What I learned trying to fight bots in PokeMMO.

I’ll start off by explaining my journey and why it’s left me here.

So I started playing PokeMMO a few months ago, when I logged in and beat first region, I fell in love with the game.

But continuing forward I encountered numerous suspected automations some in obvious gold farming clusters with strings of random letters as names.

I reported a few they disappeared and were replaced with similar names back in the farm spot.

This really bugged me so I documented it and made a forum post asking if staff could clarify why this happens.

I was told just report them, you can also report any clusters. After hearing this I took it upon myself to document every suspected automation to try and clean the game I loved.

Some players tried to antagonize with comments like “there are no automation” or “nothing you can do let the staff handle it.”

My problem became contradictory at that point. There was no proactive action taken and too many solo accounts to report so I shifted my reports to collecting information on automation and RMT sites that are fueled by them.

I compiled a list of over 20 sites using the game and Nintendo IP for profit. At this point I figured with such detailed reports and information real action could be taken so I reported through the proper channels and it was dismissed simple saying they will look into individual players only.

I brought my concerns back to the forums. I posted very thought out suggestions and guides to inform other players what automation looks like and how to report effectively.(Or what i thought was effective).

Pushing the issue further I got a reply stating:

“My reports were not actionable” (I observed it for 10 hours straight overnight before the report to ensure I wasn’t accusing a legit player)

“We already know about the sites” (some have been active since 2015)

“The sites are scams” (As stated still active.)

“We won’t waste resources on takedowns” (Admitting they’ll leave sites untouched, allowing even more to pop up.)

“Stop badgering us” (My concerns and love for this game were legit and framing it as badgering is a low effort way to silence criticism.)

“Reports are only hints” (No matter how much effort you put into a report it may not even matter. This discouraged me from meaningfully reporting any future problems.)

I attempted to bring this discussion to Reddit under r/mmorpg (Thread was closed without a rule violation message) and r/pokemon (Thread closed under Rule 1, which disallows commentary on Pokémon fans or on r/pokemon itself).

In an ironic twist, I shared my story on Elitepvpers main discussion forum to encourage thoughtful, uncensored responses but it was also removed without a stated violation.

As a result, my full account is now housed here. Direct, screenshots, logs, quotes, and archived forum posts are available upon request for anyone who wishes to verify or investigate further.