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Pokémon Go players are altering public map data to catch rare Pokémon

arstechnica.com

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Re: Pokémon Go players are altering public map data to catch rare Pokémon

#61

Post by laserbeam »

jedberg wrote: post #8
erdaniels wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Should the game be inherently fair? Part of the fun is rewarding exploration over time as a life-long pokemon trainer trying to catch them all. You gotta go to all the regions to accomplish that. Maybe it'll take a long time!

> Should the game be inherently fair? No, but the fairness should be based on skills and engagement, not the size of your wallet.

I thought the whole point of geolocation games was that they are traveling games. Games for people who travel a lot. That doesn’t mean you should like them but that IS the mechanic, going around to see places. Wallet use is a part of traveling and that will continue to be true with or without pokemon go.

Re: Pokémon Go players are altering public map data to catch rare Pokémon

#62

Post by colpabar »

jedberg wrote: post #8
erdaniels wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Should the game be inherently fair? Part of the fun is rewarding exploration over time as a life-long pokemon trainer trying to catch them all. You gotta go to all the regions to accomplish that. Maybe it'll take a long time!

> Should the game be inherently fair? No, but the fairness should be based on skills and engagement, not the size of your wallet.

Pokemon was never like this though. It was always unfair, because you always had to buy two different games (red+blue, gold+silver, etc) to win either of them.

Re: Pokémon Go players are altering public map data to catch rare Pokémon

#64

Post by jermaustin1 »

throwaway894345 wrote: post #57
zemo wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

arguing that "you should be able to get the whole experience regardless of your location" is basically arguing against the entire category of location-based entertainment products. The experience is related to your location. That is literally the product.

Obvious straw man. No one is arguing that location based games shouldn't factor in location. The claim was that success in the game shouldn't be dependent on the size of your wallet. You can have location based games that don't require you to travel internationally or even across regions in one's own country, for example.

I've never played Pokemon Go, but I played a lot of the JRPG titles from nearly 30 years ago.

What determines success in Go? Is it battles, or is it literally just collecting Pokemon?

Re: Pokémon Go players are altering public map data to catch rare Pokémon

#65

Post by bombcar »

pests wrote: post #44
bombcar wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It depends on how the game is setup. If it's "almost possible" to get them all, then it kind of feels like you have to get them all, even if that involves some serious work. This can be compounded if certain "best of breed" types can only be obtained in certain areas, or at certain times. However, if it's setup so that it's basically impossible to get them all, but you can get many or any, then it doesn't feel as bad…

It feels like you have to get them all? why?

It's hard to explain, but if a game has some set of things, and you get 90% of the way there, it can feel quite like you should/need to get them all.

But if you know for a fact that there's some you can never get (had to be on the moon in 2005 to get it), then the pressure is off.

Re: Pokémon Go players are altering public map data to catch rare Pokémon

#66

Post by belthesar »

pests wrote: post #44
bombcar wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It depends on how the game is setup. If it's "almost possible" to get them all, then it kind of feels like you have to get them all, even if that involves some serious work. This can be compounded if certain "best of breed" types can only be obtained in certain areas, or at certain times. However, if it's setup so that it's basically impossible to get them all, but you can get many or any, then it doesn't feel as bad…

It feels like you have to get them all? why?

One of the key draws for many Pokémon players is right in the old slogan - "Gotta catch 'em all!"

Part of the desire is the collectability. To be able to get a rare, prized Pokémon. In the original games, part of this was centered around there being two editions of a game, with some of them only in the other, with the desire to make trading a social activity. That said, it certainly didn't stop people from buying two Gameboys, two copies of Pokemon, and collecting them all on their own.

Some folks just have a compulsion to have everything.

Re: Pokémon Go players are altering public map data to catch rare Pokémon

#67

Post by itishappy »

slowhadoken wrote: post #40

I noticed this last year when a little street library popped up as a pokestop in the middle of my block but it wasn’t there irl. Players have been hacking and glitching Pokémon for decades. It’s harmless fun.

It's no longer "harmless fun" once it escapes containment, such as by editing map from an external service.

Re: Pokémon Go players are altering public map data to catch rare Pokémon

#68

Post by tim333 »

jermaustin1 wrote: post #64
throwaway894345 wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Obvious straw man. No one is arguing that location based games shouldn't factor in location. The claim was that success in the game shouldn't be dependent on the size of your wallet. You can have location based games that don't require you to travel internationally or even across regions in one's own country, for example.

I've never played Pokemon Go, but I played a lot of the JRPG titles from nearly 30 years ago. What determines success in Go? Is it battles, or is it literally just collecting Pokemon?

It doesn't really have a fixed objective. It's mostly played for fun.

The idea of Pokemon was started by Satoshi Tajiri who used to like discovering and catching insects and other small creatures locally. From that developed finding Pokemon and having them fight was added to make more of a game out of it. It's now the world's highest grossing media franchise with $88bn revenue according to Wikipedia, way ahead of that Marvel and Harry Potter nonsense. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_highest-grossing_media...)

It's a bit up to players if they want to casually collect, or fight or compete or whatever. In Pokemon Go at any rate.

Re: Pokémon Go players are altering public map data to catch rare Pokémon

#70

Post by tim333 »

wnevets wrote: post #3

There are devices that you can buy that you can connect to your phone and will auto catch pokemon for you. Between auto catchers and changing map data, what is the point of "playing" the game?

Entertainment? What's the point of playing any game, assuming you are not a pro making money from it?
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