I think it would be really cool, and when I made my promise to never play another MMORPG, I made Pokémon the only exception. The only problem is, it would never be executed right. It would never feel right, as the vast majority of players would either be ten, or completely hardcore and not any fun. Also, they'd have trouble protecting children, as they'd be a large proportion of the players. They would most likely remove practically any communication features, making things pretty individual-based.But on an idealistic note, I think it would be awesome if Pokémon weren't random encounters but instead actually visible on the terrain, and some are much rarer than others (not unlike MMORPG weapons and items) so that not everyone can have every Pokémon they like if they know where to look, and the legendary Pokémon could either be boss-like characters, or Pokémon which there are only one of.
In addition, they should, unlike the games, periodically tweak balance to keep certain Pokémon from dominating or being useless. Otherwise, I think it should function similar to the games, except in real time with a "cooldown" bar for each Pokémon that must refill before using another move, and goes faster the higher the Speed stat. And also, trainers should be able to take damage from wild Pokémon if and only if they have no Pokémon out, and instead of dying they just black out and find themselves at the nearest Pokémon city, with some of their money gone.
With all that together, Pokémon could make a good MMORPG, but in reality, it won't. If Nintendo doesn't ruin it, the players will.
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