Niantic’s announcement that it plans to rescind some of the changes it made to Pokemon Go at the start of the pandemic has been greeted with trainer backlash.
Niantic issued a statement this week revealing that some of the changes made to Pokemon Go will be rolled back over the summer. Since Pokemon Go is a mobile game that requires its players to leave their houses and interact with people, a pandemic forcing people to isolate and stay at home posed a huge risk to its future.
By opening up the radiuses of Pokestops and Gyms, and eliminating the walking requirement for its Battle League, Niantic made Pokemon Go pandemic-friendly. Not only could it be played without having to walk much, but some of the changes made allowed trainers to play the game from the comfort of their own homes. While some of those changes will remain, Niantic has now announced some of them are set to disappear.
Three elements introduced at the start of the pandemic will be leaving after next month’s Go Fest. Incense effectiveness, the number of gifts brought to you by your buddy, and the distance from which you can interact with Pokestops and Gyms will all be reduced to their standard levels. That has sparked backlash from a number of trainers as can be seen in the Reddit thread below.
Some Pokemon Go players are so passionate about the changes being reversed that they have started a petition. A petition that has been signed by more than 15,000 people in just 13 hours. There appear to be two reasons why trainers are unhappy about the proposed reversals. One group is made up of trainers who aren’t yet ready to return to the world, especially since the pandemic is still an incredibly serious problem in some parts of the world.
The other group appears to be made up of trainers living in rural areas whose Pokemon Go-playing lives were made easier by the changes, regardless of the pandemic. Some don’t have the option to leave their house and immediately be hit with multiple gyms, Pokestops, and fellow trainers. If you live in the countryside the pandemic changes made Pokemon Go playable. Their removal could see those players forced to leave.
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