This is fascinating to me. Your assessment is entirely defendable, yet in this situation I end up with the opposite assessment:

"this is a make believe world with arbitrary rules - bend them as much as you can, because why not"

>No one gets to bend the rules of a game because of their circumstance

Again, I come to the opposite conclusion, that _because the rules are there_ they are fun to push, modify, bend, break.

If you and I were having a conversation in just about any other context, most likely we would find so many areas in which we agree, and might even really enjoy the time spent.

So, it's so funny to me that we might disagree so completely on something so foundational as rule-following behavior.

Cheers!

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 soon), but that doesn't justify having tools that say 'rare pokemon over here' without performing the actual hunting aspect of the game. That is no different to bots. What's the fun in everyone having rare pokemon without earning them.

I'm not dissing maps, Niantic might even make their own official version in the future. But when people cry foul when their preferred method of 'bending the rules' is removed, I don't have much pity for them.

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.

This is a big difference between adults and children, by the way. All that prefrontal cortex development tends to push people into taking the value of their time into consideration even when they are playing games. They are not wrong to do so.

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.

The difference here is that most games aren't absolutely awful without the cheats.

There's also:

-no way to get banned for using the cheat.

-a very very low barrier to entry.

-the cheat is directly replacing a bugged out, missing game mechanic.

-the PvP advantage is minimal, only affecting a small portion of the game.

Basically none of the classic problems with cheating are present here.

> 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) should be rewarded, those who cheat should be penalised, simple.

"Should" perhaps being the operative word. "If wishes were fishes..." and all that. If it makes you feel better, there've been a lot of stories recently about those nasty, nasty GPS spoofers getting their accounts banned.

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, but the game allowed you to do that without penalty. Ask most players though and they will say it's unfair as it's a shortcut to success. Now that Niantic has come down on those GPS hacks, do I feel sorry for those people caught out, of course not.

The maps issue is no different. It's like an athlete complaining that his favourite performance enhancing drug has recently be banned, well forgive me if I don't leap to his defence.

Its not like the game is unforgiving to new players, it's very easy to level up in early stages and make good progress.

"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".

They're not cheating anymore obviously, thats why they are complaining.

What's this completely different other games within a game you are referring to. Is it the 'catch rare pokemon without hunting for them' game. Well yeah of course that's noncompetitive.

You are aware this is a multiplayer game though, right? There are gyms where you have battles and those with rare pokemons with higher CP will take over gyms that earn them stardust and coins.

> They're not cheating anymore obviously, thats why they are complaining.

Personally, I'm complaining because the game is broken and no fun, and a method of fixing it has been disabled. I don't particularly care about any of the multiplayer aspects, except that it's sometimes fun to meet friends and run around playing it.

Im lvl 22 and don't use a map tool. I go for walks and catch pokemon with my wife. There are items such as incense and lures in game that help you catch more pokemon if you want. Common pokemon are easy to catch and quickly evolve into powerful pokemon. The tracking is working again (although not 3 steps).

How did I get to lvl 22 if the game is broken? How do 30 million people play if it is broken? Its not that the games broken, it just not the way you want to play it. Like it or not the games about grinding, as evident by the RPG lite gameplay mechanics, the 100s of pokeballs given to the player and high XP awarded for evolving common pokemon. You might want it to be a game simply about 'finding rare pokemon easy', but that's not the intend way of playing it.

Multiplayer... yeah no. It isn't in my experience.

There is a type of player that grinds and min-maxes and generally does a bunch of stuff I DON'T CONSIDER FUN to win a zero-sum game. That's the only currently existing multi-player aspect, and it isn't why I started using Pokemon GO (I use it as an excuse, to my self, to get out and exercise).

There is absolutely zero other 'multi player' aspect to the game as it is officially built. Anything else is a happy co-incidence.

There isn't anything within the game to turn the crowd of players in the local downtown park from a bunch of strangers in to friends. We all just happen to share one singular interest.