"What I'm saying is that as long as it requires exactly the same amount of effort, patience, focus, etc. as if you did it legitimately, there shouldn't be a problem." ... "it requires a lot of time and patience to get the pattern that it's going at at that moment. About the same amount of, if not more effort as if I were to go out, catchy a new pokemon, and EV train it myself. The reason I do it, however, is that while it takes more concentration, I can concentrate on a game screen at all hours of the day, but it's something I can just ju8mp right into as opposed to determining who I have to battle how many times and then going where plus having to go t the Battle Tower to win a whole bunch of vitamins and then getting all the TMs that will allow me to customize my Pokemon's moveset, etc. Though it takes a bit more work, it requires a bit less prep, and therefore that balances it out, as well as giving people a fair choice."
I will be honest: once again, I admittedly am an Action Replay user, but I never use it when it comes to playing against others. I have one game dedicated to fair play, a second which I only "hacked duplications" (999 of items, TMs, and easy Pokemon-cloning) and Action Replayed a few specific, non-perfect Pokemon (high random IVs, varying between 16 and 29, if I remember correctly), and a third that's full-blown hacked (catching a Level 100 Darkrai, Shaymin, and Arceus on Route 201 in Cherish Balls, anyone?). Which game do I use to play others when it comes to actual competition? The first one. Why do I even have the others? One was partially for writing a fanfiction, but it never got too far, so all I did was finish the game while taking notes at key events, so if I want to get it done, I can. I transfered the Action Replayed Pokemon onto the third game, as well as transfered any Pokemon that I had EV trained, and then reset it to go "legit". So, now I have two legit games that I play often, and one hacked-to-heck one that I almost never use. Seriously, it just sits there most of the time. I hadn't gotten past Jubilife, because I just got bored playing it.
What am I trying to say here? What point am I making? I have no idea. I forgot while retelling all that. *looks back up to what I quoted* Oh, right. Analogy time. I'll be honest, this one could sting a bit, but I don't mean to hurt anyone.
Assume that, as the often-quoted saying goes, time is money. A trained Pokemon is, then, an investment of time, therefore an investment of real-world money to create. In the real world, if one were to work, then one would (hopefully) earn money for their wages at their job (ignoring volunteer work). By your logic, if I use "exactly the same amount of effort, patience, focus, etc." to steal money from my workplace as I would by doing my actual work... then there shouldn't be a problem.
If it isn't a problem, why do it illegitimately, if you get the same outcome? The answer, I believe, is why people play the lottery. They put a small amount of money in, expecting that they will have the chance to win. A fraction of a sliver of a chance, but that they could, and all they had to do in the way of work was put the money in. And who would say that they got the money illegitimately? Anyone had the chance of winning, it just happened to be them.
The difference is that lotteries (in certain places) are allowed, the government gets a whole lot of that money, and sometimes doesn't have to even give any out, since no one wins the big one.
The Action Replay, used to create Pokemon for play against opponents who do not consent to that matter (which I assume is the main complaint, seeing as if it isn't used that way, it should have no bearing) or for breeding "more legit" Pokemon (which is still cheating, because one is making data from illegitimate data) is like counterfeiting. Okay, maybe that's a bad example, but still, I'm trying for the whole money thing. People would say that's wrong, but comparing that to stealing a little bit of money from work, over and over again, each day?
