Pokémon Article - Hacks

[Electrocast]

I wrote an article, because this thought entered my mind. I figured, I'd share it - but HEED THIS WARNING: You people don't know my articles, but they are never meant to be aimed at a particular person, nor are they meant to imply I am angry with anyone. I'm being as calm as possible here - so please don't bite my head off if you disagree.

Well, this is about the Pokémon fandom. Since trading over WiFi has started, most people have some sort of rules for Pokémon to be traded and such. That's all good, but there's one that I have a beef with:

No hacks.

This ticks me off since people who say this, tend to think that if someone has hacks, they cheat. This isn't always true. A lot of Pokémon that people legitimately get from other trainers, or the GTS, are hacked.

Now I can understand the reasoning that most of these people have for not accepting hacks. That reason is, they don't want to trade a monster they worked hard to get, for something that the other person made by punching a code in – that they can do again in two minutes.

I agree this isn't fair, but people aren't fair. Period.

See, I don't have a problem with people trading me hacks. I don't have an AR, nor have I even messed with one, but I have a bunch of hacks because my policy is that way. People with hacks, whether they did it or not, usually can't get rid of them except through the GTS where the person receiving it can't tell it's a hack until it winds up in their possession.

I don't have many morals I admit, and I've put some of my hacks up on the GTS before, because I don't know who's getting it therefore it becomes their problem and not mine.

But I don't trade my hacks to people who don't know they are getting a hack. I ALWAYS ask first – “do you mind hacks? I didn't hack it myself.” Usually these people do care, maybe it's because they have no proof I didn't hack it. Maybe they just don't like hacks. But really, I don't see why not. It's a video game, who cares where it came from? Especially since the hack didn't come from an AR that was ever in my house. If I wanted to I could prove it, but that would be too much trouble and these people still wouldn't take a hack anyway, so why try?

I'm not trying to change anyone's policy on hacks, as it's a safe policy to keep. But while we're on the subject of “safe,” let me explain something to those who aren't that knowledgeable about hacks: 99% of hacks don't do anything to your game. Trust me. I had someone trade to me a few shiny Pokémon they got by turning on a shiny code. It even made their eggs shiny. But when I bred his hacked shiny Pachirisu with another Pachirisu I caught myself, the offspring was a normal Pachirisu. My friend got a few of his hacks too, and he's made at least 30 eggs with the shiny Pikachu he got from the same person – but none of them are shiny.

So even though the person who gave me these hacks was obviously inexperienced [the shiny Suicune I got from him says it was met at level 9 on Route 222 or something], it still hasn't done anything to my game. I've dealt with hacks since red and blue, and not once has my games had any problems that ruin my gameplay. Sure, the Missingno Hall of Fame thing was messed up, but that was because red and blue are faulty in coding anyway.

Actually, on the contrary a “hack” has made my game more fun. When I trade Pokémon on Pokémon Stadium 2 with my Yellow and Silver, Yellow's listing of boxed Pokémon had a 14th box appear. Yellow has 12 boxes, remember? In this 14th box, “hacked” Pokémon appear – or so the N64 tells me. I got a Ditto holding a Clear Bell [which, when I traded it to Silver and took the item, became Teru-Sama], a level 2 Kadabra [which evolved], an Omastar with Metronome, Wrap, Metronome, and Wrap as it's movelist, and a Spearow with Karate Chop – just to name a few. Some of the Pokémon in there seemed to be completely normal, too, just at odd levels [like the Kadabra], at level 100, and with odd nicknames, status conditions, and OT's. Usually the OT or the nickname had a bunch of spaces and V's or ?'s.

But it never made my game unplayable. So for you skeptics who seem to fear hacks like the plague, they're NOT that bad. For those who think anyone who has a hack cheats... well, just get a new policy or something, or at least give people a chance. If you don't care about what you're trading away, then why should the other person care if it's a hack? It won't make any difference to you – you can just dump it in the GTS and ask for another of the same species.

 

[GuitarHero]

People are usually against hacks because;

*It isn't right at all for a person to trade away there Gengar they spent hours Ev training, for a Weavile someone just made in an instant with Poke-Save.

*Though not as common of an occurrence any more, hacks still do have the possibility to screw up the save file and even trash the whole cart, (in some cases.) *Points at Gameshark*

*People just plain don't want something that is fake. I mean, having a hacked shiny just really takes away from the "Specialness" and rarity of it... you know what I mean?

-I don't mind hacks personally, though I do tend to stay away from them just from the fear of somehow losing my save file after the hundreds of hours of ev training I have put into it. I don't mind fighting them either, as long as they are legal and don't have 252 evs all around... that sort of thing.-

 

[Æsahættr]

I don't have many morals I admit, and I've put some of my hacks up on the GTS before, because I don't know who's getting it therefore it becomes their problem and not mine.

Well, you may not have many morals, but you're also gonna have a hard time proving you've got any brains; because that is one of the dumbest things I have ever heard. Just because you don't know who's getting it, doesn't mean they don't exist.

 

[bell02+]

People should expect every pokemon they get to be a hack on the GTS. Heck, people can actually make authentic pokemon as hacks for no real reason. I never understood the whining, that type of logic of people cheating or taking advantage on the internet is suppose to be common knowledge. It's like going to a Sushi restaurant and disappointed from not finding pork buns and tacos.

 

[GrnMarvl14]

People should expect every pokemon they get to be a hack on the GTS. Heck, people can actually make authentic pokemon as hacks for no real reason. I never understood the whining, that type of logic of people cheating or taking advantage on the internet is suppose to be common knowledge. It's like going to a Sushi restaurant and disappointed from not finding pork buns and tacos.

That's not QUITE the same thing. While you shouldn't be surprised, it should NOT be expected. Plenty of people (like me) put up legit Pokemon on the GTS all the time (I've got to do something with my Totodile mountain). Now, would I be surprised to see that some (or all) of the Pokemon I've received were hacks? No. But I like to think that MOST are legit (certainly my shiny Palkia's, at most, a clone).

Hacking IS cheating. But it's ultimately up to the individual to decide whether or not they're bothered by that. I think it's up to the one with the hacked Pokemon to be honest about it. If the person doesn't want it once they've found out that it's hacked, too bad for the one with the hacked Pokemon. Personally, I try to limit my trading to people I know, so I have to deal with fewer possible hacks. Why? I don't like them. Just a personal preference.

 

[Infinity Mk-II]

Hacking is simple modification. There should be less diference in how the pokemon was made but how it is. I see trading for something with 255 of everything shiny and broken moves as cheating even if it actually was caught like that. But a normal pokemon with coherent stats and trained like any other pokemon, that just has been obtained by hacking the game... I don't see how is that cheating when the game itself cheats in much worse ways (hello broken moves, not to mention all the things that rely on luck.)

My entire Red team was hacked with a gameshark. With a level 4 Charmander as the starter, with sightly (a point) higher special attack and speed than normal and lower defense. Is that cheating when I actually made the game sightly more difficult for me?

 

[qwerty2263]

I don't have many morals I admit, and I've put some of my hacks up on the GTS before, because I don't know who's getting it therefore it becomes their problem and not mine.

Can you explain that? I think it came out wrong.