"PokeMart: A Suggested Solution For Item Economy Insolubility"

#PokemonGO: The Preface:Something that I think gets overlooked a lot in games is when currency or item collection reaches a certain threshold where it no longer serves a purpose. Take a game like Skyrim (stay with me here) for example- standard gold coins can be collected to purchase all manner of useful items and services for the player. However, what happens when you've accumulated so much that there is no longer a use for even having them? Most items you use can be found instead of bought, and if you're savvy enough to sell the equipment you find that you don't want to keep, pretty soon you can have over a million gold pieces, and there is absolutely nothing worthwhile to spend it on. It's a flaw in games with this type of economy to underestimate the higher end of spendability; just when a player has reached a point where they feel satisfied or well-off with what their hard work has wrought, they realize that there's really nowhere to go from there, and thus the returns of the currency and/or items are greatly diminished.The Problem:PokemonGo I feel has reached that level of disappointment with many if not all of its item currencies. The system of allowing players to transfer unwanted pokemon for candy of their type is great, but then what do you do with an abundance of candy for a pokemon you don't care about? It's the same problem as selling items for gold, only to end up having nothing to buy with said gold. This is a collection game, meaning accumulation is sort of the main drive, and yet the system provides no way to balance or reward players for long-term play. For example, personally I have nearly 6,000 Rattata candy. Even if I evolved every Rattata I got from here on out (which there is literally no reason for to begin with), there's no way I'd ever run out. Now granted, I'm level 40 and I've been playing since launch, but I'm betting that most players have large amounts of candy for mon that they'll never use, mon that don't have any use in battle, and/or mon that can't even evolve. Like, what could you possibly ever do with all your Wobbuffet candy, or Dunsparce candy? Nothing, there's literally nothing you could do with it aside from watch it pointlessly accrue. Evolution items have the same issue- what to do with 50 King's Rocks, or heck even 5 King's Rocks? "Either use it or delete it" is just not an efficient or enjoyable solution when you get an item that is supposed to be special. I have 132 Fast TMs, even after the ones I deleted to make item bag space during GO Fest. Even constantly re-tooling my Mew, I could never use that many, yet I can't send any to friends or somehow sell them, the only option is to just trash these once-rewards.The Solution:I would love to see the addition of a PokeMart that houses an item exchange, where players can do something with the various items and currencies they've collected other than simply deleting them or watching them grow with no use or end in sight. The PokeMart could be housed in the menu like the Shop, or it could be a real world travel location that could be nominated like gyms and stops are. I know Niantic loves their money, so nothing would be available here that they want you to buy with pokecoins like Premium Battle Passes, but I still think this would be a welcome addition to the game that would only increase the time and methods that players spend playing and using the app.Pokemon Candy Exchange:Unwanted Pokemon candy can be exchanged for rare candy, at a high exchange rate of course. Like say 100 Pidgey candy can be exchanged for 1 rare candy. Rarer pokemon could have better exchange rates. 25 Lapras Candy for 1 rare candy. 10 Terrakion candy for 1 rare candy. This is just a loose idea, obviously there are a lot of considerations to balance, but I think it's something worth looking into. This would be a welcome option for players, but also would help the health of the game by increasing player investment and hunting. Like, even when there are crappy spawns, instead of not playing, I'd still catch what I could knowing it meant an increment toward my next rare candy goal. Stardust already does this to some extent, but the typical catch amount is not enough to entice someone to play when they ordinarily would not, unless there was a special event going on.Item Exchange:Evolution items, which were a great idea to begin with, have also become stale as the typical amount that players accumulate far outnumber the very few pokemon that they both can and would use such an item on. Items such as a Sun Stone or Metal Coat could be exchanged here for other evolution items at a 2:1 ratio, or perhaps greater for more sought-after items like Sinnoh Stones. Same with Berries. Don't like Pinap Berries? Trade them in for a Razz or Nanab at a 2:1 ratio, or trade them all in for a Golden Razz or Silver Pinap at a 5:1 or 10:1 ratio. This would resolve players having to delete "excess" items, but still not having to forgo the item cap upgrades that Niantic wants you to buy because you'll still want to hold as many of these more desirable items as possible.Stardust shop:Stardust is one of the currencies that is most polarizing. Players either constantly spend their stardust powering up pokemon for battle, or they don't spend it and have millions in the bank that they'll probably never get through. Wouldn't it be nice if there were a way to assist both parties- allow stardust poor players to exchange other items for stardust, and allow stardust rich players a larger pool of options that they could use it on? Players getting Raid Passes in boxes and not wanting them or being able to delete them used to be a problem until Niantic finally allowed for their deletion. A better solution would be to allow a player to exchange that pass for 5,000 or 10,000 stardust. Better for the player, and also better for Niantic and the game as a whole, because not only will that player have more of something they value in the game (and thus more incentive to play) but it also provides more incentive for players to purchase boxes from the shop even if they aren't satisfied with the box contents. For example, even if I need passes or want incubators, I never buy a box when it comes with Lucky Eggs, because that is simply a waste of an item for me. But if I could exchange a Lucky Egg for 3,000 stardust, or exchange 2 Lucky Eggs for 1 Star Piece? Heck yeah I'd be buying more boxes, and thus more pokecoins. They could also introduce new fun or useful items or services here that players could spend stardust on.In summation: a PokeMart where players could trade in items and/or spend stardust or other item currencies could benefit both the player base and the company as a whole by improving item economy health and furthering game longevity. Thank you for coming to my TED Talk via /r/TheSilphRoad https://ift.tt/33jtLV0