Apart from being a venue for Pokémon evolution, something else has also evolved for Pokémon Go Community Day since the first one in 2018: when it takes place and how that is scheduled. This might seem evident throughout all the posts I've made covering the event, yet it still may or may not be so. For that, I've elected to make a post on it not only to summarize it (to some extent) but also to supplement it with details and a bit of discussion, particularly with possible regard to its future as it has unfolded for the game.
The initial scheduling for Community Day was region-based: the world was divided into three regions (Asia Pacific, Europe and Africa, and the Americas), and each had theirs on a different day of the weekend with the same scheduled times. Thus, my posts back then only reflected my present region (Asia Pacific) and not the others, except if I mentioned it. This was also before Niantic figured out how to schedule events by local time and most everything referred to U.S. Pacific Time as their home time. It only seems a blessing that they did, because it meant simplification and unification of the event as well as players and Trainers.
It was about a year later that the process took place, and Community Day began to run progressively across the world on the same day going through the time zones from the earliest to the latest. Even so, there were still efforts to adjust the times of Community Day, a notable one being different times for the northern and southern hemispheres; this also resulted - perhaps unintentionally - of an advantage of people straddling the equator to experience Community Day twice in places where they could conveniently travel between the hemispheres. The next development perhaps rectified that somehow.
During the period when the world was at a downturn, the event ran for the full span of six hours, in effect combining the disparate schedules into one. It appears fairer for everyone, especially those affected by the downturn. Still, by this point some had already been familiar with the event running for beyond three hours for some previous editions, not the least of which is by the goofs of Niantic. But since the world was the culprit at that time, some of the blame can be spared. In any case, this was the bigger standard for lesser times.
Out of those times brings the present scheduling of being back to three hours in the afternoon, but with bonuses simulating the longer duration (or even a Classic edition to supplement an older one). This is the current standard that will likely persist for some time, but it may seem that future directions could be debated. Extending the event by one hour might make it attractive given that it would be half as long as a regular paid event, but this may just require the support of all parties. The time of day also just "works" for many Trainers in many places, and that certain saying about keeping things that work is applicable.
By the above, it's evident that Community Day times and scheduling have evolved in many ways, just like the Pokémon featured in them evolve in different ways. That evolutionary process for the times and scheduling may or may not continue in future editions, but whether it does or it doesn't, that's for everyone to rise up to the challenge. And of course, there will always be the matter of Pokémon species evolution to deal with, which is even more pertinent regardless of the specific times Trainers will deal with the event.
One year ago: Animation Settings for Café Remix?
Two years ago: Slow Living with Pokémon
Three years ago: Forced Updates to Pokémon Games
Four years ago: (Re-)Join for Good
Five years ago: Tournament: Raid Group Voyager Cup
Six years ago: Raising the Pokémon Go Level Cap
Seven years ago: Working with Shuffle's Item Limits
Eight years ago: In Pursuit of Collections
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