Pokemon is a money stealing scheme. Have no cash? Playing pokemon? Connection!!!

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Legoslock: Ya, sorry I was getting a little harsh. Rikko I'm not saying you're a bad person, because obviously you're doing good things. It's your ideas on this issue I'm confronting. Sorry if I gave the wrong impression.

Catutie has a point. I joined pokemon on Halloween 2009 when some guy at an anime convention sold me a box of like 1800 for $35. I know it was just lucky, but nonetheless, the box had some old rares in them which I proceeded to trade for newer ones, I bought a few packs here and there and combining shipping, gas, and anything else, I've spent close to $150 over 2 years. Right now, I have nearly $1000 worth of cards sitting in my room. Like I said before, it's all about the initiative.
 
Yes, I do see the main jist of what you're saying. And, under the correct circumstances, and if you play your cards right (no pun intended), you can break even. It's just a very hard feat to do, and I think those who don't manage their money spent well should realize they're being suckered, in essence.

It's alright, Xander. I realize my points are very controversial. But that's what I love to do. I like to bring things to people that they deny. Point out things that a lot of people ignore selectively. I like it when people really think for themselves, not just "It's done this way, so I'm going to do it the same way."
 
I just want people to wake up and realize what they're spending.

The problem here is you seem to think the fault lies with the pokemon company for "suckering people", when it's actually the people's fault for wanting to be suckered. It kinda comes off like a mixed signal, can't really tell if you honestly want to advise on fiscal management, or if you just want to slam the pokemon franchise.

And now it's like you've generated some weird debate on agriculture or some Idunnowhat.
 
Lately i realized that buying packs is stupid, and if i needed something id trade what i already have for it. I haven't spent much on Pokémon at all, but have made quite a bit of profit in the past 3 years, and had fun doing so.
I hate how people try to talk you into buying something you don't need, like you said. Pokémon does the same exact thing, by making everything sparkly and pretty. You can ask the best players out there how much they spend yearly on Pokémon and its not much. Heck, an easy thing to do is make friends with the best players or someone who has almost everything good and just borrow cards for an event.
 
^not break even. PROFIT from it...thats like saying you plant 4 trees. buy the fertalizer and the food and all that then you sell the fruit to break even...there was no point in waiting all that time to sell the fruit and then not profit. its easy to profit. i havnt spent more than 150 dollars on cards this year and i already have 200+ dollars in cards and that is only about 50 cards...its not hard to profit (i dont have a single big name card eather...i suck at pulling good cards.
 
Well, come to think of it, I guess I don't have much business throwing my 2 cents in here (pun intended :p), seeing as I see things from a much different point of view and experience then you as well as many other people. Personally, I always saw my little "success story" as a common occurrence. However, I've always known luck to be on my side. Heck, I went to Walmart and picked up a pack of Triumphant along with my groceries and pulled a Gengar Prime, Spiritomb, and Floatzel.

My main point here is that I'm used to seeing the best of each situation and working with the negatives is not my strongest suit.

EDIT: catutie, my story is kind of a bite in the butt isn't it :p
 
lol i have a similar story i got 1000 cards on ebay for 17 dollars. there was a BTS in there so its like i just got half the money back and i still have 999 cards lol.
 
I am trying to make people see both. The whole point of this thread was to say, "People, look at your money. Look at what you could spend it on. Look at what you are spending it on. Use your money wisely. Shame on the Pokemon companies for preying on people who don't effectively manage their money, because look at how they do it. They make everything look good. They will do anything for a buck, even if it's morally shameful. But look at what you're spending, and watch carefully as to how you spend it."
 
Its not always easy to profit from Pokémon. I mean, in my case I've spent about $300 and i make $50+ selling cards every week. You just have to know a little something called overpricing.
Yeah, I'm done with this topic. I guess we just have to agree to disagree. Even though I'm 100% with Rikko on this.
 
Exactly, LegosLock! Well said!

I think some people are in slight denial, and tend to shoot the messenger. I know this when I post these threads. I realize I will get slammed with insults and my reputation will take a hit. But getting a truthful message into somebody's mind is worth it. Usually I make the thread about something every player will want to weigh in on *see thread title* and then hammer both messages into their heads at once.

I'm afraid I must agree with you, catutie. I suppose it is possible to profit from pokemon. :)
 
^first time ive ever won a debate lol.

wait...again its just a company. people can say the same for you. "look at what you are spending your money on, seeds, plants, its a waist, he could be spending that on other things"
 
Really like this article, and i do agree. But as many has said you can also profit from playing pokemon. I payed 125 kr (~19 USD) for 3 booster packs and got uxie lv X now worth 60(?)USD. I used it for a while but now i have deck's that don't really need it so it's for sale. I might not get every thing i spent on pokemon tcg back. But selling some cards to "invest" in it some more feels like you have made some kind of profit. (since you bought some cards, sold some to get more cards. So you get more for the original price, kind of)

I't also (in my mind) the newer players who "waist" more money on the game since they buy booster and such (trying to get many cards). While experienced players know what they need and can trade for it/ buy single if needed. Maybe spending more since ex, luxray gl X costs much.. but at least they don't get useless cards they can't sell nor use.

That got a little longer than planed...

 
Sure it costs money to play Pokemon. But in the grand scheme of things, it's not a lot for most people. Many hobbies cost money. Try collecting stamps or coins. Or baseball cards. Some of those can be very pricey. At least with Pokemon you can DO something with them!
 
Hmm time for my response:

Firstly, not all discs provide 'knowledge'. Im pretty sure I can give you a couple of examples which inspire rubbish and stupidity but I dont wanna get banned. Also Imo pokemon does help sharpen your brain as you are constantly thinking of new ways to beat your opponent, you are always trying to overcome your opponents next move, trying to predict everything and I can say that this has helped me with everyday life.

So your telling me all your clothes are for safety and to stop you burning in a fire, right? Sure none of them are fashionable whatsoever?

Like I said, I will pay whatever I want for my enjoyment. I enjoy pokemon and I will pay money to play it. I am grateful that I can afford to play pokemon without it affecting my quality of living. Now you act like it would and if does for you, then I would suggest quiting for YOU. If you can't afford to live and play pokemon, then I think you should prioritise the obvious one.

It seems that money is what you live for, it looks like you enjoy making money, playing with money. Isnt that just paper? Dejavu?

Also stop bragging about how many acres of land you have, woop de doo, you own some grass and a tree. Well done :).

Finally can you stop acting all primitive and alpha male. 'If any animal comes in my way, Il shoot it', seriously? Calm down with all this barbaric language and ideas. Fine you hunt animals, we get it. It just sounds like you enjoy killing them, which is pretty wrong imo.

Im pretty sure your idea of all the economy crashing is a bit far-fetched. You do know that 2012 is just a myth.

Finally I just want to tell you, your only a kid once, stop being so money driven. Enjoy your childhood, play with your mates, if thats by playing pokemon then so be it. Worry about money when your an adult. Im not saying flunk all your grades and become a school drop out, but there is more to life than money.
 
No offense but I think you understand this too little.

When I was nineteen years old, I moved over here from the CHINA, which has the worst conditions ever on the entire planet. Now I pursue a degree at an American University. The line of thinking you are haveing here is ludicrous. I take an economics class so yes, Pokémon is a business and they are trying to convince you to pay them. But, they are offering a service for you to pay! I think it is worth my money but please. Nobody is forceing you to go and buy the cards. OF COURSE they will mark the cards up more than it costs to make them!! Do you understand how the economics work? What determines the cost of the product is not what you pay to make it, but how much people will to pay. If you don't want to buy the cards, NOBODY is forceing you. You can't buy the cards and then complain that Pokémon makes them hard to resist! That is simply you being irresponsible!

Do you think Pokémon should only sell cards for how much it costs to make them? That is crazy! They wouldn't make any money! If YOU like the cards too much to resist the buying of them, that is your fault! Your argument is like saying that if i leave my Luxray LV.X on the table, it was too irresistible that you had to swipe it! You are not a victim, you are paying the money, and you have complete choice of whether or not you spend.
 
All of your points are not appropriate for the regular Pokemon player... Everything you do has costs, and unless you're having trouble paying your bills, or are paying then you don't have a problem. The biggest cost you don't take into account is opportunity cost.. which I will talk about in detail next.

What I find funny is that you argue so much for using money efficiently, yet you don't do it yourself. Your precious tree that you plant costs money because the land sure wasn't free. What about the taxes you pay for that land? Or what about the losses you incur when pests eat all the fruit? There's a reason our farmers are subsidized and why there's such a small % of our population that our farmers. And since you do make such an argument over money and maximizing its value, then I hope you know you're better off not growing your food and hunting your own animals or whatever because it's more expensive for you to do when others (specialists) can do the same thing for much cheaper. That's why our entire economy is made this way and why we don't make our own clothes and grow our own food, because as a society, it's more expensive and inefficient. The specialists have the advantage of scale economies, which you do not have. You might think to yourself "That's not true, it costs me $20 in groceries if I go to a supermarket, and it only costs me $1 if I plant them myself". Sure, it LOOKS cheaper, but think about all the time it took to grow the same groceries, all the hours. If it took you a cumulative 6 hours to grow those veggies/fruits/whatever, you would've been better off getting a minimum wage job.

Try this argument again once you've taken a basic Economics course.. otherwise this is pretty worthless discussion.

Rikko, you remind me of the picture of the American Southwest.. trigger-happy, bible thumping Americans who hate big business and are giving this country a bad reputation on the global stage because your argument has no actual intellectual proof in it. As in, if your argument was a research paper, there would be no sources. Where do you get this stuff from?
 
1. If you were working for pokemon i reckon you'd do the same, if you work in a business you'll do anything to maximise your profits.

2. No one is forcing you to pay anything, it's your fault for spending in the end, because ultimately it was your decision to.

3. Value is based on supply and demand, lower supply cards tend to have a higher demand, therefore value is risen, sounds normal?

4. Value is also based on the price a customer is willing to pay for it, if a customer is willing to pay £6.25 for an Absol G Lv.X (which i've seen multiple times), then yes that piece of card and ink is worth £6.25.

5. If you don't like to buy cards that's your problem, 1000's of people tend to be on the other side, you're not going to change their opinion.

6. You can profit from pokemon cards yourself as people are willing to pay much for a piece of card with ink on, i've brought a Rayquaza Ex for 55p (£0.55) on ebay and resold it for £6.20 on ebay.

7. I'm not a player, i buy pokemon cards because i like their artwork and i like a collection, i'm not someone who would pay insane amounts of money for a card, but i do respect rare cards because i understand why they're worth so much.

Futhermore stop trying to "manipulate" our minds to your complete gibberish.
 
Oh, how you make me laugh!!! I started planting trees because of turtwig!? That's just assumptious. I got into planting trees because even as a child I had the gears turning. "These take a while to produce something worth making money from, so if I plant them now, by the time I can legally sell them, I'll have something to sell!" It would seem you started thinking when your parents said, "You're thirty-five. Now you need to move out." Or are those just future plans of yours?

Dude, srsly. It's called joking. Google it.

I'm done with this thread. OBVIOUSLY you're not gonna change your mind since you dont want the discussion to die so that you have something to do besides hunting. I was just posting so I can contribute to a future amazing thread. But now this is just boring. Obviously there's something wrong with you when you think the only way to not have your money stolen and have fun is hunting, walking in the woods, planting trees, going fishing, and a bunch of other stuff that kids todayy just don't want to do. It's great that you can have fun to do it, but don't hate on Pokemon because you couldn't get Darkrai or POP9 Turtwig to work (And of course because you quit). Almost every toy, game, or non-consumable item falls into that category.
 
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