Good news for Pokémon GO players in the countryside. Niantic has not forgotten you and continues to plan to improve your gaming experience.
Pokémon GO has a problem: the difference between rural and urban players.
Players looking to collect items like Poké Balls or potions visit PokéStops or Gyms. However, these are much more common in cities than in the countryside. This makes it easier for trainers in urban areas to access Gyms and items. A clear advantage in location for urban players.
But Niantic has not forgotten the trainers in rural areas. The big goal is to equalize the gaming experience in Pokémon GO for rural and urban players.
More Stops and Gyms in the Countryside in Pokémon GO
Rural players in Pokémon GO have long been frustrated by their disadvantage in the game. The game developers at Niantic also state that there are problems in this area of the game.
On Reddit, NianticGeorge provided information about the current issues and what improvements are planned for the future.
User Shinigami483 expressed a desire for more “love” from Niantic for rural players. To this, NianticGeorge responded:
“Shinigami, we have not forgotten you [rural players], and we are working on [improving the situation]. To understand what we are working on, we look at the history of Ingress.” Ingress is an app that Niantic developed before Pokémon GO and operates with a similar technology. There, players go to portals instead of PokéStops and Gyms.
“Ingress never had a problem with rural players like Pokémon GO does. This is partly because portal submissions were allowed for a long time, and players could create them in their surroundings if none existed.
This game mechanic required a lot of work, but that was okay for a game of Ingress’s scale,” writes NianticGeorge.
“Pokémon GO installed players in many places where Ingress was never played. The number of players is so large that we couldn’t just activate portal submissions and hire a team to oversee them. Instead, we needed a solution suitable for such a large game as Pokémon GO. “Operation Portal Recon” was developed.
Many players reported the benefits of OPR in their communities. However, I would say that OPR is still in its infancy and could have even more influence on rural players.” So the developers at Niantic still see potential here.
“This sounds very optimistic now, but I would say that the game conditions for rural and urban trainers will equalize over time. We are already working on the problems of finding a raid team in rural areas. However, it’s still too early to announce anything more specific in this regard,” writes NianticGeorge on Reddit.
These are positive prospects for the future. The gaming experience in the countryside should not only be improved but raised to almost the same level as in the city.
Niantic cares about rural players and has already made improvements
In another Reddit thread, user vidoardes writes that Niantic doesn’t care about rural players, and Pokémon GO will probably never change in this area.
In response to this statement, NianticGeorge referred once again to the planned changes for finding raid teammates. He also writes
“I don’t share your opinion that Niantic does not care about rural players. We have already brought significant improvements to the game:
- OPR has significantly improved access for rural players.
- The sponsored locations have also improved the game for trainers in the countryside. (We know we still need more sponsors in these areas)
- The ability to now also get items from Gyms has helped many rural players who complained about having too few Poké Balls.
- The number of Gyms has increased so you can battle in more locations.
- Additionally, changes have been made regarding the distribution of Pokémon.
“That’s not to say that our work here is done,” says NianticGeorge. “On the contrary. I can’t emphasize enough that we still have a lot of work ahead of us. No matter how frustrating this situation is. Just because we don’t have an immediate solution doesn’t mean we aren’t working on it. Everything will get better.”
