Pokemon GO‘s war against cheaters continues to intensify, with Niantic now giving out digital scarlet letters of sorts.
On Reddit, a verified Niantic support account alerted players to a new feature coming to Pokemon GO:
With the announcement of Raid Battles and the new battle features, we are staying true on our commitment to ensuring that Pokémon GO continues to be a fun and fair experience for all Trainers. Starting today, Pokémon caught using third-party services that circumvent normal gameplay will appear marked with a slash in the inventory and may not behave as expected. We are humbled by the excitement for all the new features we announced yesterday. This is one small part of our continued commitment to maintaining the integrity of our community and delivering an amazing Pokémon GO experience.
We reached out to Niantic to ask further details, but while Niantic confirmed to Kotaku that the Reddit post is official, they don’t have more details to share about how it works yet.
Right now, players are unsure which specific “third-party services” will trigger the cheater’s mark, though in the past folks have been known to use “mappers” that tell them where rare monsters will spawn, spoofing (using fake GPS locations so you can spawn anywhere), or bots (programs that find monsters for you). We also don’t yet know what the slash looks like, or how, exactly, monsters may misbehave. That said, some players swear that using cheating services make the game viable if, say, the trainer happens to live in a rural area where monster spawns are sparse.
While public shaming may prove controversial, having Pokemon act out in some ways feels perfect. In the main games, creatures will not listen to you if you’re not a high enough level, and in the anime, some monsters defy their owners if the trainer has not proven themselves yet. Other companies have been known to use methods such as this, too. Infamously, Valve brands cheaters’ profiles on Steam for years.
Previously, Niantic fought against cheaters by “shadowbanning” them such that only common monster spawns appear for them in-game. It is entirely possible that some poor schmuck out there will be stuck mostly catching Pidgeys with marks of shame on them.
Comments
14 responses to “Pokemon GO Starts Giving Cheaters Marks Of Shame”
People still playing this?
My lord every time someone has to say it, People still play this or something along those lines, Yes people still do…. People still play games even if you don’t… Now that we’ve both banal points…
I’m looking forward to seeing what they do next, Maybe gyms won’t be perma owned by one side. And i want a legendary… Cause i’m a child at heart…
I haven’t click on any article about Pokemon Go in months, I clicked on this one because of people getting cheaters marks.
I’ve hardly seen any one in Brisbane playing this at all. Hence the question.
Lots of people still play. Go to parks and walks where there are pokestops, or gyms and you will see plenty of people walking along phone in hand, pausing now and then to make funny movements on phone, then continuing.
I see lots of couples doing it as they walk their dog, or parents with kids etc.
Thats the thing, I ride around Brisbane, and South Bank has a ton of gyms and what not and the place is always empty.
Really? Empty? Perhaps you just aren’t noticing them because not only do my partner play frequently in those areas but we are aware of an entire facebook group that plan “poke-hunts” and Gym raids in those areas. Hundreds of players local to that area post pics of latest catches and talk about what they enjoy about the game. It’s very much alive.
In my world there are people still playing this great, but poorly executed game.
One day I shall return to a once, much loved community.
But it was never the pokemon game I truely wanted on my mobile.
There are 65 million active users each month, based on http://expandedramblings.com/index.php/pokemon-go-statistics/, so yes people are still playing this.
It must have died down in AU or at least Brisbane, have hardly seen anyone playing it at the moment.
People still making this joke?
2/10
Troll originality? 0/10.
Anyone who uses a mapper with their credentials is stupid. Or any service that requires access to your PoGo account. It’s not hard to track and you will get banned.
I think Pokemon GO is a complete nightmare even though I don’t play it on my iPhone 4S but Pokken Tournament is more better because it involves fighting with your own Pokemon you’ve chosen I mean Pokken Tournament is only not fun but it’s also similar BANDAI NAMCO’S Tekken so Pokemon GO I’m giving it a zero because it’s a nightmare.
So Pokken Tournament is only not fun? Doesn’t sound like something I want to play.