Following the three-hour Inkay Special Research event, Pokemon Go players are suggesting a change to Pokestops that would significantly help rural players.
It’s no secret that Pokemon Go players have wildly different experiences with the game based on their location. Players in big cities flourish as Pokemon spawns run rampant, while rural players cherish every encounter they are lucky to find.
Living in a sparcely populated area presents hurdles that make Pokemon Go harder to enjoy. And one of the biggest complaints from rural players is the lack of Pokestops and gyms.
On a normal day of play, having one or two Pokestops to go to will suffice, but problems arise on Special Research days for towns with a small number of stops.
Simple change can fix rural Pokestops
On September 3, following the Inkay Special Research event, Reddit user JRE47 took to the TheSilphRoad subreddit to share their thougts on Pokestops. Specifically, how Niantic could change the stops to make events more accessible to rural players.
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They suggested, “For limited time Research Events (like today’s Inkay Research Day), having each Pokéstop get a new Research quest at the top of each hour would be a massive QOL improvement. it STILL encourages people to get out and go BACK to stops in busy areas, and yet still gives people with Pokéstops that are few and far between a chance to hit what they’re able multiple times and not feel so left out.”
As it stands, each Pokestop only grants a single Special Research task during the event. This means that players with more Pokestops nearby can encounter the featured Pokemon many more times than someone who lives in a sparse area.
The comments were met with numerous players agreeing with JRE and other tossing in their own suggestions. “The least they could do is that the event quests are guaranteed when you spin a pokéstop,” stated user Valeriun.
Trainers from small towns to big cities showed their support for the change with a number of users recounting their own experiences during Inkay community day. Even those with 25+ Pokestops in their area wished they could have done more, and a simple fix like allowing multiple reseach tasks from a single stop would have made the difference.