Raid Dramas

I've been involved in raids in Pokémon Go for nearly a year now, and within that time, there have been amazing moments. There have also been less-than-amazing moments, even rather regrettable ones. Many of those regrettable moments involve some kind of happening that leads to wild reactions from raid participants, including me, and I've taken to call them "raid dramas" based on those reactions. I've got a few that have happened most recently as well as every so often.

The most common "raid drama" is perhaps the exit and entry of participants. Sometimes, a participant fails to show up in time to a raid for a scheduled battle time or misses the cue to enter the raid lobby, or several participants are unable to proceed for some reason after the battle has started. In any of these cases, it may be necessary for the other participants to leave the battle, then leave the lobby, and then re-enter with everyone. It's a simple process, but it's a tedious one, and it may not be applicable in some circumstances, like when the raid started just a few minutes before the raid boss leaves. However it happens, it may provoke mixed feelings, which is why it's not exactly something I'd experience too often on a raid. It is thus a "drama" in any case.

A less common "drama" concerns the locations of raids and therefore the Gyms that host them. I've written a bit about some of these Gyms, and they are exactly what are involved in this kind of "drama". Most Gyms are immune to location "drama" as they can be accessed relatively openly, but a few are located in odd places that may not allow them to be evidently accessed. Last evening, I discovered another such a place: the Gym is best accessed in a backlot, but that backlot is closed in the evening and the night, forcing it to be accessed by a nearby street, and even then right up against a house. It was something that almost got the best of me and some people in my raid group who sought a raid in it, which happened to be the last of the day. Fortunately, through some tricks, we managed to complete the raid, even really well for some. But by then the "drama" was obvious.

Another less common "drama" involves connection issues that occur with the network provider of my cellphone (or for that matter, with others as well). They sometimes happen when least expected. Early this morning, it was a portion of my fellows' that had a problem; later on, it was me and a friend who had a problem, and we regrettably missed a raid because of it. I was no stranger to it because under similar circumstances, I had missed a raid a few months ago, and if the connection issue had not happened then, I wouldn't have missed the raid. Sure, such issues may be avoided with a nearby WiFi hotspot, a WiFi tether, or a second network to use, but I'm not fortunate to have any of these available every time. It certainly makes for unpleasant "drama" when it happens.

Raids have been great, by my experience, but every so often, there are the snags as above, and when they happen, they can have the potential to (and do) create "drama". It's hard to expect that any of these won't happen again, but at least after having participated in them extensively, it's worthwhile to keep in mind that any of these could possibly occur and cause another "raid drama". It's just another facet that makes raids in Go more enigmatic, perhaps more than they should be.

One year ago: Hoenn Pokémon Are Go!