Since it’s release in 2016, PokémonGO has been a fun and exciting game for many trainers. The feeling of finally getting to take your Pokémon adventure out into the real world has been amazing for almost everyone who plays. The fact that the game focuses on adventure as well as exploration, exercise and REAL WORLD social interaction is changing how many people view “gaming” as a whole. 

What trainers did not expect, however, was the inclusion of real life Team Rocket aka spoofers. These people cheat using modified apps and versions of the game to be able to be anywhere in the world at any given time from the comfort of their own home. While this may be the right idea for console versions of Pokémon, PokémonGO is a real world game where your actions in game can directly impact other people in the real world. Spoofing has caused an outstanding negative effect on others who play the game legitimately, some to the point of quitting the game altogether. 

A few examples of how spoofing in PokémonGO can have a negative impact on other trainers are:

Spoofers kicking legitimate trainers out of gyms that the legit trainer spent time out of their day, money taking a bus or taxi, gas and wear and tear on their vehicle, energy biking/walking/running to get to the gym location. 

Spoofers deliberately dropping the newest regionals and/or shiny Pokémon just minutes or hours after release into gyms to leave a shadow in a trainer’s Pokédex. This is extremely discouraging to others as they never had the chance to catch these Pokémon for themselves before having the shadow image plaguing their Pokédex. 

Spoofers putting sniped perfect IV Pokémon in gyms making it harder for the gym to be taken down. 

Spoofers using sniped perfect PvP IV mons in the newly released GO Battle League giving themselves an unfair advantage. 

Spoofers using 6 or more accounts to fully stack a gym and then using other alt accounts spoofed to and parked at the gym to continuously berry the gym. This leaves a legitimate trainer absolutely no chance of defeating the gym as the spoofer will never berry cap. It also prevents trainers on the spoofers team from progressing on a gym badge as there are never spots for them. 

These are just a few examples but if you read testimonies from trainers around the world you will hear stories of even worse happening. Bullying, harassment and violence associated with a spoofer getting so used to holding every gym in sight that they will come out to run people away, spoofers tracking a trainer’s location by following them in the spoofing app to track them down, etc. etc.

It has been almost 4 years since the release of PokémonGO. It’s time Niantic took some of the estimated $900 million earned in 2019 alone and $3.1 billion, yes BILLION, earned overall from in-app purchases and give legitimate trainers the game they deserve. It’s time Niantic stopped the rampant cheating and spoofing. 

Please stand with me as a community that loves Pokémon and PokémonGO but also wants it to be what it should have always been. FAIR.

Please also feel free to share your own story in the comments, no story too small, no incident too insignificant, we all matter. We have been silenced and abused by spoofers for far too long. It’s our time to be heard.