Pokémon Identical Pokémon Trades in GTS -- Why?

[kiwikenobi]

When I've been looking around the GTS in Pokémon Home, and in previous games that had it in-game, I noticed that a lot of people will ask for a Pokémon identical to the one they've put up for trade. Like, a LOT of people, and I mean COMPLETELY identical. Same species, gender, level, form, etc. The people had to manually input all of that information into the "asking for" spot. And it makes me wonder why. Why do so many people go to all of that trouble just to trade for a Pokémon exactly identical to the one they already had? Occasionally, I could understand maybe wanting your Pokémon to get the traded Exp. bonus, so you want one that's the same as what you had. But how could so many people so frequently want to trade for what they already have? Especially in Pokémon Home, where you can't even really do anything with the Pokémon unless you transfer them, and some of them can't even be removed from Home once they're in?

My only theory is that, somehow, a lot of people misinterpret the GTS entirely, and they think the "asking for" spot is a place to describe the Pokémon they've deposited for some reason.

What do you think? Why does this keep happening when it seems so pointless?

 

[DarkDesertFox]

Are you talking about the Furfrou? I was completely clueless on that originally, but I guess Pokemon GO had some sort of event with a lot of different versions of it. I'm assuming that's why. In general though, I'm not too sure.

 

[kiwikenobi]

No, I don't mean just that, though there do seem to be a lot of people asking for the same form of Furfrou and other multi-form Pokémon that they're offering. It feels like, frequently, when I look for Pokémon that are up for trade, the people are asking for exactly what they're offering. And I'm sure that's due in part to the fact that most of the time, those trades won't ever actually happen, so they just sit in the GTS forever, accumulating. But it still strikes me as a little odd that people are creating those trades in the first place.

Maybe there are just so many people playing Pokémon that, just though the sheer numbers, some percentage of people will ask for what they're offering, whether deliberately or because they don't understand how the GTS works, and even a small percentage of millions of people will seem like a lot. Plus the fact that the trades just sit there, untaken, because who would want to make a trade like that?

I'm curious of anyone has any other insight into it, though. Maybe I'm not thinking of something that could explain it.

 

[Sheep Villager]

Honest guess: Shiny hunters looking for pokemon to use for the Masuda Method of shiny hunting.

If you're not a shiny hunter the general gist of it is that getting a pokemon from a country outside of your own and then breeding that pokemon increases your shiny odds. Could be possible people are fishing for a specific pokemon they want from outside their region. Kind of a roundabout way of doing it, but that's my best guess.

I won't go too in to detail on it so here is a link to an article on it.

 

[kiwikenobi]

I suppose it's possible. But then it seems like, if they know enough about Pokémon to use the Masuda method, that they would specify a different language when they ask for exactly what they already have, and also they wouldn't be so picky about the level or gender or form. These identical trades that I'm seeing look very much like the people were trying to describe the exact Pokémon that they were offering for trade, rather than asking for something else that they wanted.

It may just remain a mystery. People do mysterious things sometimes.

 

[Holla]

I can say I've done this before, though not since maybe gen 6 ha.

Often times I'd put up a version exclusive for another version exclusive I needed. Would get the trade fairly quickly and there would sometimes be something about it I didn't like. My biggest one I remember being was wanting all my Pokemon to be English and not nicknamed.

So, for example I put an extra Xerneas up asking for a Yveltal. Got an Yveltal right away but it was Japanese so I threw it back in asking for another Yveltal hoping to get an English one instead. Rinse and repeat as needed.

Another reason might be the Pokeball it's in, maybe it has Pokerus and you don't want it to etc. I'm sure these all sound like silly super picky things but some people (like me) are like that.

 

[your local goomy]

I'm not very experienced with Pokemon Home and not sure what the genning/hacking scene is there, but I know that on generations 6 and 7, there's always GTS listings that seem to be made by the same person, always asking for some specific Pokemon that's either impossible (male Salazzle, level 1 Ditto, etc.), or offer shinies for something like a level 100 Nidoking. The shiny trades always crash the game (RIP Shiny Aromatisse...), and as for the impossible ones, I have no idea. That's all I can suggest, but as for asking for the same Pokemon...? I'm not sure.

 

[Flicky]

Sometimes I used to use the GPS (back in the good old days of DP) for that kind of thing, though typically it was with my fave Pokemon.

I liked to hoard certain Pokemon, so I would put up mine for trade and get a collection of the same Pokemon with unique IDs/regional names. The only time I bothered to ask for identical ones was when there was a good enough reason to (say, I already leveled it to 50 and wanted one around that level).

 

[sleepydreepy]

When I've been looking around the GTS in Pokémon Home, and in previous games that had it in-game, I noticed that a lot of people will ask for a Pokémon identical to the one they've put up for trade. Like, a LOT of people, and I mean COMPLETELY identical. Same species, gender, level, form, etc. The people had to manually input all of that information into the "asking for" spot. And it makes me wonder why. Why do so many people go to all of that trouble just to trade for a Pokémon exactly identical to the one they already had? Occasionally, I could understand maybe wanting your Pokémon to get the traded Exp. bonus, so you want one that's the same as what you had. But how could so many people so frequently want to trade for what they already have? Especially in Pokémon Home, where you can't even really do anything with the Pokémon unless you transfer them, and some of them can't even be removed from Home once they're in?

My only theory is that, somehow, a lot of people misinterpret the GTS entirely, and they think the "asking for" spot is a place to describe the Pokémon they've deposited for some reason.

What do you think? Why does this keep happening when it seems so pointless?

I've done this before many times to get a specific pokemon with better IVs or a different nature for competitive play/competitive breeding lol

for example if I am looking for a blastoise with a bold nature and there isn't any listed in the GTS, I would list my own for another blastoise and hope I'll get the nature I want in return, instead of offering a different pokemon to trade for a blastoise because that can take a while and what if I don't have a semi rare pokemon I want to trade away for a second blastoise. hopefully this makes lol, I thought it was easier at the time