>>50644379I think originally they wanted to go with trainers being more like beast tamers hence why the player whipping Pokémon was considered in the first place. Eventually they had a change of heart and shifted the trainer from being a beast tamer to being more like a pet owner. Instead of whipping your magical pet you do normal pet stuff with them.
Pokemon are constructed in a way where they're friendly and act more like a pet than anything else. As said the player doesn't force them to fight, albeit you can be an ass to them and certain moves that advantage of that. Pokémon are mostly portrayed as innocent and very often it's humanity that causes problems for the local wild life, we even see people abusing Pokémon and abandoning them even by deception. But GameFreak constructed a world where Pokémon like being friendly towards humans, and Arceus deals with this in a weird way, while also liking fighting. You're right that the capture mechanic conflicts with the image they want to put out, and in Arceus it's heavily implied you are capturing Pokémon against their will, but GameFreak will pay lip service of Pokémon as friends.
