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Pokémon GO: The Data Behind America’s Latest Obsession

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Re: Pokémon GO: The Data Behind America’s Latest Obsession

#51

Post by bpicolo »

Camillo wrote: post #44
bpicolo wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To be fair, mostly anybody would hit server issues hitting Twitter/tinder-like scales in 3 days. It's impressive that they're staying up as well as they are

It's not just the server issues, it's that the app logic is terrible. When you hit a Pokemon with your Pokeball, if there is a network error, the app just freezes. The ball drifts to the ground without blinking, and the loading indicator appears periodically, but it never progresses past that point. It just flat out cannot recover from dropping packets, no matter how long you wait. And it's not like the network is do…

Yep, the hitting-with-Pokeball into a freeze is by FAR the most frustrating thing ever. But at least you successfully catch a decent amount of the time >.>

Re: Pokémon GO: The Data Behind America’s Latest Obsession

#52

Post by MBCook »

ikeboy wrote: post #28
MBCook wrote: post #12

The amazing thing to me is that, at least on iOS, the game is pretty objectively bad. Of course that hasn't stopped me from sinking a lot of time into it this weekend. I've spent $10 on it, which is easily a record for free to play game for me. The server issues are one thing, but the game doesn't even get lots of basic things right. If the server goes away, or sometimes if I'm just out of the app too long, I have to…

It's bad because it can be. Mobile apps are easily updated, so they don't feel the need to do as much testing. There's no way an actual Pokemon release would be that buggy, because they couldn't fix bugs later.

I know that's an excuse that lots of developer seem to use these days.

It's fucking bullshit.

I'm so tired of people releasing utter crap and claiming it's OK to fix it later. You know what happens when you do that? You turn off a huge number of people and poison the brand.

It's not like if they waited an extra months to actually fix the issues (which were apparently well known in Beta) the Pokémon brand would've been dead no one would've cared. This isn't tied to some new property that no one knows if it will succeed.

This is tarnishing a major brand and ruining a fantastic opportunity.

All because a bunch of developers don't care enough about what they're making. They don't have enough pride in their products because "people will buy crap, we can fix it later."

Re: Pokémon GO: The Data Behind America’s Latest Obsession

#53

Post by wlesieutre »

Camillo wrote: post #44
bpicolo wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To be fair, mostly anybody would hit server issues hitting Twitter/tinder-like scales in 3 days. It's impressive that they're staying up as well as they are

It's not just the server issues, it's that the app logic is terrible. When you hit a Pokemon with your Pokeball, if there is a network error, the app just freezes. The ball drifts to the ground without blinking, and the loading indicator appears periodically, but it never progresses past that point. It just flat out cannot recover from dropping packets, no matter how long you wait. And it's not like the network is do…

Have to kill and relaunch the app, and the app launches really slowly. it feels like the initial loading bar is also reliant of their servers, as I've had it take upwards of 30 seconds, or a few times even hang indefinitely.

Once you get in it'll still have to download locations of nearby pokestops and gyms, which is another chance to hang and require a relaunch. Network glitches are not handled gracefully.

On the hang while catching a Pokemon: my guess is it's trying to ask the server if the Pokemon breaks free of the ball. Sometimes when you exit and relaunch you'll have gotten the Pokemon, other times it's totally gone. When the game works properly you get to keep trying, but if it locked up on network issues and made you quit, you don't get the chance. People are understandably annoyed at server issues screwing them out of rare captures.

Re: Pokémon GO: The Data Behind America’s Latest Obsession

#55

Post by fphhotchips »

MBCook wrote: post #49
georgeecollins wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Speaking as someone who has helped develop two extremely successful mobile games "objective" goodness is pretty meaningless. People have more patience than you expect for a game that captures their imagination and will put up with buggyness. In the long run, if a game isn't polished it will lose because of retention. But pure technical polish is often overrated.

I can put up with a fair amount. There are some Z-buffering issues that don't really matter. I've seen occasional glitches with the way the background works in AR. But how can you not remember if I've me that the sound? How can you not remember I logged in? With a handful of ultrabasic bugs it feels like they just didn't even try. If they are network issues why do I get stuck in a try again later screen were the only…

I completely agree with this. The network issues, and the lack of tolerance for GPS issues would be frustrating but acceptable if they were handled properly. As it is they're absolutely infuriating when combined with the way the app just dies when it encounters them. It's incredible that an app that's been in beta for months still has 20 un-recoverable different freeze states that I've found in 72 hours. My girlfriend didn't even know how to kill an Android app before this app, now she can do it in seconds.

The real killer? I love the idea of this app. I'd probably end up spending a bunch of money on it if I kept it around for a couple months, because I don't have the time I need to play it the free way. It's fun (or it at least scratches that grindy type itch), and it's the only game I've ever been able to play with my partner. I'm on the verge of uninstalling right now though, because every time I get the chance to play, the app dies in my hands.

Re: Pokémon GO: The Data Behind America’s Latest Obsession

#56

Post by jomamaxx »

andyjdavis wrote: post #48
jomamaxx wrote: post #17

Who cares about Tindr. Tindr is the poster boy for lowest common denominator both in the social and technological sense. Ok, maybe Ashley Madison.

>Tindr is the poster boy for lowest common denominator Why yes, it does have very broad appeal.

So do porn, gambling, and films like 'Transformers' that literally have no plot.

Re: Pokémon GO: The Data Behind America’s Latest Obsession

#57

Post by niftylettuce »

MBCook wrote: post #52
ikeboy wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's bad because it can be. Mobile apps are easily updated, so they don't feel the need to do as much testing. There's no way an actual Pokemon release would be that buggy, because they couldn't fix bugs later.

I know that's an excuse that lots of developer seem to use these days. It's fucking bullshit. I'm so tired of people releasing utter crap and claiming it's OK to fix it later. You know what happens when you do that? You turn off a huge number of people and poison the brand. It's not like if they waited an extra months to actually fix the issues (which were apparently well known in Beta) the Pokémon brand would've bee…

You sir are 100% correct. Glad you made this comment. It's all about the first impression.

Re: Pokémon GO: The Data Behind America’s Latest Obsession

#58

Post by jwcooper »

DKnoll3 wrote: post #54

I'm surprised that nobody has mentioned anything about Niantic being an "independent" spinoff from Google/Alphabet. Interesting to think about what personal information they're gaining from this, as well as mapping information.

Nintendo (along with Google and the Pokemon Company, which Nintendo also partially owns) invested $30 million into Niantic 9 months ago [1].

[1] http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-10-16/nintendo-g...

Re: Pokémon GO: The Data Behind America’s Latest Obsession

#59

Post by ben_jones »

MBCook wrote: post #12

The amazing thing to me is that, at least on iOS, the game is pretty objectively bad. Of course that hasn't stopped me from sinking a lot of time into it this weekend. I've spent $10 on it, which is easily a record for free to play game for me. The server issues are one thing, but the game doesn't even get lots of basic things right. If the server goes away, or sometimes if I'm just out of the app too long, I have to…

If you look at Imgur for example you'll see two observations by users: 1) It's amazing and 2) They have server issues. Notice that #2 is incredibly vague and almost hand-waved as a joke. We as developers see the minor flaws but most people just seem to see the good of it.

EDIT: I'm not talking about Imgur. I'm talking about Imgur's posts about Pokemon Go. My bad for the ambiguity.

Re: Pokémon GO: The Data Behind America’s Latest Obsession

#60

Post by meowface »

ben_jones wrote: post #59
MBCook wrote: post #12

The amazing thing to me is that, at least on iOS, the game is pretty objectively bad. Of course that hasn't stopped me from sinking a lot of time into it this weekend. I've spent $10 on it, which is easily a record for free to play game for me. The server issues are one thing, but the game doesn't even get lots of basic things right. If the server goes away, or sometimes if I'm just out of the app too long, I have to…

If you look at Imgur for example you'll see two observations by users: 1) It's amazing and 2) They have server issues. Notice that #2 is incredibly vague and almost hand-waved as a joke. We as developers see the minor flaws but most people just seem to see the good of it. EDIT: I'm not talking about Imgur. I'm talking about Imgur's posts about Pokemon Go. My bad for the ambiguity.

I've used Imgur for years (though not wittingly anymore, due to their growingly shady practices) and have never known them to have a reputation for poor uptime. Reddit's stability issues seemed to be 100x worse.
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