Why do people Shiny Hunt?

Question

I've never really gotten around to this. Based on the fact that you can't supertrain, get egg moves, or EV train the Pokemon you catch that are shiny in the wild....why do people do it and continue to search hard for them. Just for bragging rights?

Comments

For ultimate swag points B)

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Its a purpose once you get the shiny charm and when there isn't anything else to do if your not breeding or training

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If there's nothing to do, get a life. If you don't feel like getting a life, you are probably too tired to think straight, so take a nap.

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I think he means if theres nothing else to do in Pokémon. Besides, shiny hunting is fun for many people

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If there's nothing to do in Pokemon, there are thousands of other video games that you can try. Or take a nap.

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I personally find shiny hunting fun, and I cannot get more video games so I enjoy shiny hunting. Many people do it because they enjoy it

Answer 1

This is honestly a pretty subjective question. Each person has an individual motive or reason for doing it. However, I listed a few different reasons people do it here:

-Some people want to catch every single shiny Pokemon just for the sake of filling the shinydex.
-Like you said, some just want bragging rights, as shinies are elusive.
-Though it is a subjective manner, people could think a certain shiny looks better than its actual coloration.
-Shinies are highly sought after in the world of Pokemon trading, making it a valuable find to traders.
-Some just enjoy the thrill or rush of finding a shiny.
-To some people, shiny hunting is fun. It's just what they enjoy.

Comments

Once, I coloured a Torchic and by mistake made it shiny :0

Answer 2

If you don't have a shiny Pokemon yet, you might be eager to get your hands on one. Another thing could be trading the shiny Pokemon for a Pokemon they need for competitive/pokedex (for example, trading a shiny chimecho for something like lugia)
It's fun to collect shinies, and it feels good when you get one. So, there are 2 main reasons why people hunt for shinies:
-Because they like to collect shinies or want a specific shiny Pokemon
-To trade for a Pokemon they want to use to breed for competitive or a Pokemon not yet in their 'dex

Shiny Pokemon are elusive, people may want to find the very rarest Pokemon in the game, or they might want it so they have a good Pokemon to trade. I doubt many would try to capture shinies for bragging rights, since it wouldn't matter anyway and shiny Pokemon are much less rare than they used to be.
In the beginning they probably had the value of an event legendary (shiny chimecho from generation 3 would be extremely rare, since chimecho is very hard to obtain in those games. If it were EV trained with good moves, then it would be even more rare and one of the most valuable Pokemon), depending on the Pokemon.

Answer 3

Some people are completionists, and want to complete their shiny dex as well as their regular dex. Shiny hunting is a break from Masuda method (as some Pokemon cannot be found in the wild in Gen VI), as this process is pretty tiring, so some people shiny hunt to mix things up. I mean, believe it or not, some people find this fun.

Others may want the bragging rights, but they usually Masdua method (because it lets their shinies be competitively viable).