Among the pressing issues that remain with massively popular augmented reality mobile game Pokémon GO are the players who cheat their way into high levels while acquiring high-powered Pokémon. Thankfully, developer Niantic Labs is now cracking down on these cheaters.
Niantic is now handing out sanctions, which include permanent bans to players who have violated the game's terms of service. While there are various kinds of terms of service violations, the bans are directed toward players who have used GPS spoofing techniques, bots and other such methods to unfairly gain an advantage in Pokémon GO.
GPS spoofing allows players to jump around to different locations in the world to collect hard-to-find Pokémon, while bots allow them to automate certain portions of the mobile game such as hatching eggs and evolving Pokémon.
In an update to the FAQ section of the Pokémon GO official website, Niantic outlines the violations of the terms of service that can lead to a permanent ban.
"This includes, but is not limited to: falsifying your location, using emulators, modified or unofficial software and/or accessing Pokémon GO clients or backends in an unauthorized manner including through the use of third party software," Niantic wrote.
The developer continues by stating that it is looking to give Pokémon GO players a "fair, fun and legitimate" gaming experience and that it will continue to work on the improvement of its anti-cheating system. Niantic has also put up an appeal form for wrongly terminated accounts, for instances when a permanent ban was handed out incorrectly.
It is unclear how Niantic is detecting the use of cheating methods, with a thread on the Pokémon GO developer community sub-Reddit revealing that users have not been able to pinpoint what exactly would lead to a permanent ban.
There have been several types of bans that Niantic has handed out to players, including soft bans that prevent specific functions in the game from working for a set amount of time. The new permanent ban that cheaters have been receiving will prevent them from logging in to the game using their accounts from any IP address.
Players have reported that a lot of the permanent bans were handed out to cheaters who were holding down gyms using high-level Pokémon. This would make sense, as they are the players who would be the easiest to track just by checking their levels compared with other players in the area. However, some players have confirmed that their accounts were permanently banned despite not having taken a gym, so holding down a gym is not a requirement for the ban.
Using cheats in Pokémon GO not only defeats the collective purpose of the title, as gamers are meant to go out of their homes to catch and power up their Pokémon and claim gyms, but it also has a negative impact on the playing experiences of other gamers. For example, cheaters who are able to take over gyms using the high-level Pokémon that they have acquired prevent other legitimate Pokémon GO players from having a chance in gym battles.
Niantic Labs is looking to regain the massive hype that surrounded Pokémon GO. The permanent bans on cheaters, along with the release of the Sightings feature to replace the glitching Nearby feature, will surely get players to come back and continue their adventure as a Pokémon trainer.
