Pokemon Go Trading
Pokemon Go became the game of the summer, even though it initially started as a joke by Google in 2014. After release, Nintendo’s value to jump over $20 billion, surpassing Sony in the process, and there was a huge growth in Ninendo stocks, over $9 billion, which added to the market value of the company. The game has had continuous updates over the past several months, with a buddy system released in early September and increases in the number of Pokémon allowed for gym battling.
An interesting topic of discussion over the past couple of weeks is the trading feature, which was first mentioned in the original trailer of the game last year. Although Nintendo has not officially released the details yet, there have been speculations by users and fans who have found hints inside code updates. In one of these portions of code, there seems to be a feature where players can search for other “trading players,” and then are able to create, cancel and complete offers for Pokémon, and potentially other items including candies as well. These players do not necessarily have to be friends, and seem to be able to trade just based on the location between them. It’s unknown whether or not trading will be available worldwide yet. Although the specific details are not known yet, the concept of trading between the game adds a very new and interesting twist for the players, and one that will likely be very popular once released.
Network exchange can be directly applied to this supposed trading feature of the game. The trades could depend on numerous details—the level of the Pokemon, the kinds of moves it has, the type, and how rare it is (since some are only available in certain regions of the world), among others. An outcome of trading would be if both players agreed on trading the Pokémon (and/or items), and the offer is completed, hence a stable outcome. However, this is not always necessarily the case. Each player has their own outside options—which is based on the other people around them who are willing to trade, or even if the player feels that the Pokémon being traded is not of the same value. Each player can only make one ‘deal” or one trade at a time. A player could have more power depending on how many outside options he or she has, since a player with more rare and better Pokemon overall will have more trade offers than one who might not have the same statistics. It is hard to quantify a ‘surplus’ in this case because there are many different options being placed on the players. Each player must weigh their outside options and the trade being offered to determine if it should go through. If either of the players is discontent then the trade could be cancelled, in which each player keeps what he or she started with, and there is no agreement between them.