One of the most important things in Pokémon GO is collecting coins. To do this, players must occupy and change the colors of gyms. This often leads to conflicts among the trainers. Our MeinMMO author Franzi Korittke has experienced these situations multiple times and shares her opinion about them.
Why do gyms need to be changed? To earn coins in Pokémon GO, trainers must take over the game’s gyms and defend them for a certain period. Per day, you can earn a maximum of 50 coins this way.
For each coin, you need to hold it for a full 10 minutes. This means to reach your daily goal, you need to hold a gym for at least 8 hours and 20 minutes. You can achieve this by occupying just one gym or by multiple gyms. However, once you reach your daily limit of 50 coins, you won’t earn any additional coins, even if your Pokémon return from the gyms.
Why do rural players have difficulty obtaining their coins?
The conflicts surrounding gym occupations mostly relate to the distribution of the gyms. While in cities, there seems to be one every few meters, trainers in rural areas have to live with a limited number. Depending on where you live, it can be quite a distance to the nearest gym.
Accordingly, rural players have to cope with this problem and often find specific regulations regarding the use of the respective gyms. These are not officially stated in Pokémon GO’s rules, but are accepted as unwritten rules in some villages.
Instead of a constant change of ownership, as is common in city gyms, certain agreements are made among the trainers here. According to these, players may only be thrown out of the gym after a certain period. Often, the existing gyms are also divided based on the colors of the players present, so that everyone has a chance at their coins.
But what’s the problem if rural players establish their own regulations?
In most cases, these agreements are only known to local players because they often know each other in smaller villages. Therefore, once a new or non-local player wants to take over one of these gyms and is unaware of these regulations, the agreements get disrupted and the trainers respond annoyed or upset.
The recurring conflicts among trainers due to the gyms being changed are also evident in reports from players shared on social media.
In some cases, these disputes even escalate, leading to physical injuries or property damage. For instance, last year a trainer destroyed a car mirror because another player took over his gym.
My experiences with changing gyms
I also live in a rather rural area and can somewhat relate to the conflicts surrounding the gyms. After all, most players here also want to earn their coins, and the number of corresponding gyms is often quite limited compared to the number of players.
Getting immediately thrown out of the gym is quite frustrating. Especially when that player claims as many gyms in the surrounding area as possible and defends them to the last.
These are the regulations in our Pokémon community
It’s no different in my region. Although we have a number of gyms in the area through diligent applications for PokéStops, we also have several players in our Pokémon community who would like to claim them for themselves.
To avoid disputes, there is also a clear distribution of the gyms here. Each color is assigned a specific gym that they can use overnight. Thus, trainers can gather their coins by the next morning. During the day, the gyms can be freely used by all trainers.
And yet, we also regularly encounter new players or trainers who are just passing through and are unaware of our agreements. However, this doesn’t merely lead to the changing of individual gyms, but rather all that can be found in our village and neighboring areas.
Please stop immediately changing gyms!
From the game’s perspective, it is not a problem for trainers to defend up to 20 gyms simultaneously. However, does this number really need to be utilized in rural areas? Do all gyms in a small place really need to be changed, thus potentially depriving trainers of the chance to earn their coins? I have a clear opinion on this:
Rural players also want their coins, so please give them a chance to earn them. Please stop throwing players out of the gyms in small communities after just a few minutes!
My advice to non-local players is to check if there are still spots in a nearby gym with your color. With a bit of luck, that might be the case. This way, there won’t be any disputes, and everyone can enjoy the game.
Do you also live in the countryside and have had these experiences? What regulations are there in your local Pokémon communities? Or are you more of the players who take over all gyms in villages first? Feel free to share your opinions and experiences here on MeinMMO in the comments.
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