With the beautiful days coming back, many of you will be taking seriously Pokemon GO, if however you had paused the game. The return of try hard raids and special studies will take you outside and encourage you to move to maximize your success.
In the midst of this joy, some less scrupulous players will however decide not to follow the rules and stay at home. while depriving you of your gaming pleasure. We are talking here about abusive spoofers. We will tell you how to fight against it.
What is spoofing and why is it a problem?
In six years of existence, the game has seen its share of cheaters and hackers of all kinds, especially in its early stages. We also remember that it was possible to download Pokémon GO a few days before its official release by doing well, so technically the game underwent its first hack before it was even bornwhich is a success he would probably have done without.
Among the various flaws that have been more or less serious, there is one against which it is particularly hard to fight: spoofing. The principle is simple: the player uses an application that allows him to change phone location, which allows him to meet virtually anywhere. The technique was quickly democratized when the community discovered the magic of playing in a big city, notably Paris or New York, where the concentration in PokéStops and the use of bonuses are extremely important.
In itself, even if the spoofing goes against the principle of Pokemon GO, we can recognize its usefulness (or even necessity) for two player profiles: those who live in the countryside and don’t have access to many PokéStops and are unable to Raid, as well as people with a reduced mobility for various reasons. These players are clearly not the problem.
On the other hand, some people completely abuse the principle by creating a large number of accounts to spam Arenas and PokéStops, making access impossible for players who are actually within range. This problem has been around for a long time, but there seems to be no effective solution to prevent it. On the other hand, it can be pointed out.
How to fight against abusive spoofing?
Niantic has been working actively and for a long time on a permanent solution, but it seems difficult to achieve good results for the moment. In the meantime, if you notice that a player has a weird attitude, or that access to your nearest arena or PokéStop is difficult, you can report this behavior which will then be analyzed by the developers and may be subject to a ban.
To report a player, simply navigate through the in-game menu to the Optionsthen select theAssistance. Depending on your OS, you will then have to either click on a text bubble (Android)or on the button “Contact Us” (iOS). Indicate that you suspect a spoofing and voila !