#StayAtHome, is it just a slogan?
We're all having a bad period. Thousands of people are dying around the world, 23.000 and counting here in Italy, social medias are flooding with hashtags, and we are all doing our best to contain the spread of the Covid-19.
And every company in the world is doing his best to keep people safe at home, right? So is doing Niantic, with a new gameplay in Ingress, PoGo and HPWU to allow their users to play safely from home, hurray!
Now, imagine you are a Niantic employee. You receive multiple reports, from both factions, that a new, unknown player, Micuokkk, is violating the lockdown and playing in a dozen of different municipalities during a pandemic.
With that the law stating that you can't go farther than 200 meters from your home, except for proven needs (and there is a fine up to 3000€ for violating the lockdown), the best scenario is that he's flying around with FakeGPS, in the worst that he's actually wandering, putting himself, and the public health, at risk.
Fun fact, this so-called player also created an account of the other faction, Virdi, to level-up faster, en plein!
So, what you would do?
Well, Niantic ignored all reports, and refused to even suspend this account until the end of the lockdown.
https://nianticlabs.com/terms/ clearly states that is forbidden to "violate any applicable law or regulation;". They got reports of multiple violations of a law. Why is Niantic not applying their own ToS?
I'm not saying that Niantic is responsible for actions taken by players, but I think that is Niantic's duty to do everything in their power to protect the community. Hashtags aren't enough.
Comments
What if he is delivering medical supplies in the region?
I'm sure he would be allowed to move around then.
There are people who's jobs are essential and might require them to drive around all day.
Drive around is different from playing for 2/3 hrs straight, with links, fields, with relative key farming, even in pedestrian areas and places where no one could possibly go for work. And even if I go in a town for work, it doesn't allow me to go around the whole city.
If you deliver medical supplies, playing ingress should be the least of your thoughts. If this were really the case, he would simply capture some portal, instead he captures all the portals of the city and links them together to close the field. No serious person would spend all that time playing instead of doing their job for the community
I know of a ENL player that plays 7-10 hours daily atleast from local reports, i doubt he delivers medical supplies.... u cant honestly tell that anyone that plays for hours does that while working ? lol if i only could get a dollar for every field ive thrown... and he even said in comm he plays while 50% sick... oh yea
Is he cheating?
I wonder what is he/she thinking
I wrote in the post already: he's violating a law, and thus the ToS, or he's spoofing. I think it's a shame for Niantic to allow this, after all the shoutout and stuff. (Oh, and having 2 accounts is cheating, too)
Stay home, stay safe
If he is violating the law, call the police, not Niantic.
If he is cheating, report at the support and stay home.
Don't get stressed for so little. Cheaters usually have free pass and are rarely caught by Niantic eyes.
And that's why I'm effectively on play Vacation until shelter in place, mask rules are lifted or peeled back.