Describing Pokémon to outsiders is a strange experience because those unfamiliar with Pokémon can only draw on their real-world experience and references to other franchises to understand what you may be talking about.
Imagine the work it takes to describe how Pokéballs work in the game. "The red and white ball is used to store Pokémon in your pocket. What you do is go to the in-game mart and buy a collection of Pokéballs. Then you get into a battle with a wild Pokémon on a route outside the city. If you want to catch the Pokémon you encounter, you need to throw the Pokéball. The ball will shake three times before signalling the Pokémon has been captured." The physics of the Pokéball are bewildering to those who have never experienced the game or anime in any way. "You mean to tell me that these universe-shaping creatures can be shrunk down and subjugated to your will?" But since it's a cartoon, most people can write it off. "Maybe Pokéballs are magic," they say.
However, when it comes to the beating heart of the video games, a Pokémon battle, describing it to outsiders can be even more problematic because of how bad it sounds. Such a description might sound like this: "In order to win, you and your Pokémon must battle and defeat the Pokémon belonging to opposing trainers. A battle begins when two trainers lock eyes and declare a battle. Then the Pokémon at the front of their party is sent out onto the battlefield. Then you choose a move like Tackle, Wing Attack, or Growl, and inflict damage on your opponent. When your Hit Points reach zero, your Pokémon is knocked out and unable to battle until revived at a nearby Pokémon Centre after the battle. Your goal therefore is to knock out all of your opponent's Pokémon before they do the same to yours."
What does that sound like? That sounds like dog-fighting. Isn't that animal cruelty? Would you ever send your pet to get into a biting contest with another person's pet? And this game is sold to children?
It sounds horrible, there's no other way to slice it. Describing Pokémon battles to people completely unfamiliar with the game with no visual aid would send the wrong signal. Clearly Game Freak recognised this situation early on and implemented several safeguards to prevent Pokemon battles from becoming too gruesome for children.
I believe these subtle decisions allowed the franchise to expand when the public began paying attention to it in the late 1990s. So what were these decisions?
Reason 1: Fainting, Not Dying
At no point are Pokémon battles described or depicted as lethal, traumatic, or life-altering for the Pokémon themselves. Sure Pokémon moves hurt when they make contact with their target, but these blows are not causing life-threatening injuries to the Pokémon the same way a gunshot would. Blood is depicted exactly never. And when Pokémon are declared unable to battle, there is no extensive shot of an animal's corpse mutilated on the ground. In the game, Pokémon vanish, usually in the form of an animation recalling them to their Pokéball. In the anime, defeated Pokémon are depicted as lying on the ground, their eyes large swirls to indicate their defeated status but there's little to suggest this is the same as a traumatic injury.
As such, the end result of a Pokémon battle is the same as an NFL football play. Rough, violent contact between the opposing parties on the field, but at the end of the day, there are clear rules delineating boundaries when the play begins and when the play ends. This is in stark contrast to what most believe constitutes a 'battle', which usually involves troops storming the beaches of Normandy.
Reason 2: The Scaled Down Effect Of Status Conditions.
In addition to moves that deal direct damage, Pokémon can inflict a variety of status conditions. These conditions do not deal damage directly, but instead cause passive damage that significantly hinders the opposing Pokémon's ability to perform. Once again, the terminology is too extreme to actually describe what Pokémon are experiencing when suffering from a status condition.
The five battle status conditions in Pokémon sound gruesome indeed: burn, paralysis, poison, sleep, and freeze. They each cause a different handicap. For example, being inflicted with a burn means the Pokémon loses 1/8th of their Hit Points each turn and having their physical attack stat halved. This is certainly a hinderance, but again, the way Pokémon are depicted as suffering each of these respective status conditions waters down the intensity of the terminology.
A burn is not suffering third-degree burns like in the real world but more like suffering a rug burn. Sharp, painful, burning hot, but ultimately harmless if treated properly.
Being poisoned is not the same as exposing Pokémon to a belladonna plant but rather having them suffer a low-grade fever or food poisoning.
Being paralysed is not like the Pokémon contracted polio a la Franklin Roosevelt. Instead, paralysed Pokémon are basically wading through superglue; they're slowed down drastically and occasionally can't move but it wears off.
Falling asleep is like being sedated; it's the only status condition where the effects match the terminology.
Finally, being frozen is like being encased in a freezer. Really cold, you can't get out for a while, but ultimately harmless.
And, as with the moves, status conditions are not shown to cause debilitating illnesses or lasting injury.
Reason 3: The Varying Effectiveness of Moves
Another shield against potential goriness is the uneven effectiveness of moves on each individual Pokémon, which contrasts sharply with war battles. For example, every soldier on the Somme in 1916 had the same level of potential injury. A grenade exploding in their trench at the wrong angle would kill them, no exceptions. Being hit by a mortal shell would have the same fatal result.
But in the Pokémon world, these creatures differ from humans in one dramatic way: their typings. Every Pokémon has one or two 'types'. Because moves are also classified by type, the damage they inflict is proportional to type effectiveness. Sticking with the starter Pokémon types for a minute, a Water-type Pokémon will not be that afraid of Fire-type moves. Fire-type moves do half their usual damage on a Water-type Pokémon. But on the other side, the Water-type Pokémon must watch out for Grass-type moves because they do double their normal damage. In some instances, some Pokémon types are immune to moves of certain types (i.e., the normally powerful Ground-type moves will do exactly zero damage to all Flying-type Pokémon). This rock-paper-scissors dynamic further adds to the sport-like nature of Pokémon battles because the varying damage levels inflicted by moves inherently means some Pokémon will suffer less if their trainers are smart.
Reason 4: The Disabled List Does Not Exist
Now that we've established Pokémon battles as being within the safety realm of rough-contact sports, let's look at a way in which Pokémon are safer in battle than their athletic human counterparts are on the football field.
Even with all the rules and safeguards in sporting events, injuries still happen. A baseball player can get hit by a pitch, a football player can suffer serious damage from a wrong tackle, and so on. When this happens, the player is put on the injury list.
But Pokémon never suffer such damage. Even in the most dramatic Pokémon battles, Pokémon are never so injured that they're prevented from being used in battle in future provided their Hit Points are above zero. In other words, the injury list does not exist. The moment a Pokémon has even 1 Hit Point, it can battle.
Reason 5: The Non-Political Ramifications Of Winning
In every Pokémon game, the final hurdle is to defeat the Pokémon Champion, the strongest NPC in the game. Their Pokémon are strong and their tactics sophisticated. Defeating them will take at least some preparation. But what is the prize for winning? Your character and the team of six Pokémon you used in your party are inducted into the Hall of Fame. And then…that's it. You're free to pursue the post-game after that.
This is in stark contrast to winning a first-person shooter game like Modern Warfare. In those games, your character has killed an enemy who has launched armies, massacred civilians, and killed your allied NPCs. The stakes couldn't be higher.
This is a subtle depiction, but it's yet another cue to the player that "this is just a game, the battles are sporting matches". No Champion in Pokémon is depicted as The Supreme Allied Commander In Europe. There's no consolidation of power by becoming Champion in the same way that, despite his many Super Bowl victories, Tom Brady is not President of the United States.
Conclusion
The yawning gap between the words used to describe Pokémon battles and the reality depicted in various Pokémon media is enormous. Yet it is these mild depictions that assured young players and their parents that Pokémon battles were sports. Two Pokémon walk onto the field and one is declared the winner at the end of the match. Nothing is preventing that outcome from being reversed in a rematch, unlike the finality of war.
But the ramification of these depictions is even greater than on first glance. Not only did Game Freak prevent their battles from being viewed as wars, but they also ensured the sporting-like nature of battles could grow into a proper competitive e-sport. Every year, the Video Game Championships, where players from around the world compete at officially sanctioned tournaments, host thousands of enthusiasts and players trying unique combinations of Pokémon rosters and moves to see which will ultimately prevail over all the others. The stakes are winning a Super-Bowl ring, not the fate of mankind. All the players get it, and they always will, ensuring the franchise’s continued success.