Pokemon Go - Pet Peeves concerning Whiners and Cheaters

So I haven't posted about Pokemon Go for awhile, not since November (last post was about Pokemon Spawn Locations in Toronto, which keeps shifting every few weeks).

Above: Example of a map used for hacking the game.

#1. Map Cheaters

One of the things I have noticed (and has been annoying me for awhile) is people who complain and whine about the game, and the things that they complain about is how Niantic (the makers of Pokemon Go) keep cracking down on cheating.

A common way for cheaters to cheat is by using 3rd party GPS apps / websites to see where various rare Pokemon are located, how much time they will be there, etc.

Various in-game features made it easy for people to hack the game and cheat that way, so over time Niantic changed those features to make cheating less likely.

eg. A recent change in April 2017 is that Pokemon no longer have their stats predetermined when they appear, and instead now have random stats at the moment a player first clicks on them.

Thus 3rd party GPS apps can no longer tell what the particular stats of a particular Pokemon is until someone clicks on it. It is just random now. This hasn't stopped people from cheating however, as they continue to use the GPS apps to locate rare Pokemon.

Thus, the only people complaining about those changes are the people who are cheating in the first place.

Other less common ways of cheating include GPS location spoofing (so you don't have to walk, it just does it for you).

#2. Quitters and Whiners

Another thing that annoys me is the people who quit playing the game because they thought it was:

• Too much exercise.
• Too cold outside during the winter.
• Events are too few and too far in-between.
• Whining about how Legendaries still have not been released.
• Not at popular as it once was.
• General Whining, Etc.

At which point I should point out the following:

1. Pokemon Go is effectively a competitive sport. You are SUPPOSED to exercise to play the game.
2. I played outside during the Winter, I was simply smart about and wore thermal underwear and multiple layers.
3. Events are supposed to rare and special. Duh.
4. They will be released eventually, during an event.
5. The people who quit playing are probably also the people who never spent a cent playing the actual game, so those quitters don't really effect Niantic's profits, do they?
6. Sheesh, these people complain about everything. You cannot make them happy.

The #5 point is really important because I think these players who quit really just could not handle it. Many of them, this is just a hunch, probably could not stand all the walking that is involved - and thus quitters don't just quit for 1 reason, they quit for multiple reasons, of which #1 is probably a common complaint that many of these lazy quitters just don't want to admit to.

After all, nobody ever wants to admit that they are lazy.

Speaking for myself, I did not quit - I just kept playing despite the weather, whether there was an event on or no event, and I stockpiled my candy between events so that when the recent Easter Egg Event did happen, I used up a lot of my stockpiled candy to evolve approx. 400 Pokemon and gain approx. 800,000 XP from getting 2,000 XP per evolution.

So I am sitting happy with the results of my efforts and I am now stockpiling candy for the next event that involves Double XP, which according to rumour will be sometime during the summer and involve the release of Generation I Legendaries.

I have a hunch candies might be handy whenever they release Legendaries, so it is also good to start stockpiling for that purpose. If it turns out I am wrong, oh well, just use them during a double XP event instead.

#3. Unspoken Ceasefires

Often what happens with Pokegyms these days is that they will become a level 10 blue gym or level 10 red gym, and it will just stay there for weeks or even months, meanwhile other "enemy gyms" are set up only a short distance away and do the exact same thing.

I am personally okay with this ceasefire. I really don't mind logging in once every 21 hours and collecting my coins.

Some people however see this unspoken ceasefire as a problem, and go out of their way to disrupt the status quo. It takes about 30-40 minutes to solo take down a gym.

Thus when I look around my neighbourhood at the gyms, I really don't care about the status of those gyms as long as my gyms are well protected and I am continuously gaining coins from them every 21 hours. I am quite happy with ceasefires.

What annoys me is when my gyms (effectively "my territory") get taken down and I have to go recapture them and reclaim my position protecting them. However this rarely happens these days.

So What Am I Worried About?

Not a lot actually. Obviously I would still like to see the following:

• Player Vs Player Combat (PVP) - just so I can play against family members/etc.
• More Things To Do in the Game - like going on quests perhaps.
• Tiered Gyms - so that less experienced players can still collect coins, as the more experienced players currently dominate the gyms and make that aspect of the game pointless for low level players.
• Legendaries, eventually - I am in no rush to get this.

A few weeks ago I finally got all of the 1st Generation Pokemon (ignoring regionals, Dodrio was tricky to finally get) so my current goal is to finish getting all of the 2nd Generation. So getting the Legendaries in a hurry is not a big deal to me as I still haven't got all the 2nd Gens that are available.

Otherwise I am stockpiling candy for the next Double XP event, stockpiling coins (for the next sale) and leveling up my biggest Dragons and Tyrants. I am quite happy and content with the way things are going.

And I should note, I am not by any means a "pro player". I play less than an hour per day usually. Sometimes more if I am downtown or have spare time to go for a walk I might play for several hours, but most days it is a more of a "get a few pokestops, catch a few pokemon and then just go home" kind of day.

I currently have 4.33 million XP (level 33, 58.2% of the way to level 34) and have a long way to go to reach level 40 (20 million XP).

I have been playing for 9 months, so at the current rate of XP (481,000 per month) it would take me another 2 years and 8.5 months to reach level 40.

Reach means my son would be born, will two years old and will be celebrating his 3rd Christmas by then. And I can pretty much guarantee that I won't have as much time to play this game after he is born - so expect a delay on that ever happening.

It is after all, just a game. There are other things more precious in life.