{"id":118725,"date":"2020-09-30T10:15:00","date_gmt":"2020-09-30T10:15:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/news\/2020\/09\/pokemon_go_strips_away_stay-at-home_safety_features_in_the_middle_of_a_pandemic"},"modified":"2020-09-30T10:15:00","modified_gmt":"2020-09-30T10:15:00","slug":"pokemon-go-strips-away-stay-at-home-safety-features-in-the-middle-of-a-pandemic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/2020\/09\/30\/pokemon-go-strips-away-stay-at-home-safety-features-in-the-middle-of-a-pandemic\/","title":{"rendered":"Pok\u00e9mon GO Strips Away Stay-At-Home Safety Features In The Middle Of A Pandemic"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"media_block\"><a href=\"https:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/14280e1c5d031\/large.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/14280e1c5d031\/small.jpg\" class=\"media_thumbnail\"><\/a><\/div>\n<figure class=\"picture strip\"><\/figure>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/games\/mobile\/pokemon_go\"><strong>Pok\u00e9mon GO<\/strong><\/a> developer Niantic has <a class=\"external\" href=\"https:\/\/pokemongolive.com\/post\/update-20200929\">announced<\/a> a set of updates for the app which will strip away some of the changes made earlier this year, originally designed to keep players safe by allowing them to play at home.<\/p>\n<p>As of 1st October at 1pm PDT, the following changes will be made:<\/p>\n<hr>\n<ul>\n<li>Hatch Distance will return to normal for Eggs.<\/li>\n<li>The increased effectiveness of Incense will now apply only while walking.<\/li>\n<li>Your Buddy Pok\u00e9mon will now bring you Gifts only when you have nearly run out. This will happen only once per day.<\/li>\n<li>You will still have a higher chance of getting a Gift when you spin a Pok\u00e9Stop. However, you won\u2019t be guaranteed to get a Gift.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr>\n<p>The decision has caused a great deal of upset among the Pok\u00e9mon GO community, with fans questioning the company&#8217;s decision to remove the tweaks in the middle of the ongoing pandemic. As many have pointed out on social media, some locations are restricted by nationwide or local lockdowns, while others are seeing cases rise day-by-day, so why is Niantic asking players to leave their homes to get full use out of the app?<\/p>\n<p>As an example, here&#8217;s a quick look at COVID-19 cases in the UK and US \u2013 in the former, reported cases are higher than they&#8217;ve ever been.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"gallery\">\n<div class=\"col\">\n<div class=\"img\"><a title=\"UK COVID-19 cases 30th September\" href=\"https:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/7b496aa4d3dcd\/uk-covid-19-cases-30th-september.original.png\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/static.nintendolife.com\/blank.gif\" data-original=\"https:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/7b496aa4d3dcd\/uk-covid-19-cases-30th-september.original.png\" alt=\"UK COVID-19 cases 30th September\"><\/a><span class=\"image-credit\" title=\"Image Credit\">via Google<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"col\">\n<div class=\"img\"><a title=\"US COVID-19 cases 30th September\" href=\"https:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/087ac6db403a2\/us-covid-19-cases-30th-september.original.png\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/static.nintendolife.com\/blank.gif\" data-original=\"https:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/087ac6db403a2\/us-covid-19-cases-30th-september.original.png\" alt=\"US COVID-19 cases 30th September\"><\/a><span class=\"image-credit\" title=\"Image Credit\">via Google<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<p>Some players are suggesting that the &#8220;community trust is being damaged&#8221; as a result of Niantic&#8217;s actions.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"object object-tweet\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p><span lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Why does Niantic keep doing this? A serious discussion on how community trust is being damaged. Please watch all the way through and let me know your thoughts. Am I off base here or do you agree? <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/PokemonGO?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#PokemonGO<\/a> <\/p>\n<p>Watch: <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/IVeDSxK8rK\">https:\/\/t.co\/IVeDSxK8rK<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/NeLsXwC63J\">pic.twitter.com\/NeLsXwC63J<\/a><\/p>\n<p><\/span>\u2014 Zo\u00ebTwoDots \ud83c\udf51 (@_ZoeTwoDots) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/_ZoeTwoDots\/status\/1311134207201116163?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">September 30, 2020<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/aside>\n<aside class=\"object object-tweet\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p><span lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">I highly disagree with this decision and encourage everyone to voice their opinions if you think so as well.<\/p>\n<p>The use of the Incense has been buffed because of the Pandemic.<\/p>\n<p>Yet, the moment (now!) where it\u2019s hitting it\u2019s worse point it\u2019s being nerfed seems hypocritical. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/48b54UemCO\">https:\/\/t.co\/48b54UemCO<\/a><\/p>\n<p><\/span>\u2014 REVERSAL (@REVERSALx7) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/REVERSALx7\/status\/1311050299042394113?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">September 29, 2020<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/aside>\n<aside class=\"object object-tweet\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p><span lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Eggs back to normal km\u2019s and incense works only while you\u2019re walking. Whyyyyyy \ud83d\ude2d\ud83d\udc94. Some cities are still in lockdown!? <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/PokemonGo?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#PokemonGo<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/5aeDqme94V\">pic.twitter.com\/5aeDqme94V<\/a><\/span>\u2014 E Starcevic (@estarcevic_) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/estarcevic_\/status\/1311093663871545345?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">September 30, 2020<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/aside>\n<aside class=\"object object-tweet\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p><span lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Hi. Pandemic isn&#8217;t over. It&#8217;s not safe out there. This is just cases in the UK. We understand wanting to return the game to normal standards, but the world isn&#8217;t ready yet. Please reconsider. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/58AH4NXwRg\">pic.twitter.com\/58AH4NXwRg<\/a><\/span>\u2014 Marti (@VirtuallyMarti) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/VirtuallyMarti\/status\/1311046503599935488?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">September 29, 2020<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/aside>\n<p>Niantic says, &#8220;When possible, people are generally encouraged to spend time outside, go on walks, and exercise for their mental and physical health\u2014all while social distancing and abiding by other health and safety recommendations.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Other safety tweaks \u2013 such as your maximum number of gifts, Incense duration and Remote Raids \u2013 remain intact for the time being.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Pok\u00e9mon GO developer Niantic has announced a set of updates for the app which will strip away some of the changes made earlier this year, originally designed to keep players safe by allowing them to play at home. As of 1st October at 1pm PDT, the following changes will be made: Hatch Distance will return [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-118725","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-nintendo-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118725","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=118725"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118725\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=118725"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=118725"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=118725"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}