Spoofers Unite

In lieu of recent complaints, Niantic has implemented a ban wave targeting those who use third-party apps for game enhancement. As we are aware, this goes against Pokémon Go's player guidelines and terms of service. However, this petition is a means of expressing to Niantic the very basis for why these third party apps are deemed necessary for players utilizing them.

There are hundreds of thousands of players living in rural areas, where poké stops and gyms are not accessible. While players can appreciate that Niantic tried to create a solution for this by allowing players after a certain level to nominate POI, there is a laundry list of guidelines that said stop must fall under. What if one's area contains non of these with-in walking distance? What if users are home bound due to physical handicaps and limitation?

There are 3 dozen current "regional" Pokémon that can be caught. They are literally in every corner of the world. How does this constitute "fair game play" that Niantic is trying to boast? With the current recession, rising gas prices, unemployment rate, COL inflation, how are users able to obtain these Pokémon realistically? Not to mention Go Fest's which are ONLY open to 1-3 cities per year, and are in locations that you must fly to, rent a hotel, pay for Ubers or rental cars, etc. The Pokémon released during these events are not obtainable any other way. How on Earth are user's realistically able to catch and complete a Pokédex? Niantic's answer: trading. An option only available for users in close proximity. So, again after buying plane tickets, hotel rooms, rental cars, now we must travel MORE to meet up to potentially trade coveted Pokémon. Not all Pokémon can even be traded, mythical are restricted from trade. Also, in regards to trading, Niantic has offered the chance at guaranteed lucky trades with your "lucky friend." However, if your lucky friend was obtained through a random encounter, or a closed social media group created for trading trainer codes for gifts and no actual personal information was ever traded; the odds of ever being in close enough proximity to trade, or coordinate said trade is slim-to-none.

Another topic that must be touched upon, raids. Remote raiding has been included to help those living in small areas. As we saw with the past Community Day , Niantic is restricting this in-game option as well. So, again, if you do not have large groups swarming to gyms in hopes of raiding together, the chances of you obtaining those particular "raid bosses," slim-to-none.

Lastly, we touch on 'special research,' this is a hot topic for many players. There are millions of new users every year, and millions of users that have been loyal since the launch of Pokémon go back in 2016. However, if you have not played everyday since the beginning you have missed out on multiple opportunities for limited special research. The reward for these are usually rare Pokémon, the non-tradable mythical for example. There are no options to-date that allow players to gain access to previous special research that was missed.

Spoofing creates unity and fair game play more than it promotes "cheating." There are groups, forums, platforms, etc. where communities of spoofers do nothing but help those in need of regional Pokémon, raid invitations, and trade partners (let us not forget the ridiculous amount of trades that need to be done for medals.) May we add that one medal that Niantic has in place is to trade from long distances. 10,000,000 miles to be exact to obtain a platinum medal. So it would seem that there are a substantial amount of goals set by Niantic with the only way of achieving is by spoofing.