>>54961790I like this take too.
I'm a big sports fan, so I extrapolate some of the framework onto that. Expanding on your example: people don't want to invest time and money into watching a sport they believe is rigged. They want a shared paradigm that everyone abides by, for fairness, for competitiveness. And of course, they don't want things to devolve into a brutality contest, that's just plain violence (most humans are risk averse and wouldn't want to engage in gladiator combat voluntarily). And by following the League Rules, trainers gain access to the rewards the League's structure can offer (fame, fortune, etc).
>>54961807I don't go too far afield, I just model things off the real world when necessary. So the governments are the usual mix of incompetent democracies, despotic dictatorships, and all the cruft in between.
The League is nonprofit, but it still makes money, a lot of money, from television ad revenue, sponsorships, fees, ticket sales, etc. So they use that as the carrot to force even autocratic states to cooperate with them. Not everyone does, but the opt-outs are mostly third-world shitholes no one cares about. It works in a kind of "We'll help you pay for Pokecenters if follow our guidelines" kind of deal.
I kind of also have a hot-take of making regions not full countries, but federated states within nations. E.G. I have "Nihon" be the combined Johto/Kanto/Hoenn/Sinnoh regions, plus minor regions like Alma, Sevii.
