Posted in: Games, Mobile Games, Niantic, Pokémon GO | Tagged: , , , ,


Community & Influencers React To Pokémon GO Changes

Niantic has announced the end of the Pokémon GO pandemic bonuses and the game's community has reacted. Let's take a look at a few of those reactions and see if Niantic will make any further changes.

Pokémon GO logo. Credit: Niantic
Pokémon GO logo. Credit: Niantic
  • FleeceKing, known as possibly the first player to hit Level 50 and an active voice in the game's community, wrote: Removing the increased distance of pokestops and gyms literally makes no sense. The pandemic is far from over, Niantic don't gain anything by this change, and the player base suffer by this decision. Why does it seem like our voices as a community are never properly heard? Man facepalming
  • Streamer and YouTuber Reversal, who has been critical of the Pokémon GO community's harassment of Niantic staff, took a comedic approach: I've shared the feedback in regards to the PokéStop/Incense situation with Niantic directly. I told them to make the radius even shorter and incense spawning a pokémon every 30 hours instead of 30 seconds I don't know if it'll do anything but all we can do is wait. #PokemonGO
  • YouTuber and mental health advocate Mystic7 chimed in on the update and the current state of the changes to the game with two tweets:
    • I know I'm a little late here but YO THIS NEW PGO UPDATE IS AWFUL Pokemon encounters take way longer, can't skip raid rewards.. what are we doing lmao
    •  Awake thinking about how Pokémon GO is absolutely throwing during the most popping time of year wbu

YouTuber and prominent advocate for the Pokémon GO community ZöeTwoDots had some of the most nuanced thoughts on the situation, with her video "my thoughts on the upcoming Pokémon GO changes," which can be watched in total here. This video included a thorough breakdown of the changes and the current state of the game, but also included a human appeal to realize that the people running Niantic's social media accounts are human and are not involved in these decisions.

Harassment gets nothing done, and distracts from the overall conversation. There is indeed conversation happening, and Niantic will have surely noticed, up to the very top. While I don't expect them to issue a "fix all" and fully acquiesce, I do see this as something of a turning point.

Personally, I've always said that I believe the path to making Pokémon GO the game it was, a game that encourages people to go out, is to add more incentive to go out rather than to remove the bonuses that have now become standard. The world changed. The game changed in response. Now, the community's desires have clearly changed as well. Let's see what Pokémon GO does.


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Theo DwyerAbout Theo Dwyer

Theo Dwyer writes about comics, film, and games.
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