This would, of course, facilitate social distancing. On March 31, Niantic announced it was doubling the distance at which you could interact with Pokémon Gyms, which are physical locations where you join with other players to battle and potentially catch the Pokémon defending that gym. Some of the first global changes were announced on March 12 when Niantic said it was decreasing the distance needed to hatch eggs, increasing Pokestop gift drop frequency, and letting players buy a bundle of incense, which draw Pokémon to your location, for one coin - the equivalent of one cent. had any major outbreaks, we did still see impacts to our player communities in other countries, so places like Italy and Korea where COVID sort of started taking root, we noticed very quickly changes in player behavior and changes in government policy that we had to adapt to," Slemon said. Many of the changes that have been implemented globally in the past couple of months were initially more experimental in nature and first rolled out in a few countries. "We tried to be as local as we could initially, but as the situation became global it ended up being global changes." "Over the past couple of months we've been trying to keep an eye on the global situation and trying to make changes that make sense," Pokémon Go's lead project manager Matt Slemon said. Niantic, however, has adjusted quickly to the coronavirus pandemic by making it easier for people to still have fun playing Pokémon Go safely from the comforts of home during this health crisis. With people around the world stuck inside amid the coronavirus pandemic, going anywhere very far from home has not really been as easy, safe or fun. A trip to Florida became even more exciting when I caught a Heracross, a region-specific Pokémon that's not available where I live in California.
I would look forward to the end of a long hike, hoping that my 10-km egg had hatched into something cool like a Dratini. This week we're looking at Poké mon Go.Īfter Pokémon Go launched in July 2016, I loved going to the Santa Monica Pier to walk around and try to catch the dozens of different kinds of water Pokémon spawning throughout the busy tourist area, hoping that I might catch a shiny Magikarp.
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Stuck Inside With is a new series where, because we're all stuck inside, we venture off the beaten path to explore other parts of the gaming world.
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