[Theory] Why do we fill out the Pokédex?

[M.E.R.255]

It's a question that can lead to theories. In the game you have to capture a Pokémon to required its data, while in the Anime the data can be looked up without even battling them, or even seeing them, like the episode where Ash and Tracy are sick and Misty is looking up Salveyo weed and where it grows, stumbling across an entry of Poliwag that is known to get it stuck on its tail.

So why do we fill out the Pokédex in the game?
Is it a timeline where the professors have newly crafted Pokédex and require you to gather information on it?
Or are they just trying to encourage you to catch them all so that maybe, like Oak in the Anime receiving your Pokémon and keeping them in his ranch/habitat/whatever-you-call-it, the professors can do further study while you feel fulfilled by learning more about your capture.
Surely you're not the first trainer to ever receive a Pokédex, so why would they keep information from you? I mean, your rival receives one too, so why doesn't your Pokédex database update when he/she finds something before you? At least their starter Pokémon, seeing how you never have theirs to begin with. =O

Even if you were the first trainer... how would the Pokédex know of all the habitats, weight, height, and that additional information? If it can just receive the data from your Pokéball, why have professors then? Clearly the device can do everything they can do, except not even requiring any studies but instead just scan the information right out of them.

So many thoughts...
Does anyone have any ideas why we're filling out a Pokédex and aren't allowed to view the Pokémon's info or why it's not in there until you capture a Pokémon?

 

[virtualboy2558]

Yeah, I find that pretty conflicting why in the main games that the Pokedex entries only show up if you capture that Pokemon into your ball... while in the Anime, the info is already in the Pokedex whether or not you even met the Pokemon in question. =o Either you already have it documented yourself, or the Professor already documented it for your convenience... it can't be both.

It would make more sense if you were catching Pokemon and sending it to the Professor for analysis, much like what Ash did in the Anime (one of the few times the show would have some logic in it =P). I wouldn't think the Professors would give such technologically-advanced encyclopedias in the hands of 10 year old children, just to hope they could gather the info that way... it'd be like handing expensive dictionary books to elementary kids and expect them to write definitions of every English word, and hoping they won't just scribble junk inside them. *sweat*

I also wouldn't think they're trying to be cost-effective by having Pokemon Trainers fill out the data through scanning what Pokemon they come across, since a simple copy to all existing storage units would be far more practical. *sweat*

My opinion... either the Pokedex should already have this data from the start and you could just look into it at any time, or that instead of a Pokedex you're given a notebook to write in your own personal findings about the Pokemon, perhaps on the off-chance of discovering something new if you're lucky. ^.^

 

[pkmin3033]

Well, obviously in the games it's designed as a reward mechanic for players. Catch the Pokemon, learn about that Pokemon. There would be substantially less of a reward involved in catching Pokemon in the games if the Pokedex was already complete when you started. It'd remove one of the long-running goals in the game and, whilst there would be definite pros to such an approach - being able to pinpoint a Pokemon's location prior to encountering it would be the most obvious one - I suppose it's just a design choice that they made and have continued to make, and it's not a bad one. Pretty much any RPG with a bestiary will require you to fight the monster to acquire its data first; it's not really any different here, at least in terms of how it works in the games.

I'll agree that the way its implemented in the games is a little more important than just a bestiary, but even in cases like this it isn't unheard of either - if you want another in-game example of a bestiary that should logically be filled when you receive it, you receive a "Big Book of Beasts" in Chapter 5 of Dragon Quest IV that you have to fill out on your own. Just another example and not particularly relevant, but it shows Pokemon is not unique in doing this.

I suppose if you want to look at it from a more realistic standpoint its incredibly irresponsible to send a child out into the wilderness without that information that they arguably need to survive, but it is also incredibly irresponsible to send a child out into the wilderness in the first place, even with Pokemon. Although, given that realistic concepts of danger and irresponsibility fly out the window with this franchise, you could also look at an incomplete Pokedex as a "rite of passage" kind of thing, and a way to measure and evaluate progress of an individual. Complete the Pokedex and prove yourself a Pokemon Master. Gotta catch em all.

 

[UltimateFrosty08]

They send you on the quest for 2 reasons

1. So they can get some alone time with your mom in the game (Like Prof. Oak)

Or

2. It was the easiest grant to apply for, they got a free lab, and spent the rest of their time messing around or growing "Grass" (Like prof. Tree from Unofficial Pokémon Rusty but hey it makes sense) instead of focusing on the Pokedex.

 

[Mister Coffee]

Congratulations, you are deeply questioning one of the many continuity issues within the pokemon franchise.

My fantastic theory that I have used throughout playing the franchise to help trick my imagination into believing that these continuity issues don't exist, specifically for the poke'dex, is that the poke'dex is a mechanical device that is constantly recording the activities of pokemon while in the middle of random encounters as well as it is connected to an internet like database that has also recorded various other peoples accounts of specific pokemon.

While in the wild when you encounter a new pokemon, the poke'dex is recording the current habitat you are in, the natural edible wildlife within the area, as well as the otherlikely pokemon that inhabit the area. I also assume that the Poke'dex is linking up to the main database that the professor controls, which most likely has the recorded accounts of various people that have encountered the newly found pokemon. By the time the pokemon has been actually caught, the poke'dex compiles all the information, compares what the poke'dex has recorded in contrast to the information that has already been collected by the professor, decides what is true and what can be left out uploads all the necessary information onto the poke'dex. Then when the poke'dex is next evaluated by the professor the database controlled by the professor is than updated with the new information.

I think the poke'dex does have access to previously known information by the professor, but it isn't confirmed by the actual obtaining of the pokemon within its natural habitat, thus it isn't confirmed and is merely belief or rumor.

As for why the rival or other characters poke'dex information isn't shared with other poke'dex's. I believe that the professor's database is an input database only. Most likely a powerful database such as what the professors does, would most likely have a huge collection of information that is considered top secret and unable to be shared with the general populace, (Almost every in game refrence I have ever seen to a professor's knowledge about Legendary pokemon is much more detailed and secretive than most pokedex entries.).
So although the poke'dex's are first designed with a basic amount of public information that is collected and deemed view able by the population such as rumors, basic appearance, and possible habitats, the core of the information which is obtained through studying the actual acquisition of the pokemon is deemed top secret and sent to the database. The pokedex is just simply a recording tool that is recording the progress of the player and then distributing it to the professor's database which is top secret until another person is able to acquire both a poke'dex as well as the pokemon in question.

All in all, the professors are much more secretive then they naturally let on. They operate in a secret pokemon organization that is not publicly understood. They control a powerful information gathering database that is spying on us through complicated hand computers used for recording our every move. Collecting large amounts of relatively top secret information for unknown purposes, and only allowing us to access information that they deem necessary to continue our overall mission.

"Big Professor is watching you."