Please support Game Informer. Print magazine subscriptions are less than $2 per issue
Pokémon Go Player Levels Up Quickly Enough To Trigger Anti-Cheat Measures
Normally, leveling up in Pokémon Go can take a while. Finding, catching, and evolving Pokémon takes time, and most people only play the game for a few hours per day. One man decided he'd test his ability to quickly gain experience. and did so well the game thought he was a computer.
As Kotaku reports, Jimmy Derocher, a dedicated Pokémon Go player, has been attempting to gain as much experience as possible in the shortest amount of time. This weekend he attempted to gain one million experience points in a single day – no small feat. He found a cluster of ten Pokéstops, dropped lures in all of them with the help of his friends, and walked a loop for several hours, attempting to maximize his experience gain and reach his goal.
Unfortunately, Pokémon Go's programming got in his way. The game has algorithms in place to stop cheaters from using third-party bot programs to cheat and gain experience faster than humanly possible. After passing a certain threshold of experience gain, every Pokémon Derocher encountered began running away from him as part of a "soft-ban" anti-cheating measure.
Derocher saw the ban coming, asking Niantic's John Hanke via Twitter to whitelist him while he streamed and gave the proceeds to charity.
You can watch how to make the most of your time with Pokemon Go without triggering anti-bot technology here, and read what Jeff Cork had to say about the game here.
[Source: Kotaku]
Our Take
It's unfortunate Derocher coudln't meet his goal because of technical reasons (especially considering he was donating money to charity), but I don't think we can take this as some huge indictment of Pokémon Go (there are much better indictments to focus on). If Niantic doesn't tweak the bot-curbing tech to let him accomplish his goal soon, though, that might be cause for disappointment.
I’d like to ask you to support Game Informer’s continued coverage of games with a subscription. For less than two dollars per issue, we mail you a full year of 10 print magazines, each with cover stories and preview features filled with exclusive details about the most exciting upcoming games. We profile and interview game creators. We look back on the rich history of gaming, and we celebrate what’s next.
Here on the website, we offer much of our content for free, including game reviews, daily news, videos, event coverage, and more – all with minimal ads.
We do so with a small editorial team, alongside contributing paid writers from around the world – over 65 individuals from 9 countries around the world, just in the last couple of years.
It’s not possible without support.
In a time when game makers and games coverage have faced hard struggles and layoffs, the future of this 30+ year magazine and community is at risk. Our new standalone magazine subscription is the number one way you can keep us alive – and we believe you’ll get a pretty fantastic gaming magazine in your mailbox every few weeks for your trouble.
Thank you.
