Rural 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Pokemon Go Players have it rough. They 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:can't battle in Raids, t🌠hey don't have communities to trade with, and, in extreme cases, they don't have any🐲 PokeStops or Pokemon spawns where they live.

Have you ever left a Pokemon in a Gyไm and not realised quite how few players are there to knock it out? The ideal Gym defender spends a dayღ in a Gym - no more, no less - so you can collect your 50 coins and go again tomorrow. But sometimes your Pokemon are left lingering in a Gym for weeks, months, even years as there's nobody around to knock them out.

pokemon go players walking towards gyms
via Niantic

I've d🌟one this once, intentionally. I ⛦was in the middle of a 36-hour bus ride through the Australian outback when we pulled in at a ranch. I bought a defrosted banana (the worst piece of fruit I've ever put in my body but also the only nutrients I'd had for nearly two days) and decided to check Pokemon Go in our ten minute rest stop. Funnily enough, there was a Gym.

I popped a Kangaskha𒀰n in that bad boy - very appropriate as both a regional exclusives for Australia and a fl*piping kangaroo in the outback - and𒊎 left him to defend the ranch against all comers. But there were no comers.

Kangaskhan was knocked out of the Gym 237 days later. I was back in England and fully expected to never see it again. It was a lovely surprise, but for players who live in similar rural areas, 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:this is reality.

Pokemon Go Isn't About Exploring

Image of Incarnate Forme Enamorus flying in a sunset-colored sky.

Pokemon Go is about exploring. 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Or is it? The game's core tenet of getting players outside is very dependent on where you're exploring. Climbing a mountain or hiking in a nationa🌠l park? Yeah, do🌸n't expect many Pokemon spawning. Walking around a city centre on your commute? You'll be inundated.

Niantic wants you to explore urban areas. Your data is more valuable here, sponsor🦂ed PokeStops presumably make more money here, and therefore you're encou𓆉raged to explore here.

Rural players have none of the fun.

But there's also something that naturally occurs in urban areas: communities form. With more people, there are more Pokemon Go players. With more players, you can take on stronger Pokemon in Raids, you can trade with each other, and you can𝓰 forge lasting friendships with lik♐e-minded players.

Image of Fidough from Pokemon standing in grass.

These two factors feed 𝔉into each other. Cities have more stuff, so players from further afield are drawn there🌸. These communities exist in part because Niantic manufactured them where it wanted them to be. If mountains were profitable for AR games, I'm sure we'd have community hiking groups forming around monsters you can only catch in the most remote areas.

You get the picture, rural players have none of the fun. Raids are pretty much a no-go, w𒁏hich rules a lot of the most powerful Legendaries out of their collections. And they don't have a local community, so they can't even trade to get their hands on those Raid-exclusive 'mons.

Image of six different Ralts in a flowery field.

Grinding Community Days for three hours is more tiring when you have fewer spawns, and practically a punishment if there aren't a few of you catching together so you can pass the time with conversation. Rural players, let me ask you one question: when was the last time you saw a random Lᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚure on a PokeStop in your area? Yeah, I figured as much.

Now that I've thoroughly explained why rural players have a worse experience than those in urban environs, and how this is specifically manufactured by Niantic, I can explain one aspect of the game that 𒁏rural players have better than anyone else: Showcases.

Pokemon Go Showcases

pokemon go showcase in a park

Showcases are a relatively new feature in Pokemon Go, introduced when XL and XS Pokemon were. The idea is that you stuꦑmble across a PokeStop wꦍith a Showcase and put your biggest Pokemon in. Not your strongest, not your most powerful, not the Pokemon with the biggest CP stat, your biggest. This is pure luck, a level playing field for players of any experience. Caught an XXL Joltik and nobody else in your area did? Reap the rewards.

And the r🔥ewards are pretty good. Berries and Balls are a given, but the XP and Stardust gained from Showcases is no joke. Winning a couple and ensuring you've got your Lucky Egg and Star Piece active can do wonders for your progress.

I usually come in the top five of any given Showcase when I'm at home. I've won a couple, consistently get top three, but I'm usually in that five-🐼to-three spot, with a dozen or so trainers ꧂competing at a time. I'm happy with that. In my suburban area, it's just nice to see so many trainers engaging with the mechanic, even if they don't seem to be engaging with any others.

But it was during my recent trip to Japan - the best pl𝓀ace to play Pokemon Go by far - when I realised that Showcases have an upper limit. Yes, I tried to enter my XXL Nymble into a Showcase, only to be told that there were already 200 entrants, and therefore it was full. 200 people! Catching Nymble! I was astonished, and my initial hopes of a podium position evaporated. Every Showcase was the same. Poor little Nymble never got to show how big he was, and I'll never know how he stacked up against such fearsome (or, at the very least, numerous) opposition.

Image of Voltorb and several Hisuian Voltorb next to Professor Willow.

I know this isn't a common occurrence. I was in Sapporo during the peak tourist season, during the winter festival. This would n♋ever hꦕappen in Liverpool. But it got me thinking about how rural players interact with Showcases, and I think they've hit the jackpot.

If you're one of the two or three Pokemon Go players in your rural area, your chances of winning a Showcase skyrocket. Your chances of winning multiple times are still pretty high. With less competition, you could probably just enter a regular-sized Gastly and🌳 take home the dub.

How do you measure a Gastly? Is Professor Willow putting a tape measure to an amorphouᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚs ball of gas? How is he weighing gas? This m๊akes my brain hurt.

Obviously, this doesn't make up for the numerous mechanics and events that rural players simply cannot experience. Does 5,000XP come close to a shiny Rayquaza? Clearly not. But does it soften the blow a little to🦩 know that, while urban players are spending all their cash on Raid passes and incubators to finish that Level 50 g✃rind, you're happily winning Showcases without breaking a sweat? It brings a smile to my face every time I get the notification with that gold medal, that's for sure.

Next
Playing Pokemon Go In A Country Where It's Banned

You can't play Pokemonꦅ Go in China, but I needed a digital souvenir.

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