Pokémon Go players are accusing Niantic of making key gameplay design decisions that force them to use spoofing, particularly with ranged players being heavily impacted.
It’s no secret that one of the main goals of Pokémon Go is to make people more active and encourage them to explore the world. Many fans believe that it was this mentality that led to the controversy surrounding the Remote Raid Pass nerf that negatively affected many communities.
To get around these changes and make the game more accessible, some players are resorting to spoofing. Spoofing is a bannable strategy that allows Pokémon Go players to travel around the game world without moving at all in real life.
Spoofing is explicitly against the rules of the game, with Niantic specifying that, “Using tools or techniques to alter or falsify your location (‘spoofing’),” is a form of cheating. Despite this, not everyone is convinced that the Pokémon Go developer’s design choices support this statement.
Pokémon Go fans feel pressured to start spoofing
One extremely frustrated Pokémon Go player insisted on Reddit, “I swear Niantic is trying to create spoofers,” believing that the current design of current raids puts pressure on trainers to cheat.
I swear niantic is TRYING to make spoofers. byu/evebrea inPGSharp
Detailing their situation, the post explains, “I live in a small town in the middle of nowhere with 3 arenas, and 1 had Raikou, and NO ONE was attacking it, because it’s a small town, there’s no not a few thousand Pokémon Go players who can all run to a raid,” before admitting, “I’ve spoofed my ass to New York and California and caught raids ‘locally’ where people actually exist. ”
A fan who also lives in a low-population area agreed, “It’s not like when the game came out and everyone and their mom was running around playing and pointing out where Pokémon appeared. I’ve never done a dark raid and I probably never will because of this shit.”
Pushed to the limit, another user responded, “Yeah I wouldn’t play if it wasn’t for the spoofing. I actually enjoy playing legitimately. But no one in my area plays anymore so that makes raids practically non-existent.”
Showing that this feeling is not exclusive to rural players, one trainer responded, “I live in NY and I don’t have any Dark Raikou because I couldn’t go downtown for raiders. The game is essentially dead outside of Manhattan’s central core. The game has become a spoofer’s paradise, don’t get me started on Trials.”
Pokémon Go has struggled to provide a full experience for remote players for some time. Aside from the rare benefits of playing in a small community, Pokémon Go is a generally easier game to play and progress in densely populated areas like towns and villages.
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