"You Shall Not Pass" - Hard-to-Access Gyms and PokéStops

A fascinating thing occurs when I play Pokémon Go. In my area, there are two Gyms that are particularly well-known for their difficulty to be accessed. One is located in an open area that is gated and not frequently opened to allow in visitors; the other is in a packed residential area so packed that it's just plain difficult to get to. Then, there are also two PokéStops that used to indicate places within a building, and now the building is not there anymore, as it's fenced off to make way for a new building (in other words, now it's a construction site). This leads me to consider the qualities of such places.

First, a reminder. When opening the game, one of the things the game tells players to not do is to trespass while playing. This is absolutely right; players shouldn't barge their way into specific and/or restricted areas just to enjoy playing the game, as similar enjoyment may be obtained elsewhere. So in the case of those areas, if they are not accessible at all, especially at certain times, they may be skipped over and play can continue elsewhere. Yet the issue of how to deal with those places remain.

Some players in my raid group have suggested that the "Report Critical Issue" function in the game might be used to call attention to these restricted places so that they may be removed, especially if they'll remain indefinitely hard to access and/or out-of-date enough to be completely ignored. Historically, there has been a precedent in removing certain PokéStops and Gyms because they're oddly placed or inaccurate, so this may be a viable option for the PokéStops above, though it may be a detriment for the Gyms as they may still have some utility - more so with raids nowadays - when they can be accessed.

An alternative to reporting the places is to have a "curator" be informed of the place as it exists in the game and manage access to the place. This includes letting players know how and when a certain place can be accessed, if it is still possible to do so. Back during the days of the initial boom of the game, establishments went as far to promote the existence of PokéStops and Gyms around them, so this alternative could be taken as a more modern form of that, and one that doesn't make the places unplayable.

The kinds of places like the ones I mentioned are by no means exclusive to my area; there are most likely such places in other areas, with similar challenges as to their accessibility. All the same, they do need to be dealt with so that players who pass them no longer need to worry about their existence or the access to them and simply enjoy playing the game, for which the latter point is the ultimate objective of any game, including Pokémon Go.

One year ago: Alton : Food :: I : Pokémon