting and morally reprehensible that these crystals were supposed to cure your sickness with no scientific proof or plausibility. It is just trickery and it's all in your head.

Blogpost 7: Teams

In all of our Pokemon games, we have different sinister teams. In those different generations, they have given us the sense of evil, the sense of protecting the ones we love. There was Team Rocket, who's sole mission was to capture Mewtwo. Team Aqua and Team Magma was there to expand the land and seas, and Team Galactic was there to capture Dialga and Palkia to control time and space. Team Flare was there to be fashionable, but still, they had missions.

If you're going evil then be at least fashionable about it.

In the Six Habits of Successful Companies, an article written by Bruce Upbin, it is stated that different measures must be taken by company CEO's to be successful.

Companies that are successful have always known what they do and what they stand for. All big companies know what they do. They have a mission. If the employees know the company's mission, they would align their job objectives with the company's and then they would know what to do. They would be more productive and more able because they would know how to connect things and use the information they know to be a better employer.

Don't forget to put in a dash of fun.

The employees, to stay loyal and willing to work, must also be happy with their work. They should be passionate with their work, or they should be rewarded when they do their work. "If you treat employees as if they make a big difference, they will make a difference." The article quoted Mr Jim Goodnight, CEO and founder of SAS Institutes. They take care of their people. They put up benefits for their people: on-site preschool and daycare; paternity leave, summer camp, car detailing, nail salons, racquet stringing, dry cleaning and a swimming pool. They offer lessons in billiards, golf, Frisbee, dodgeball, and tennis. What the article is saying is that you should consider your employees as needing rest and relaxation. Studies say that people who get proper rest and do recreational activities for relaxation produce better results. This also promotes social activity between employees, giving them enough information about one another and then soon incorporate that into work.

Companies that are successful are quick to react and they adapt. The article stated several companies that were more than a century old and told about how they still are included in the top 220. It showed how the different companies started off as small, and changed and adjusted their marketing strategies for better and more excellent results.

Companies also look forward in the future, so they tend to work the long term. Companies don't think about changing their strategies to satisfy what the world turns into, but they think of ideas and set strategies that can be successful almost irrespective on how the world turns into. They invest on high-risk high-reward projects that won't probably pay them now but will explode their market in the years to come.

Aim for long term goals.

Companies have family plans. They don't neglect their families even while doing their jobs. They have learned to handle domestic squabbles. Different employees, especially of high ranks, tend to forget living for their families and engulf themselves in work. Also, high ranking employees in family-ran businesses tend to be more suspicious to other family members due to envy. Companies are responsible of their own business, and still allot time for their real life.

Finally, companies are not islands. They do not isolate themselves from others. They are always open. Companies recruit outsiders and put them in executive positions. It allows them them to focus on other aspects in their market.

The article was full of statistics, but it had helped me understand how companies worked their resources. It showed me how they use their full capacity on bringing their company into a good state.

Pokemon organizations that were up for crime presented these qualifications. An article made by the user Deck Knight in Smogon presents the Anthology of Evil.

Team Rocket presented these six qualities as presented in the article. Their sole mission was to "steal and get money". They knew what they were doing. They have successfully invaded Silph Corporations, one of the biggest, if not the most, company in Kanto. They have a leader - Giovanni. They had presence and they were well known in two regions. They were quick to adapt, going to different readily made plans if the other one fails.

Damn these hot guys.

Team Aqua and Team Magma were the same. Their mission was to increase land mass and water. They wished to awaken the beasts that hold the keys for their mission to succeed, and they did. They were a powerful organization.

Team Galactic was the most evil out of them, according to the article. Team Plasma presented the most leadership skills as they could manipulate Pokemon in their own commands. The organization was well supported and well organized.

But alas, organized crime never goes away, it just goes underground. Even if they suffer setbacks like a ydra, once cut off its head they grow two. The rules of Pokemon's reality are such that no group can ever be eliminated. With the proper leadership and evil inside of them, you can pretend you'll stop them. But you won't.

Blogpost 6: Renewable Energy

There are eighteen different elements of Pokemon, namely Normal, Fighting, Flying, Rock, Water, Grass, Fire, Ground, Electric, Poison, Psychic, Ghost, Dark, Bug, Ice, Dragon, Steel and Fairy - and in all of those elements, there are wide arrays of Pokemon attacks. There is also a multitude of abilities a Pokemon possesses, and each one serves as a powerful tool that us humans can utilize with proper knowledge.

All eighteen of them.

We all know that Pokemon attacks generate and use up energy.  According to the law of conservation of energy, "Energy is neither created nor destroyed, but can change form". An article discussing the Unexplored Uses for Pokemon was made by Phillip Space in Cracked.com. It discussed several points in using Pokemon as tools for our daily lives, but one that interest me the most was Pokemon being a source of renewable energy. It was said that if Pokemon were collected and their power was harnessed for productive use, the world would have unlimited supply of renewable energy. Raichu's Pokedex entry states it produces over 100,000 volts of electricity on its cheek sacs. If we could cage up multiple Raichu, then it would be easy for us to provide energy for cars to powerplants. We could go back to steam and use Magmar with it's 2,200 deg Farenheit body temperature and a water Pokemon like Blastoise which has powerful water cannons to create steam and power up even more machines. But alas, that is for the Pokemon world. What about renewable energy for our world?

I mean, it couldn't be that bad would it?

Renewable energy is defined as energy that can be replenished on a human timescale and can be readily used. These include solar energy, wind energy, geothermal energy and a lot more. Renewable energy is important because it is our infinite supply for our daily activities, most especially in this digital-centered era.

Only natural.

In the article by Ned Haluzan entitled Importance of Renewable Energy for the Future of Our Society, it is stated that renewable energy is important because we are running out of fossil fuels and relying heavily on nuclear power for our large mass factories to products to work. This threatens our society because of its lack of security and diversity, therefore robbing our future children of clean air, water and food. Renewable energy brings positive environmental friendly reasons. Burning of fossil fuels harms the air that we breathe, creating harmful greenhouse gases and our planet right now is experiencing climate change. By using renewable resources we could lessen the effects and probably put our world into a much favorable state for us.

We need this.

Renewable energy can also provide us with a strong boost in our economy by giving out new jobs to people. It can also provide us with energy security because it lessens our need in importing different energy resources from other countries. For example, the foreign oil import had been a big controversy in our country, it being a source of hidden taxes by increasing its amount and other corrupt government related doings but if we use renewable energy, we could be sure that our country produces them and can even boost our economy by buying our own products. Renewable energy provides a diversity in choosing what energy source we could use. The sun, wind, geothermal, biomass, water, etc. can be used and properly utilized for their potential to be used to the fullest.

Most importantly, the article stated that renewable energy can fight poverty by playing part in electrification of many rural areas in the developing world. Renewable energy is much cheaper energy option to satisfy energy needs as compared to our traditional energy solutions.



I agree on this article because it presents true facts and can be practically used. Renewable energy has its environmental benefits because they are clean energy sources as compared to the traditional energy sources that produce large impact on our planet. Renewable energy can secure us our own economy and jobs. Most renewable energy sources need manpower and materials that need workmanship in order to be built. Energy security is a must too, and renewable energy can provide our children's children's children because it will never run out and can never be depleted.

Blogpost 5: Satisfaction from Pets

One of the main reasons why we love Pokemon is because of how gosh darn adorable they can be. Pokemon are cute little creatures that can only communicate through they own names. They have their irresistible smiles and tufts of soft fur. They make their way into your heart through our different assessments of adorable. They make us feel satisfied whenever they're not battling.

Kawaii!

In the real world, however, we have our own pets to make us satisfied. I read about the Seven Reasons Why Pets Make Us Happy by Esther Crain and knew about our connections with our pets. The article states that a researched performed by Marty Becker, DVM showed that having a deep connection with our pets give us incredible health and happiness benefits. He also says that if we spend more time being with our four-legged companions, we are going to feel better.

One of the health benefits of having a deep connection with our pets is we become more active. We move around whenever we play catch with our dog in the park, or whenever we dance around with our cat in the living room. We burn calories and we get our heart rate up, meaning we get big mood and energy boosts provided by quick bursts of exercise. Even if we only do small tasks like walking with our labradors on the sidewalk to and back twice a day, the exercise adds up over time. David Niven, Ph.D., a psychologist and social scientist at Ohio State university and the author of 100 Simple Secrets Why Dogs Make Us Happy says that dog owners walk 79 percent farther each day than people who doesn't have a dog.

The second benefit would be they keep us naturally healthy. The article states that the American Heart Association confirmed that pet ownership is linked to a reduction in cardiovascular disease risk factors. Those risk factors include lower blood pressure, lower cholesterol levels and lower likelihood of obesity. Dr. Becker also states that cat owners were forty percent less likely than their feline-free counterparts to have a heart attack of stroke. He adds that our dogs and cats, or even our peculiar pets act as free medicine that can maintain optimum health.

They also help us develop empathy. We develop a sense that makes us think that all living creatures need comfort and feel pain, and all kids who are accompanied by pets in their early ages realize that. Even adults who bring home their pets tend to develop a stronger sense of empathy. "Taking care of an animal reminds you that all humans and animals have needs that may eclipse your own, and you are able to see things from others' point of view. That helps you become more caring and compassionate." says Niven.

Cuddle with me <3

The fourth benefit would be involving us feeling the feel of being needed. They give us a self-esteem kick. They make us feel needed because someone has to fill up their food bowls every morning. They make us feel important because they shower us with unconditional love, or by the fact that they're completely nonjudgmental about our lifestyles. A 2011 study published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology found out that pet owners reported higher levels of self-esteem as well as greater sense of belonging and a more meaningful existence than non-pet owners.

You may notice that your social connections grow whenever you're out with your pet. Strangers are more apt to smile, say hello, or even strike up a conversation due to this. They would openly talk about their own pet too. These may seem meaningless, but they actually make us feel less isolated and more in the jive of our community. People with pets can be perceived by others to be more social and open and that can make your social circle wider and more diverse, resulting in less loneliness.

Petting them would always brighten up our mood. It would soothe our pets to be stroked and touched by us, but we also get a huge physiological payback too. Hormones like serotonin and oxytocin are chemicals produced whenever we hug a person, and these chemicals make us feel more relaxed and at peace. It also decreases levels of the stress hormone cortisol, which is responsible for increasing blood sugar, suppresses the immune system and aid in fat, protein and carbohydrate metabolism. It also decreases bone formation, so nuzzling or rubbing your animal companion would be a great idea.

Pet me, master!

Lastly, our pets bring order to our lives. They help us bring routine and discipline to our day, and that benefits us as much as it does to them. These tasks become habits to bring structure to the day, and when we feel there is order and purpose to our lives, we tend to feel happier and be more productive.

I firmly believe in all of these reasons because I am a pet owner myself. Considering on having a pet would be a great idea for you to be able to interact with different animals and enlarge your social circle.

But why Pokemon? Pokemon are digital, and they do not represent - in any kind or form - real world animals. So why are we satisfied in playing with our artificial pets? Well, I happen to find an article discussing how we interact with our artificial pets.

The article is entitled Free Creatures by Frederic Kaplan. It discusses how digital pets are molded and designed to affect our senses as the same as our beloved pets. Our digital pets have been part of our leisure time and we engage into relationships with them.

It was not about the realism, nor it mimicking a real pet, however it deals with the "uselessness principle". They are creatures not meant to be slaves. They act as our partner in battles, yes, but we devote our time into taking care of these monsters and not make them something that is lower that us. They are designed to have autonomous goals to convey autonomous emotions. They just act there to be entertaining and to act as our companion. They also make us feel responsible. We have repeated interactions with it and so we develop a sense of responsibility towards them. It serves as a fragile being. Without us, it will be left weak and futile. We train these Pokemon and eventually we grow with them.

Pikachu has fainted!

The owner must feel guilty if he doesn't take care of his pet. Pokemon faint in battles when we don't train them to well. They put pressure on us by performing an effective blackmail. Another way of putting pressure unto the user is that they will link the maturation, or in this case, the evolution of pets to the way the user is taking care of his or her pet. They will manipulate the way the pet is maturing so that the way of taking care of the pet will be increased. This is true because it is harder to gain experience when the Pokemon levels up.

It is amazing how Pokemon can achieve capturing the trainer's hearts without using too much effort, but these tactics in the long run wouldn't do. Recently in Pokemon X and Y, Nintendo has released a new feature called Pokemon Amie wherein you can physically involve yourself into interacting with your Pokemon. You can pet them, play fetch, feed them and even talk to them. I think this gives a false satisfaction for the trainers as they respond with their pseudopets.

The article stated that the dynamics of the pet should be interesting to its owner. Pokemon, being in its own, acting like our pseudopets, have been successful because their dynamics are interesting to the media. We become more active - learning new knowledge and researching about math and calculations for battle on our own. It exercises our brain and makes us mentally healthy into thinking for solutions in different routes. They make us feel empathy because we need to take care of them. Without us, they'd just be stray animals in the wild. We are needed by them and in return they make us new friends. They make our social circles larger and appreciate Pokemon even more. Playing with them would always brighten up our mood. They bring order to our lives - a systematic order where we have set rules to follow.

Cutiepies!

Pokemon will always be satisfactory. And for me, as a Pokemon trainer and pet owner, would gladly accept my pseudopet as my real pet.

Blogpost 4: Why are we so hooked about Pokemon?

The Pokemon franchise had been around for around more than 15 years. It had touched the hearts of many, and it seems now that the Pokemon culture have grown, even adults have the liking to play it too.

The thing about the Pokemon franchise is it revamps itself. It creates different experiences to keep the players hooked. Those who have been playing this game from when it started have held Pokemon battle competitions and seek to be the Pokemon master.

Cause you know, this is serious business.

I have found an article by Kat Bailey and it talked about the Inside of the Twisted World of Competitive Battling. Pokemon nowadays are far from journeying from town to town, collecting badges on a bicycle with all of the freedom you can get. Pokemon are meant for battling, and they do it like that. The article talks about how all the game players thought they were masters. They all battled with their favorite companion and they thought that would beat all of the other Pokemons. There were a little more than that though. Pokemon had hidden stats and numbers. It also involved different abilities that you can use to take advantage of a situation in a game.

This was considered fun.

These findings gave rise to the Pokemon battling community. With these kinds of information, the trainers wanted to know the ins and outs of Pokemon battling. It have surely improved itself from the original games. Many local tournaments have sprouted and different practice arenas have shown up. In 2004, according to the article, IRC gave way to the first battle simulator - Netbattle. It provided a lot of text and caused inconvenience for the users though, and then came Smogon. It was the perfect battle simulator. In 2009, Pokemon have announced the first ever Video Game Championships, formalizing all tournaments and holding different matches for professional players. With all of that, Pokemon battling gained recognition.

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I watched the stream online!

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With the modern era, the calculations were easily computed and a perfectly calculated Pokemon can be made in minutes with the use of Smogon. These Pokemon were clear off tournaments and can be used for battle. These made competing less effort and a lot more competitors rose up for the challenge.

These sprouted tantalizing possibilites that were hidden under a layer of sweetness. But how could you be addicted with these kinds of mathematical equations and why would you go through all these effort for a mere game?

An article about an interview with a Pokemon champion was written by Colleen O' Neil entitled The Adult World of Competitive Pokemon Players. It was an interview with Charles Hornstein, a competitive Pokemon battler. He plays around nearly all of the time when he was in college, because he used the prize money to pay for his college books. Now he plays seldom, just to be in tract of what's happening.

Mhmm.

He started playing competitively when he was 16. He decided he was too old for the game, but went on and tried the game for a spin. He then proceeded to win his matches and qualified for several competitions worldwide. The thing was, Nintendo payed his hotel room and gave him pocket money and food so he didn't mind playing the game for a longer time. He said he was amazed he had met people that shared their lives and talked with him outside of the matches.

He talked about how 40-year olds played mind games with you. At first, you'd see him as someone's dad but after seeing him battle, your mind would definitely be full of amazement. They try to hide their private life as discreetly as possible but once you get to know them you'd know you would be touched.

He saw Pokemon as a sense of personal growth. It taught him to do amazing things if he set his mind to focus. He thought about life in different perspectives and never to take things too seriously. He also met his significant other during a tournament. 

Pokemon affects lives more than you could ever imagine. It makes us think that the leap was worth. It makes us happy and hooked. If it makes us happy, and we're not hurting anyone, why not enjoy it at the very least?

Blogpost 3: Human and Pokemon Evolution

Pokemon evolution always fascinated me. The idea of training with a partner creature and watching it grow into a stronger and more powerful monster to battle for you always made my fighting spirit rise up. The idea of human evolution intrigued me. Evolution happens in a short time in the Pokemon world, but human - even animal and plant evolution - took hundreds and millions of years before even completing. We can only explain it with theories, which are, even when believed my many, are not completely factual even with the evidence that support it. So, what is human evolution and what triggered our ancestors to evolve into what we are today?

Intensive research is clearly needed here.

The Theory of Human Evolution was introduced to the media by Charles Darwin. Today, it still remains a worldwide controversy on whether being true or not even with proper evidence to support it. At first, Darwin explained evolution with Modern ideas of the theory are presented in the level of genes, the sections of DNA that code for our proteins to work and serve our way of life.


I have read an article on LiveScience by Ker Than that discusses about Darwin's Natural Selection On Humans which tells us about Carlos Bustamante's deep study in human genetics.

For science!

The writer compared our human genes and our close relative chimpanzee's genes. One of the most detailed studies in human genetics was analyzing nearly 12,000 genes from 39 different people and a chimpanzee. It turned out that about nine percent of our present DNA are undergoing rapid evolution. Another study suggested that the human brain is still continually adapting and evolving. The genes involving immunity, sperm and egg production and sensory perception were found to be the ones who were most affected. The chimpanzee was used as a comparison and was found out that these genes were more developed in humans rather than in chimpanzee despite the fact that they shared a common ancestors about some million years ago. Transcription factors , genes for a group of proteins responsible for switching other genes to be working or stop, were found significantly different from a human to a chimpanzee. 

The article starts with explaining Darwin's evolutionary process. The article states the theory process revolves around "Natural Selection" wherein species that adapt well with their environment survive and continue to roam oppose to the species that cannot change into suited forms for their surroundings. It is the constant change of an organism to thrive and produce more offspring.

Damn, evolution right?

"We believe that if you want to evolve a system, it's usually easier to tweak when the protein gets turns on or the total amount of a protein as opposed to the amino acid itself." Bustamante said. His work showed the extent of Darwin's studies and examples to support his idea. He had also presented that the genes that were bad on a human being were weeded out, and examples of these were disease-inflicting genes such as hereditary diseases.

That gives us a brief explanation of what our view of the scientific reasoning for evolution is. But what about Pokemon? I have stumbled upon this article entitled A Phylogeny and Evolutionary History of Pokemon written by Miss Cellenia. In the article, she explains the quantitative phylogeny about Pokemon and gives reason why Pokemon evolve. First off, it explains to us that Pokemon needs taxonomy. This article tackled the Pokemon taxonomy scientifically and well organized. It stated that Pokemon evolution may have come from the term metamorphosis. It exploited different errors in the Pokemon evolutionary system and having the capability to interbred with other species like a 400-kilogram Wailord having to mate with an 11-kilogram Skitty and still produce a Skitty inheriting some traits from its father.

Different Pokemon classifying methods were used as well, having the different "families" such as classifying an evolution line as one (eg. Pichu, Pikachu, Raichu). The 18 different elements were used as well, and also classifying them with their different body types.

Click on here for the clearer picture.

How does Pokemon relate this with Human evolution? Well the common knowledge for us all is that humans were classified and taxonomized into different classifications as well. They all served with different strengths, and weaknesses, as well shared similar and different traits.

This leaves us to the final part of the article, being the results. The article suggested that Pokemon life began in the water. The life that began in the water were similar to lampreys and bony fishes among the earliest to reach their present state. They branched out independently with the evolution of monophyletic Ice types such as Dewgong, then to a clade of Flying types such as Pelipper and into a psychic type with Xatu. Then it lost their ability to fly and advancing to the ability Levitate. The humanoid Mr. Mime appears here, and here evolved Mewtwo and Arceus. 

Then Normal types and specialized Grass, Fire, and Electric arise as monophyletic groups at different points. The list goes on and on and you can refer to the picture below to visualize the tree.

Look dees cutiepies!

What I'm trying to connect here is that Pokemon and Humans have a highly diverse and systematic way of evolving, and both metamorphed for the better of their species and for better reproduction and sustainability for their species. They have grown and made impact to change the course of history and make their way into the more favorable position for them to live.

Blogpost 2: What Made Pokemon A Successful Franchise

The Pokemon franchise had been around for several years. If I remember rightly, Pokemon started from the release of Pokemon Red and Green in Japan on February 27, 1996. Pokemon made it into two decades and still is loved by the media. What made Pokemon a huge success? 

I looked up on what elements a game should have in order for it to become successful, and I came across Carlos Icaza's article entitled Eight Elements to a Successful Game. The article was simple, it stated that a game must have the "eight E's" in order for it to be successful. 

This is what a game needs to be successful.

A game must be engaging. The creator must think of engaging a conversation, it could be enjoyable or entertaining. The game should also be expandable, something that you can keep growing. For example, the Pokemon franchise had multiple games like Red, Blue to Black and White. The game should be elastic. The game must stretch as far as you can while letting the player think it's still as easy as the first level. It the game is elastic, it would definitely be enjoyable and entertaining. At this point, the players of the game would want to share it to other game players, making your game endemic. 

It made me think methodically about creating games, and I find Pokemon being the successful game explained in the article. The writer proved good points on discussing what a game developer must take notice in creating a game. 

As I was looking up on what made Pokemon the game it is now, I came across a fascinating article. A blogger by the name of LimeCatMaster created an article about the Four Main Reasons The Pokemon Franchise Won't Die and it inspired me to create this blogpost. The blogger states that the Pokemon franchise has (1) a mass appeal to the fans, (2) big cultural impact, (3) educational value and (4) human spirit. 

If there's one thing you can tell about Pokemon, you can tell right off the bat that it has a huge fanbase. We all know this, we all know why it is this way and we can even explain the facts right off the bat. Pokemon always had this special aura into it, something that makes the game attractive to people from any age bracket, ethnicity and status in life. The article stated that we all liked a certain video game in a point of our life, and all, if not most of us, played Pokemon. The TV show was appealing to us and we wanted to be like Ash. We read the manga and we wanted to be like Red. It had a huge impact to the people who liked it and eventually even until they grew up, they continued to play and like Pokemon. It was full of childhood memories they couldn't just throw away.

I want all of these!

Pokemon had a big cultural impact. It attracted a lot of attention ever since it first came out. Why is that? Well, let's take a look at the impact it made so far. As broad as that statement gets, I could tell you all sorts of stuff in Pokemon that affected the culture of people who liked it. It created spin-off games to plush toys, trading card games and even designing airplanes with the face of popular Pokemon. On top of all these, Pokemon has gone off and become a worldwide phenomenon far beyond what anyone expected it to be. You can spur out a conversation by just suggesting the word "Pokemon". 

Of course, those are just all on the tip of the icebergs. We could also find deeper darker secrets of Pokemon like Pokemon Creepypasta written by freelance story editors, game exploits, speed runs, fan arts and videos of people playing run throughs of the game. Pokemon is so cool, and we learn something new everyday because of it. The list goes on and on. Players created whole new stories about Pokemon by creating hacked versions of the game - meaning new areas to explore, improving mechanics and even fan-made Pokemon. Fans have created an amazing culture based on this single franchise alone. We've created a reality we can all relate to. Sure, maybe other games are similar as a whole but Pokemon created more than that. 

Our imagination can go on and on.

Education was also prevalent in the Pokemon games. Pokemon had this little innocent cock-fighting gameplay that made us think with a rock-paper-scissors mentality to make the game enjoyable, but there's more to that. As I read the article, the author stated that the game's mechanics were easy to understand, but we think of ways to exploit the game and make ourselves think of what to do next. If I had a pair of scissors that is made of rock, would paper win? Multi-type Pokemon make us explore more options. In addition to moves to use, there is also the Pokemon using them. Sure, this Pokemon can dish out a whole lot of damage but it goes down once it gets hit, or this one Pokemon that never dies but has relatively low power. These may all seem like simple stuff, but it gives us the ability to cope with the problems in life. It shows us how to handle problems with our mentality in choosing different options for the best results.

Competitive battling also shows us education with the mechanics that are really hard to understand. The mathematics behind Pokemon concerns competitive battling. EV's, IV's, held items, Pokemon abilities, natures, movepools, and the list goes on and on. We learn the complexities of these mechanics and master them. Everyday we learn something new when a person tries this certain Pokemon with these set of mechanics and find it ridiculously overpowered and it means something: everyday we're learning and enjoying the passion we had for years.

Lastly, Pokemon is a celebration of the human spirit. Pokemon was made from a failed franchise that started off as "Capsule Monsters". Satoshi Tajiri, the creator of Pokemon, had all the reasons in the world to cease working for his passion, but it never stopped him. He was so involved in his game that he nearly failed his education and didn't go to college. He didn't stop and he created this amazing game and I think it's pretty inspiring.

The game is also the celebration of the human spirit. It reflects this idea because your character will be a young child, journeying into a world that is foreign to him. You are to face many challenges and dangers. You endure them with the unstoppable force that you create through the bond that you share with your pets. You may encounter an evil force but you keep pushing on and do something that was never thought possible for you.

The massive fanbase!

Even if the Pokemon franchise ended formally, we all have our imaginations. So long as we have ourselves, imagination will run free. We can argue a lot of things that are technically related to Pokemon, even with the Pokemon designs. But in the end, we are all gathered with the thought that Pokemon is a product of our imagination. Imagination has no upper or lower limits. We can still keep going, and that's the beauty of it. We can still keep going not just for Pokemon but also places to explore and stories to tell.