Countermeasures for Pokémon Go: A Necessary Outreach

Along with the Season of Mischief, Pokémon Go has implemented its latest round of "countermeasures". It is known that early last month, controversy arose over them due to what was planned by Niantic and how that was to be executed, neither of which were quite appropriate. After mulling over them, including getting the community involved, a few things were finally decided with this "necessary outreach" in order to maintain the connection to the greater body of Trainers in the game.

The first and foremost regards the PokéStop and Gym interaction distance. After being reduced back to the 40 meters that was the standard prior to current conditions as a test in certain areas, the error was realized as some of these areas worsened in condition, necessitating the return of the increased distance. With the voice of the community and the findings of the task force that revealed the benefits for many Trainers, the new and increased distance of 80 meters is now agreed to be the current standard and was implemented globally the week before the new season began.

There are also additional countermeasures for everyone, not just for specific regions of the world. These are tripled XP for spinning new PokéStop (down from 10x from a previous regional test), 1-hour Lure Modules (doubled from 30 minutes), increased Incense effectiveness especially while walking, increased damage from Trainers raiding remotely, guaranteed Gifts from PokéStops, and more gifts from Buddy Pokémon. Some of these had been planned to be cut or reduced as well, but in the end, they stayed. There was one casualty, though: free raid passes are now just one a day for all, and thus remains as is.

The PokéStop distance debacle - and the resulting experience - brought about an important realization: it is not practical to treat different regions of the world differently, and as a result, now these countermeasures are made in line with the current season to apply for everyone around the world. The reasoning makes sense; though different regions are different, the current conditions have a degree of sameness, especially in volatility. Therefore, the treatments have to be equal, just as much as fans of Pokémon (and Pokémon Go) are equals in their own regard.

As for the issue of communication, a few pledges have been made to rectify the issue. One of those pledges is to release a periodic developer diary (perhaps much like the "insights" of years past) for additions and improvements. Communication in the form of talks with the community, similar to what was spurred by the debacle above, is also to be made regular. The "Known Issues" page, which remains as center of reported bugs, is to be updated and clarified for perusal by all Trainers. The fulfillment of these pledges will be a key thing and therefore has to be made to happen.

After what transpired previously, the hope is that the few lessons that have become apparent have really been taken to heart by Niantic, and it appears some have been, in fact, thanks to the new implemented "countermeasures". Perhaps the most important lesson to be taken to heart is how much communication matters for a game like Pokémon Go and what happens if that goes wrong. For now, the "necessary outreach" is a good compromise for Trainers to keep their play spirits up even when the world is down.

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