Why are Niantic forcing us to play in the strrets?

[Darloup]

Why are Niantic so stubbornly intent upon forcing us to play in the streets – as opposed from the comfort of our own home?

Has Niantic forgotten that their initial goal for this game was “Gotta Catch ‘Em All!”.

Surely, it’s up to the players to decide how to do this!

Niantic seems to have conveniently forgotten that not all their players live in cities or even in towns. A lot of us live in villages, or even hamlets, in the countryside.

In the countryside, pokestops are few and far between. And pokegyms are even rarer! In the countryside, physical interaction with other players is simply impossible.

How on earth are you supposed to organise a face-to-face raid when there is no pokegym within 5 miles and that you don’t know any other POGO player within 10 miles of your home???

Let’s have a look at what’s needed:

1. Hatching eggs. Fair enough, you can walk about hatching them whether you live in a town or in the countryside.
2. Raids in pokegyms. Impossible to do in the countryside if there isn’t one near you!

What is your alternative then if not using a remote raid pass? But, right now, Niantic are doing everything they can to dissuade us from using them by increasing their price… Go out and find a pokegym, they say… For many of us, it’s simply not a practical solution…

3. The incense. It was a nice solution to attract pokemons for those of us who couldn’t go out to find non-existent pokestops. But, once again, Niantic has reduced the effectiveness of these incenses. If you don’t walk at least at a speed of 5 miles an hour (which is pretty fast), your incenses will suck…

Once again, why force us to go out and walk? Why do Niantic force us to play the way they wish us to play and why don’t they give us the option to play as we wish to play???

4. Trade. This is a joke for those of us living in the countryside. I’m level 45 and I haven’t been able to do yet a single trade because, simply, I don’t have any friend living near me.

What’s the alternative then? What’s my alternative?

Niantic should fully cater for all their players: those who live in cities/towns and those who live in the countryside. It’s so obvious that I really don’t know why I should have to write it…

What do you think?

[Jormdeworm]

Niantic’s goal was never “Gotta catch them all”. They only care about money, but hid that behind their explanation, “We want people to go out and explore”. I do agree they are taking away all QoL changes, though. I guess it’s time to move on and let this game behind us.

[bagguille]

Well, everybody is free to let the game go. With my little changes in the way to play I’m happy with the game and completely independent of this changes.

[vorgriff3]

My theory: It’s easier to sell promotional pokestops if you can force players to walk around and spin more stops.

Have you noticed how many of the recent research tasks require a bunch of walking? Every special research I still haven’t finished is waiting for me to walk more. The more we walk, the more stops we’re likely to spin. More spins should make it easier to sell site sponsorships…

… especially if we have to spin 3 or 4 stops to find a gift we can send to friends, the thoroughly obnoxious way that it was before the damnpanic lockdowns. That will be the last straw for me.

[NotanotherKangaskhan]

That’s an interesting point you raise @vorgriff3 about Niantic selling the discs for sponsorship.
I’m very surprised they haven’t had more sponsored Gyms / Pokestops than they have to date. I think the take up rate of other Companies engaged with the game is low and poor tbh.
Makes you wonder why?

1. Niantic lack of effort to sell the space?
2. Niantics arrogance expecting companies to come to them?
3. Other Companies not understanding what they are getting for their $?
4. Both side failing to understand how it can benefit them both?
5. Niantic making too much $$ from game items to pursue sponsorship more vigorously?
   That’s just few that instantly come to mind.

[Brobraam]

Niantic could also not have given us the QoL changes. But that would be very bad for communities all around the world. I mean, covid still took a huge hit on my local community. But we’re rebuilding slowly. Last raid hour had 20+ attendees on location!

Anyways, Pokemon go had always been about exploring the real world outside. Not about catching them all. If it was about that, please explain regional pokemon.

Then covid came. Most people couldn’t go outside anymore.
So Niantic Made une compromis: all the QoL improvements. Now that the pandemic is mostly over, they can revert to how the game is supposed to be.

[vorgriff3]

Fair. Some of those QoL changes fixed some things that needed fixing whether there was covid or not, though. And none of us has been able to get back to the way things were before covid; why should Niantic presume we desire the game to go back to its prior state, especially since some of those playing habits still don’t fit the present state of affairs? And the QoL changes opened the game up for a segment of players that couldn’t play before, and taking those features back basically revokes the game from them.

Nice thoughts, but not havin’ it.

[Jormdeworm]

To be fair the game started living again with the start of the covid pandemic which was mainly because of the improvements they made.

[HLAJR]

Money is what drives Pokemon GO, period… just like any other Free to Play games out there.

Players understand that business needs to earn in order to continue but the company should also understand that their player/customers need to be satisfied in order to stick and spend. They should not forget that there’s a lot of other Free to Play games out there besides Pokemon GO.

Haven’t you notice that any new events of this game needs some sort of payment to be able to avail, on top of the in-game requirements that the player should accomplish which is also time limited?

It seems only the most die hard of those players will stick religiously as many will be back on real life engagements.

I have even tried to level up just to be able to nominate pokestop in our places that lacks a pokestop and gym but sadly, I do experience various difficulties along the way that some are reported to Niantic but still to no avail so however you may want to help increase the game enjoyment to other players, you will come to the point that you will ask yourself if it is still worth the trouble I still though nominate from time to time when I fell doing it but not that agressive anymore as it will just stress you that much if you make it your daily life

[HLAJR]

And this could just be so literal in our situation…

I have filed a report to Niantic a few nights ago regarding our place existing Gyms which ALL happens to be Water Towers. Two of them were POIs created 8 years ago, way before Pokemon GO so that’s how they become a Gym, when other POIs are added as Pokestop.

Everthing is fine before as I myself and a few others though I did not knew in real life access this gym back and forth, Only two of them when I started playing PoGo in 2018, and the 3rd was added by myself after I reached Level 38 to have additional pokestop in the area and it was promoted as a Gym when Niantic added POIs I don’t know where they based it from.

Then came when our water supply becomes erratic and almost losing a drop for days so our villagers becomes angry with the service provider and that started the management to question persons who they see loitering near the Water Towers, where security guards either ask you why you were there or what are you doing specially during the 6-7PM Raid Hours.

Even the neighbors with houses near these towers are getting annoyed when their dogs constantly barking whenever people are passing by slowly in these areas.

So my dilemma starts, getting uneasy being watched as you passed by a few times since you will not dare to stop there longer.

That’s the time that I started nominating our village’s clubhouses, basketball courts and mini parks so that I could play there without being checked, and was glad that they are accepted and now a functioning pokestops. However, players need Gym both for coins and raids that took a few minutes to do than just passing by a pokestop to spin so I thought of requesting this to Niantic a few nights ago.

However, their response is not good and only reminds me to Not Trespass to those areas if I knew it is prohibited so I guess Niantic wants me to go outside my village and find other Gyms (ON THE STREETS) there instead of helping us PoGo players to have a pokestop in our public area to become a gym

Well, that’s their policy and I cannot go against that but they have the courage to tell me their policy and guidelines are there to ensure a safe and enjoyable experience for Everyone

Hope this will not cause me to just dumped them all

June 23, 2022, 14:51 +0800

Hello Trainer,

Thank you for writing to us.

While we understand your disappointment about the location of these Gyms, based on our research, they are located at their respective correct locations and do not require any adjustments at this time.

Our games are meant to augment reality, not replace it. If you’re not certain you have the right to access a location or are not certain it is safe to access, please do not make any attempts to do so. As a player or any other member of the community, you must respect access restrictions, never trespass, or in any manner gain or attempt to gain access to any property or location where you do not have the right or permission to be. Please review and follow the Trainer Guidelines at all times while playing Pokémon GO to ensure a safe and enjoyable experience for everyone!

If you are having trouble finding PokéStops or Gyms near you, please try visiting a local park, tourist attraction, or other interesting and historical locations in your community.

Regards

I just hope they could promote the pokestop in the public area like the clubhouses and athletic courts into a Gym instead of those Water Towers for the Safety and Convenience of their players but they choose Not to Understand the situation.

As you can see from the satellite view, those Water Tower Gyms are ONLY accessible when you are in front of other people’s House which mostly gives you a questioning look whenever they see someone on their front yard holding a mobile phone during 6-7 PM that stays there for at least 5 minutes, it will stress you just as the Raid stress you too

[Jormdeworm]

Try to delete the Gyms if you can’t reach them. I don’t know about the locations of the Gyms and the Pokestops in your Area but you might be fortunate enough to have a nearby Pokestop turn into a Gym.

[HLAJR]

I have already tried several times to report it but always got rejected.

The exact location of those gyms are in the pictures above, those water towers are the Gym and those location pointed by the arrows are now Pokestops, they are the village clubhouses, mini park and basketball court that passed as nominated POI because they are eligible.

The point that I raised with Niantic is just plain and simple, to prioritize those POIs in our village considered as “public” places, where residents usually congregates both to socialize, exercise and they are also great place to explore rather than those water towers that are besides private residences.

But Niantic ONLY state that those that I raise are already in their exact locations and therefore does not need any modifications.

They did not look on the points that I raise, but they had the courage to say that their policy is for the Safety and Enjoyment of their players

They did not understand that Pokemon Gym had a specific purpose compare to Pokestop that could just be passed by within seconds and your usage for it is already done. With Gym, you need to stop on the POI and use it for a few minutes during Raid and Battle.

I even raise to them the question if Water Tanks are really eligible POIs but they did not answer it directly, they just reemphasize not to trespass and go to other place to find a Gym.

So it looks like this for now, in order for a PoGo player in our village to use a Gym, you got to travel outside the village and the nearest Gym is more than a kilometer away.

June 24, 2022, 03:02 +0800
Hello HLAJR,

Thank you for writing back to us.

We understand your concern. However, each PokéStop/Gym represents an object in the real world and it is not possible to move these in-game locations away from the objects they represent. From the images and map tools available, the referenced Gyms are positioned at the correct locations and we are unable to move them away from the object they represent.

If you are having trouble finding PokéStops or Gyms near you, please try visiting a local park, tourist attraction, or other interesting and historical locations in your community.

We appreciate your understanding. Please don’t hesitate to reach out to us again if you encounter any other issues in the future.

Regards