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Pokémon Go loses its luster, sheds more than 10M users

arstechnica.com

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Re: Pokémon Go loses its luster, sheds more than 10M users

#181

Post by hackernews2000 »

jedberg wrote: post #43

With winter, and the colder weather, approaching, they really better figure out some game mechanics that you can do inside at home, or that user number is going to drop like crazy. I've been saying this for a while -- it was fun to play for a few days, but I live in a suburb. I have to walk at least .5 miles to get to a Pokestop and they never spawn near my house. I'll still play when I go to new places, but that's a…

The weather is going to get warmer on the opposite side of the world from you.

Re: Pokémon Go loses its luster, sheds more than 10M users

#182

Post by FeepingCreature »

calsy wrote: post #158
khedoros wrote: post #146

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> No one gets to bend the rules of a game because of their circumstance Sure they do, and for any other reason that they want to. > Games are not an equal opportunity endeavour where everyone gets to be a winner. My point exactly. I still don't get to be a winner, because I don't have the time to put into it. But at least I get to enjoy the time that I have. > Those who play by the rules and practice (or grind) shoul…

I don't think breaking down someone's reply into bite sized snippets and responding to each out of context is a great way to do a rebuttal. Anyway, 'No one gets to bend the rules of a game' is the basic principle of fair play and sportsmanship. You dont have time so you want to circumvent progress quicker because you enjoy it more is not within the bounds of fair play. The GPS spoofing is certainly bending the rules,…

"No one gets to bend the rules" is the basic principle of fair play, which is what allows competitions to exist.

But what I'm hearing is the people who are bending the rules are playing a completely different game, a noncompetetive game which is enabled by cheating, but good in its own right. And as opposed to multiplayer cheats, it's not good by making it worse for the other players; the cheats straight up enable an alternate playstyle that does not compete with the regular gameplay. It's like Tour de France players calling people with E-Bikes cheaters, even if they don't actually ride in the Tour de France.

So all I can say is "well played, cheaters".

Re: Pokémon Go loses its luster, sheds more than 10M users

#183

Post by cstejerean »

duaneb wrote: post #151
bskap wrote: post #133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why do you think there's a competition for valuable pokemon? When a pokemon spawns in an area, it spawns for everyone in that area and everyone who stops by can catch it. You're not competing with everyone else to get there first.

> When a pokemon spawns in an area, it spawns for everyone in that area and everyone who stops by can catch it. Well, until someone catches it. Then it disappears.

Have you actually played the game? There is no competition for catching Pokemon. They spawn and disappears after a certain amount of time, which mapping apps by the way used to show you. Other people catching Pokemon has zero influence on your ability to catch the same Pokemon.

Re: Pokémon Go loses its luster, sheds more than 10M users

#184

Post by [deleted] »

duaneb wrote: post #151
bskap wrote: post #133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why do you think there's a competition for valuable pokemon? When a pokemon spawns in an area, it spawns for everyone in that area and everyone who stops by can catch it. You're not competing with everyone else to get there first.

> When a pokemon spawns in an area, it spawns for everyone in that area and everyone who stops by can catch it. Well, until someone catches it. Then it disappears.

[deleted]

Re: Pokémon Go loses its luster, sheds more than 10M users

#185

Post by FeepingCreature »

derefr wrote: post #125
khedoros wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Would you "fix" a movie? Yes, if I had the time and artistic ability. I've enjoyed various unofficial re-cuttings of Star Wars, different edits of Blade Runner, and so on. I'd put other things in the same category: upscalers for emulated games, texture packs for N64 games and Minecraft, mods for Minecraft and every other game under the sun, re-implementations of game engines or whole games that introduce features n…

> I've enjoyed various unofficial re-cuttings of Star Wars, different edits of Blade Runner, and so on. I'd put other things in the same category: upscalers for emulated games, texture packs for N64 games and Minecraft, mods for Minecraft and every other game under the sun, re-implementations of game engines or whole games that introduce features not found in the originals, etc. I would note that all of these fall ei…

Minecraft's source is obfuscated; the obfuscation changes on every update. It's not very effective, but it's not exactly "encouraging modders" either.

Re: Pokémon Go loses its luster, sheds more than 10M users

#186

Post by FeepingCreature »

Larrikin wrote: post #150
mixedCase wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>People are only hurting themselves because it takes some fun out of the game Well it sounds like they were wrong about it.

I feel the opposite about that. To me it very much felt like cheating, atleast with the way the mapping apps were setup. In the real game even if you're using a guide, certain Pokemon appear in certain areas, but for most of them theres no real way to find all of the Pokemon in an area without wondering around until you find them, a feature I felt was necessary to recreate the actual game. The feet feature being remo…

I mean, you feel like you want, but objectively you have to admit it clearly took the fun out for a lot of people.

Re: Pokémon Go loses its luster, sheds more than 10M users

#187

Post by sooheon »

khedoros wrote: post #96
blkhp19 wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Does it matter if you considered it cheating or not? You augmented the main, core part of the game to make it easier to catch pokemon. That sounds like some form of cheating to me.

It matters to me, although probably not to anyone else. > You augmented the main, core part of the game to make it easier to catch pokemon. And it improved a flawed game (for me) without harming your experience. > That sounds like some form of cheating to me. In that I gained an advantage over what the game provides? Yes. In that I gained an advantage over you or any other player? No. I'm not in competition with anyo…

I lean towards agreeing with you, and I'd probably behave like you if I played the game. But one way in which you (in the aggregate, of "cheaters") do hurt others' experience is by artificially diluting the rarity of pokemon. That's a part of the experience for other players, which if you use tools to help yourself, indirectly is harmed. Not you personally, but the fact that such tools exist and people are using them.

Re: Pokémon Go loses its luster, sheds more than 10M users

#188

Post by Mister_Snuggles »

hackernews2000 wrote: post #181
jedberg wrote: post #43

With winter, and the colder weather, approaching, they really better figure out some game mechanics that you can do inside at home, or that user number is going to drop like crazy. I've been saying this for a while -- it was fun to play for a few days, but I live in a suburb. I have to walk at least .5 miles to get to a Pokestop and they never spawn near my house. I'll still play when I go to new places, but that's a…

The weather is going to get warmer on the opposite side of the world from you.

Depending on how the battles with his wife go, it could get a whole lot colder!

Re: Pokémon Go loses its luster, sheds more than 10M users

#189

Post by chimeracoder »

maxsilver wrote: post #177
derefr wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> By taking out the maps, Niantic has turned their scavenger hunt into a scratch-off lotto ticket ... they broke the effort-reward cycle You're phrasing this almost as if Niantic wanted there to be third-party mapping apps in the first place, and then changed its mind. The game Niantic released doesn't have mapping, and didn't intend to have an open API. This can be read as an implicit statement that the game design…

> there's likely already some sort of effort-reward cycle built into the game that doesn't involve mapping. You would think that, but there really isn't. It's easier to see if you load up the game for yourself. Sure, it's true that Niantic didn't plan or intend for usable maps to exist. But it's also true that the game is effectively unplayable without the maps. The real winner in this whole situation is Nintendo. Ni…

> The real winner in this whole situation is Nintendo. Niantic has effectively given their entire userbase over to Nintendo -- and even though Nintendo's doing very little to attract or keep them, they'll probably still get some extra 3DS + game sales as a result.

I don't understand how that follows. How did Niantic give any of its userbase over to Nintendo? Pokemon Go does very little to advance the Nintendo games - there's literally zero upsell involved (or even any cross-advertising).

You could say that the Pokemon Go brand might sell some extra copies of Sun & Moon in November, but I'd argue that the effect runs mostly in the other direction. Pokemon Go was successful because of Nintendo's Pokemon brand. And to at least a degree, that capital is finite (people's appetite for Pokemon-related games is a finite resource, and it's possible that overexposure to Pokemon Go could make them less excited about the upcoming 3DS games).

Re: Pokémon Go loses its luster, sheds more than 10M users

#190

Post by calsy »

Retra wrote: post #180
calsy wrote: post #149

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Its a matter of fair play. I can setup bots to create level 40 characters with high CP pokemon with just a few eggs, walking half as much as other users. Then I'll just take over gyms with my OP pokemon and say 'hey, bending the rules, all good'. In most people's eye that's just dirty play. Same with maps, they are third-party tools used to shortcut success. Yes, the tracking sucks in game (im sure it will improve so…

But someone else could say the same to you: "But when people cry foul when their preferred method of 'following the rules' is removed, I don't have much pity for them." ...via 10M players leaving the game and putting the entire ecosystem at risk. The thing is, you're looking at this activity like 'success' is measurable within the game's rules rather than how satisfied people feel about playing the game in real life.…

I don't know where you got the idea that 10M players left because maps were removed. Do you have proof of this?

The most reasonable explanation for the drop in users is simply a tapering off after one of the most hyped game releases of all time. Correct me if im wrong, but i'm pretty sure there are still some 30M+ users active in the game.

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