notes.husk.org/likes images.

I started writing a post about the different ways Pokemon games exploit and use scarcity - inspired by this fellow, Vivillon, whose coloration varies according to the part of the world the player catching him is from. Vivillon is the kind of scarcity effect which can only really be deployed in a highly connected, “social” game - but at the same time collecting him (I have 11 so far) feels quite charming: utterly modern but also a throwback to a lost world of pen pals and stamp collection when being brought into contact with people from around the world felt special rather than a routine part of life.

(Not all of Pokemon’s attempts to exploit scarcity are quite so successful but in a world of NFC-based game/toy franchises and in-app purchases the main Pokemon series game feels pretty benign - you pay upfront for one or both versions and that really is it.)

There are so many examples of Pokemon using scarcity effects that the post got away from me, I will try to finish it sometime soon.