Sometimes, like if I can't be bothered to level up a decent similar pokemon, or if the starter is good in it's own right. Yes, I'd trade my Typhlosion for a Ninetales, I like Ninetales more, but leveling up a vulpix is dull as all hell.

I admit with Pokemon Red I did get rid of Venusaur at some point (I think it was because I started to dislike it later on) however after Red I had always kept the starter with me all the way through even if it had become less useful like Serperior.

I could be wrong, but I'm pretty sure the starters naturally have higher stats than most other pokemon. Like you said, it's mostly because they're essential during most of the game, but also maybe so the player gets a bond with their starter, one stronger than the rest of the team. I know every time I'm in a bind, I can always depend on my starter to bring things home. Charizard, Typhlosion, Blaziken, Infernape, Samurott, they are the unstoppable force AND the immovable object.

For me pokemon is a single player game. That being said, i like to imagine (as childish as this will sound) that i am adventuring with these pokemon. What will they think of my actions?

When playing pokemon heartgold i caught a mareep. In olivine city when it was an ampharos, i released it to make way for other pokemon on my team, but created a little story about how it wanted to be in the lighthouse to comfot myself.

I always bond with my starters so much that i can never let them go.

Actually, my team consists always of the same build-up in terms of types and one of them is always the starter.

Fire / x = Starter
Psycho = Guardevoir, Metagross
Psycho = Allakhazam
Water type = Garados
Dragon / X = Dragonite, Flygon
Elektro / x = Magneton, Elevoltek

I've only played Red, Gold, and Sapphire, but in those three games I've picked the fire type and never looked back. It seems to me that the game wants you to keep your starter, it wants you to hold your starter in a special regard...it was the pokemon that is with you from the very beginning (obviously) so it wants you to develope an Ash and Pikachu type of bond.

I think that's why, no matter your choice, the starting pokemon is always a beast with 3 forms (primary, first evolution, second evolution). Personally my starter has always been a badass that I just couldn't see myself parting with. For one, it always helps to have a variety of different elements in your group, and if one of those elements happens to be in the form of a fully evolved powerhouse that's been with you from the start, all the better.

Quite simply: there's a reason it is exceedingly rare to get another one of the starter pokemon without trading for one. If you ran into them out in the wild all the time you'd have at least 3 pokemon with badass potential.

Edit: Just for fun I felt like throwing in what my team generally consists of.

Starter: Fire Type
Water: Gyrados
Psychic: Kadabra
Electric: Zappados
Ground: Scyther (switched to Scissor(spelling) when that Pokemon was introduced)
Anchor: Mewtwo

Through trading with myself via the time capsule and such I managed to keep my original Mewtwo and Zappados with me through the three games I played.

That said, to be honest I'm not a big pokemon fan, what games I have played have always been gifts.

In older versions almost always; In newer versions with online match ups, almost never (sometimes infernape).

Last time I played (it was gold) I immediately caught other pokemon so I didn't have to use my starter like always. I went with three pokemon and decided to go against the hype, by which I mean I used Geodude and Zubat. I raised them (and the Hoothoot) from Lv2 all the way until I got bored.

I tend to use my starter, mainly because it's naturally leveled further than other similar Pokemon by virtue of being used more in the early game.

Most of the time I use the water starter just to fill the surf role. Plus it learns Ice Beam so it can get rid of some dragons sometimes. So most of the time I finish the Pokemon league with my starter but with battles with people not so much

Yep, a starter is usually a basis on what your team flows around. I love using Empoleon on my online/battlefrontier/battlesubway teams.

Besides, the starters are usually the coolest pokemon....

For campaign mode, of course I used the starters, fills in the slot that no one else has.

I never noticed it before but I always use my starter Pokemon! I guess its just the strongest one so I build my team around it.I am lazy.

I always use the starter pokemon. Depending on what gym is first usually is how I decide on a starter. I suppose its from the first game when I unknowing chose charmander and then went to the rock gym....hours of grinding later Charmeleon was able to take him out.

Never again :P

i always keep my starters, its usually how my team is built.

In playthrough teams I always do unless I'm trying to make a specialist team that they just don't fit into.

I always keep the starter. Not only are they usually pretty useful, but they're also usually badass/cool.

If I end up getting Black/White at some point, though, I might not keep the starter...Because I will trade/import in a starter from Heartgold. I'm actually planning on breeding and importing a Squirtle (<3 blastoise) and a Torchic. Two of my favorite starters.

I always keep my starter. It didn't occur to me that you could have a team of 6 that didn't include your starter, until about 10 years after I first played a pokemon game.

I always keep my starter, but its not generally the most powerful, i generally have two powerful pokemon and then a team of less powerful 'support' pokemon. It's seen me through every game since leaf green

I usually keep my starter, but that's mostly because I always choose fire and there aren't too many fire types that I enjoy (at least up to Gen. III). Plus I like to maintain a two level lead with my starter compared to the rest of my team.

i power-lever my starter to the point where by the 4th gym, i'm at least 10 levels higher than the trainers/leaders in the area.
but i also catch a normal-type pokemon and train it along side my starter. i use that one for any grass trainers, which are the only ones that are ever a pain (i always use the water starter).

I always kept my starters. They were with me from the very start, and I feel it to be a disservice to them if I just got rid of them.

Eh, depends.
Usually the Fire or Grass types are the best, with quality Fire Types being generally more difficult to come by anyway. Grass types are not uncommon, but the starters are generally *very* useful.

The Water Starters have been mostly bland, or otherwise rendered superfluous by the over-abundance of Water Types in each game (cue the retard spouting memes in 3..2..1..).
I mean, why bother with a Blastoise when you can eventually use a Gyarados, Milotic, or Suicune instead?

Yes. I dunno they always seem to be the Cyclops to my Proffesor X, you know my my loyal and faithful guy. For online battles and stuff, no but in game, yes.

I usually keep the starter in my team. From my experience they're the first pokemon readily attainable that can learn good type-related moves. Also they are pretty powerful compared to most of the stuff available up to around level 25 or so.

Yes, for any story-sections and some end-game content (Legendary hunting etc.), but not for competitive stuff like Battle Subway. Only a few starters are viable for real battles.

Atmos Duality:

The Water Starters have been mostly bland, or otherwise rendered superfluous by the over-abundance of Water Types in each game (cue the retard spouting memes in 3..2..1..).
I mean, why bother with a Blastoise when you can eventually use a Gyarados, Milotic, or Suicune instead?

Empoleon and Swampert are pretty good. Up there with the other great Water types for sure. Only 3 of the Fire starters have been worthwhile (Typhlosion, Infernape and Blaziken), and only 2 Grass starters have been viable, and even then only when backed up quite a bit.

Considering how huge the selection has gotten, i tend to have a long list of pokemon that i enjoy having on my team, and will usually borrow a friend of family member's (or stranger's) DS to trade the ones i want to start the game off as much as i can with them. The Starter tends to get kinda left behind on the roster, though i always come back to them.

Sometimes i get a hankering for a previous generation Starter though, like wanting to bust heads with Wartortle instead of my oshawott or something. I'm hoping that when they introduce the next series of these adorably dangerous creatures (and you know they probably will) that we finally get a something/dark starter. Emboar would've been perfect. oh well...

No matter the game, my team is usually
1) Scizor because he is a total badass.
2)Gengar(in every game. I WILL get one.)
3) Dragonite,or any other powerhouse that can learn multiple elemental moves.
4)Snorlax. 'Nuff said.
5)a ground or rock type, like cammerupt or mamoswine.
6)Toxicroak or Gallade
So yea, i tend to get rid of my starter pokemon as soon as i can catch one of these bad boys.

By the end of the game, typically not. I'll usually keep them to their final evolution, then dump them into a box and set up a better team. Particularly in my Pokemon White game- I got a Larvitar from the Entralink early on, along with an early-on Drillbur(had sand rush and high IVs in attack and speed on first catch). By the time they were a Tyrannitar and Exadrill, I could wipe out any trainer out there. Didn't really need too many other pokemon after that, though I traded up my Forretress, Lugia and Ho-oh from SS, once I got the Legend Badge. My sixth is typically just a HM slave.

Yes, because they're usually a higher level and more developed than any other pokemon I get at that point.

Recall peoples, that a pokemon trained from level 1 (to level 30) (or 5 in this case) will have better stats than a pokemon caught at, say level 30.

I almost always do. The only time I didn't was in HeartGold, where I left out my Feraligatr because my Red Gyarados and Lapras made it seems somewhat redundant (My team is heavily skewed towards water in that game). Otherwise yeah, I've always kept my starter with me.

I generally keep my starter, except for in Black/White, with my worthless Serperior. Boring design+weak moves+worse stats than underleveled teammates=you're going into the computer

Berenzen:
By the end of the game, typically not. I'll usually keep them to their final evolution, then dump them into a box and set up a better team. Particularly in my Pokemon White game- I got a Larvitar from the Entralink early on, along with an early-on Drillbur(had sand rush and high IVs in attack and speed on first catch). By the time they were a Tyrannitar and Exadrill, I could wipe out any trainer out there. Didn't really need too many other pokemon after that, though I traded up my Forretress, Lugia and Ho-oh from SS, once I got the Legend Badge. My sixth is typically just a HM slave.

I feel sorry for HM slaves. I mean, it's not their fault they can learn 4 HMs and most HMs are underpowered.

OT: Yeah, usually. I usually choose the fire type because it's hard to get a good fire pokemon early on in most of the games. Then, by the time I can get one, I'm all attached to the little bugger and don't wanna throw it into the pc where it'll be forgotten.