just curious to ask, is having multiple accounts considered violating the rules of the game? Like here is a spot, I wanna put my brother, uncle or grandpa or fd's (who already have given up playing) pokémons in. Can't? It's so common to have multiple accounts in my area. Btw, at least he is not spoofing with multiple accounts.
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Repeated reporting of multi account players
About a month ago, I observed that a player was always standing at a gym near my apartment. He would wait for the battle to finish and slot in 3 pokemons (mystic account). And when the gym was being overtaken by valor, he would also be there to slot in his 3 valor account pokemons. I took screenshot and reported the accounts to niantic and a few days later, I no longer saw those IDs but the trainer was still hanging around the gym whenever its under attack. I then noticed that he had actually changed all the IDs and still playing with 6 accounts. I am guessing he may have received a warning from niantic on all 6 accounts. Since then, I had sent another 2 reports (one week apart) but its been a month long and he is still playing with 6 accounts. Its almost unplayable for other players as he is literally taking up 50% of the gym space, not to mention he would "shave" off existing pokemons to slot in his. I am not sure if I should take anymore screenshots and send to niantic if my reports keep falling on blind eyes. Has anyone actually successfully reported multi account players? The way the gym is being step up (now and in the past) really encourages players to cheat.
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Niantic really doesn't care about multi accounts because it makes their numbers look good to advertisers. Talking to people during the raids, I learned that most of the "new" players are the same players with different accounts. People created accounts just to do raids with. It's like the spoofing, Niantic really doesn't care that much.
I feel Niantic's horrible handling of spoofers and taking cheating lightly, having bad community management with the gamers, lazily using automated responses for all their tickets, cash grabbing tactics and failure to upgrade their own servers from day 1 of Pokemon Go (as well as the monstrosity known as Go Fest) easily puts Niantic's reputation alongside that of EA and Activision. I think Gamefreak can do a better AR game than Niantic tbh.
Over the weekend I played with a guy using two phones which made our Maltres raids easier. Now I didn't ask if he had two accounts or was using his kid, wife, or GF's account. Mostly I assumed he was using someone else's account that couldn't make the raids.
And with the new gym system, having multiple accounts is on the low end of cheating for me. Outside of kicking yourself out of a gym after the eight hours and being the+1 on raids, don't see any effect on the rest of the player-base. Now if you add spoofing, then I'm fine with a temp ban or shutting down the account. But I have met parents playing the game with their kids, who log out from their account to log-in for a missing child to catch a especially good pokemon. Should they be ban too?
it depends. if they are just catching for their kid/partner/etc. who is still otherwise an active player it is fine.
if the child/partner etc. is no longer an active player then it should be left idle and use of it is now multi accounting
if you are dual accounting to help out and not detract from peoples game play. no problem. If you are significantly impacting the play of other people in a negative way by multi accounting then drop it.
it all comes down to how much you increase or decrease peoples over all pleasure in the game.
I can't provide anything more than screenshots of the account and let niantic run its investigation, that is if it bothers at all. And yes, that's what I figure too that if I continue to send anymore screenshots, it may not be taken seriously at all. I am just surprised that the multi account player changed all his 6 IDs which came as a shock as I had interpreted that as a reaction to niantic's sending a warning to him
"Biggest cheaterlover company"
Really, not let's say a FPS game or any MMO? Because while gym spoofers, shavers, and spoofers with scanners did piss me off they never totally ruined my fun. I could still play the game, unlike some online games I could mention. As for cash-grabbing, again I can still play the game and gain lvls unlike some other mobile game that make you hit a brick wall if you're not spending. Niantic for all it's problems, is far from the monster you paint it to be.
For me it is quite the opposite. In Pokemon Go you are stuck to the area you live in. In FPS shooters you can freely switch between servers/games if you don't like what you are seeing. I ride my bicycle every day just to see the gyms getting taken back by a bunch of spoofers without Niantic doing anything to level 30 players with more and higher CP Blissey than I do.
I've played world championships in first person shooters and never had any trouble of facing cheaters. Play PoGo and you see cheaters everywhere. It isn't too difficult to see the priority of Niantic is in making money and not taking out cheaters.
I've no experience in other mobile games. Just comparing this game to PC games now. Side note, if I was the CEO of Niantic I wouldn't do anything differently than maximizing profit.
If you are lucky enough as for getting photo or even video evidence of that multi account player I would definitely continue to report him every time. No matter what Niantic decides or how long does it take them to react. They will eventually have to do something about this player and his 6 account.
Tbh, I'm shocked and disappointed about how many people show up at raids with 2 phones on their hands. But in these cases there's no way to report, it would be discourteous and violent
I say if possible, just find more gyms...
The whole gym thing is all bunk now and plenty of people use multiple accounts to do raids...some of these are family member accounts who have quit or don't care to play anymore, but really, I think very very very few people care anymore...
I'd say to keep your own sanity, don't care much neither and just try to get your 50 some other way...or be the last 3 person in their gym...
I also think a lot of these people don't even know it's not allowed since many players I see are foreign retired grandmas playing with 10x more legendaries than me (retired=more time)...
Really though, the new raid system and actually seeing, talking to some of these other players during raids, just don't care so much and don't even expect to get 50 each day...Pokemon Go is NOT a skill/competitive game and it's just about catching them all so play casually and it'll lower your own stress since it's doubtful Niantic will do much AND, there are also a lot of FAKE reports too I feel.
I have stopped looking for gyms to specifically put my pokemons. Sometimes after work I would turn on the app and walk it to clock mileage and if I happen to see a gym with a slot, I will put a pokemon in. I have not collected any coins for a quite a while as the new gym system simply requires too much effort. Will be taking a break from this game after zapdos week...
If anything, the new system requires little/no effort at all IMO...More people are getting coins now and more people LIKE the new system vs the old...
I am sitting on over 600+ Potions/Revives since I rarely attack gyms neither, but honestly, the new gyms are easier for a lot of folks and I think it's easier if you just see gyms around with open slots.
Of course, if you are on a very lopsided team area, everything maybe full, but even then, by morning, near all gyms are 5 mins tops to clear if they are not your team...
Well, I have 7 accounts, my real is near lvl34, then 32, 27, 24, 23 in a team, and LVL 27 and 26 in the 2 others... (thanks to my kids to create all these accounts first ?)
I've always played with one phone, switching when encountering rarest pokemons. I even created something to switch accounts easily !
I used all of them since beginning to take the gym "inside" my house: I just call it MY gym... I'm fighting against a friend from another team in the same situation, but with a solo account lvl40... (even adding all xp he's better than me lol)
Before I was just fighting against spoofers all the day to permit access to everyone once a day, now I empty it after 8h20 for the last players inside, switching to another team. Just regulating, this is my gym and I want it to give coins to a lot of people.
I'm not really a lonely player as I go out to talk with players coming in front of my house...
And for raid, I've only 4 android devices at one time, but it will be difficult to use more with only 2 hands, Shiva.......
Also thanks for pokestop in gym! since I had no direct sofa pokestop's access before ?
I don't think I'm against the TOS, I've never cheated, just switching my own accounts. Doing the same in CoC for example.
