Pokemon GO’s Powered Up PokeStops May Be Impractical
Niantic recently introduced Powered Up PokeStops to Pokemon GO, but because of AR Scanning’s flaws, the new mechanic has flaws as well.
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Although many Pokemon GO updates spotlight the introduction of new Pokemon, Niantic has also added a lot of new mechanics over the years. For instance, at the dawn of Pokemon GO, players had only a few ways to battle with Pokemon, but now Niantic has diversified NPC opponents through Team Rocket and empowered players to compete with one another in the Battle League. Although Niantic has recently been focused on new Pokemon introductions, around the start of the Season of Heritage, Pokemon GO got a mechanical upgrade in the form of Powered Up PokeStops that drop more items if enough players complete AR tasks.
On paper, AR Scanning tasks are pretty simple. If players record short videos of PokeStops and send them to Niantic, they’ll get rewards. Powered Up PokeStops simply build on that mechanic by enhancing the PokeStop’s drop rate if multiple players complete AR Scanning tasks. However, in execution, there’s some significant flaws at play. Pokemon GO players don’t always have an easy time completing these tasks because of their social implications, and regardless, many players aren’t enthusiastic about the concept of AR Scanning tasks to begin with. Because of the complicated side of AR Scanning, Pokemon GO’s new Powered Up PokeStops may need serious revisions in the future.
The Problem With Powered Up PokeStops
Because PokeStops are typically markers for significant real-world landmarks, they tend to be found most commonly in public spaces with a lot of foot traffic like parks, shopping centers, historic parts of cities, and so on. Most of the time, this isn’t an issue for Pokemon GO players so long as they watch where they’re walking, but when AR Scanning tasks come into the equation, things change. Not every nearby pedestrian takes kindly to being caught on video by a stranger trying to complete an AR Scanning task in Pokemon GO, even if the player tries to explain what they’re doing. AR Scanning tasks are ripe for causing unfortunate public arguments and misunderstandings.
One Reddit user ran into this issue recently, unintentionally provoking the suspicion of a few other visitors to a local park while scanning a PokeStop. This Pokemon GO player’s unfortunate experience provoked a larger conversation in the comments on the Reddit user’s post, which many expressing concern about the inconvenience of scanning PokeStops in public places. If Pokemon GO players have such clear reason to believe that their social concerns about AR Scanning aren’t unfounded, then Powered Up PokeStops seem more likely to fall by the wayside than prove truly popular.
What’s more, Pokemon GO players have expressed their distaste for AR Scanning tasks ever since they first appeared. Niantic has always told fans openly that it uses AR Scanning data while developing new features, and many fans dislike doing free AR scouting work for Niantic on principle. If a large number of players refuse to do AR Scanning tasks, then there’s not much use in Powered Up PokeStops. In response to Niantic’s AR requests, some Pokemon GO players have found ways to technically complete these tasks without getting the detailed PokeStop scan that Niantic wants. That means Niantic is getting less than useful data from many players, so in turn, it’s not gaining much from Powered Up PokeStops and AR tasks.
Pokemon GO’s Future AR Development
Powered Up PokeStops are clearly meant to incentivize players to complete AR Scanning tasks, but the new feature doesn’t appear to have assuaged anyone’s concerns about AR scanning and doing Niantic’s groundwork. Considering AR Scanning’s reputation, it doesn’t seem likely that Powered Up PokeStops will be a particularly popular feature a few months from now. Niantic’s new feature could be useful, but ultimately Niantic may need to come up with a new way for players to boost PokeStops. At the same time, Niantic probably has to reconsider how it gathers data for Pokemon GO’s AR components in the future. Nobody wins when AR Scanning tasks make players uncomfortable and completed AR tasks don’t give Niantic the data it needs.
Pokemon GO is available now on Android and iOS devices.
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