After shutting down her fledgling, Craigslist-based business, a professional Pokemon trainer named Ivy St. Ive has landed a book deal. Her fame caught the attention of an e-sports coaching company, Gamer Sensei, which has now hired St. Ive to serve as a "Pokemon Go" guru to its staff. She will allegedly also be co-writing a "Pokemon Go" strategy guide for an as yet unnamed publisher, according to Gothamist.
On Tuesday, St. Ive posted an advertisement for her services on Craigslist. Sporting a Golbat tattoo and a can-do attitude, she offered to "walk around in 1-4 hour shifts signed in to your account capturing every single Pokémon I come into contact with, activating every Poke Stop [sic] I pass and walking nonstop to help hatch your eggs," for the relatively small price of $20 per hour. The professional Pokemon trainer also advertised a treasure trove of Gym battle tips, and said she would "take the fall" for anyone caught cheating with "Pokemon Go," provided the price was right.
By Wednesday, St. Ive had removed her Craigslist ad, after being notified that training others' Pokemon is a violation of "Pokemon Go" developer Niantic's terms of service. It's also generally against policy to make real-life money off of accounts or in-game materials, although St. Ive did not mention that bit of information. Gothamist reported that St. Ive intended to return to her day job: "writing about the intersections of health, the environment and human rights [sic]."
Things didn't quite turn out that way, however. On Friday, Gothamist reported that St. Ive had signed on to deliver "Pokemon Go" coaching to Gamer Sensei's audience. She told the NYC-based site that "her job will be to teach people at the company how to play the game like an expert, and she'll also be writing a couple of sections of [the 'Pokemon Go' strategy guide]."
"Pokemon Go" is more than the game of the moment. It's quickly become a full-fledged e-sport, with competitive players forking over real-world dollars for in-game currency and training up to eight hours per day. St. Ive reports that there are players in Bushwick "who are already at level 18, 19 even." Professional Pokemon trainers might just be the heroes we need in this brave new world.
Image: TV Tokyo
