Confession of a spoofer
I like many of us are what I would consider a decent person. I don't break the law, haven't stolen anything since I was a child and I have a common goal of making the world more positive rather than dragging it down.
I started playing Pokemon about a year ago. My kids started playing and I was the last in my family to give in and try it. I never thought I would get very far into what I considered at the time a "childrens game" but, I actually provided some very positive bonding across all members of our family. Life was good. My 4 year old can tell you what anything can evolve into and that alone makes the game worth it. Where I live it's dominantly ran by what would almost have to be considered a gang type situation as far as one of the teams. They have a leader and minions running in front of the raids to turn gyms in their favor. I always laughed at them and explained that I don't need 14 balls to catch a legendary but I sure won't just sit here and let you take the gym I've been waiting at for the last hour, just 4 mins before hatching. They filled those gyms across half the state. Big, strong, leveled Pokemon. Then I found out about scanners. I figured if they have all good Mons then I'm going to need to as well. I wanted a few of my faves to be 100% at first. Next thing you know I'm driving 100's of miles a day chasing good IV's. It quickly becomes an obsession. It went from next time they want my gym, they can have fun with my 100% level 40 blissey to the fact that now I don't have a single Pokemon in my collection under 90% and that's out of 1,500. I have a perfect of anything you can think of. Why? Just feeding the beast. Eventually it got old and gyms are lame. I was slowly about to walk away when I realized I had played hardcore every day spending $50 a week and I only had 1 Mewtwo. I got an invite the second wave. Same with the rest of my family.
I happened to run across a discord and read people bragging about getting an EX invite weekly. Surely that old phone in the garage can't be set up to do that now can it? Within minutes I was away in a far off land, spending much more than when I was playing legit. During the time I was all over scanners and considering myself "legit" I heard all the issues the other legit players had with gyms and what not. So I made a compromise. The day I picked up spoofing, I haven't touched another gym. Not one fight. It hurts to not make 50 coins a day. But I figure it's fair. Now days I play from home. Not bothering anyone. I don't attack your gyms and I don't even leave a guy in an empty gym. I don't feel that I'm taking anything away from legit players because I pay for every raid. It's essentially a lottery, you can't win it if you're not in it. Sure I have a nice little army but I'm not using it to hurt anyone. Sure perhaps an extra damage ball here and there. But I've learned from watching my kids play, I usually get better legendaries to try and catch when I'm not causing as much damage in the raid. Try it. Tap the screen a lot less, space off. Forget your playing for half the raid and watch. Maybe this part is just something I believe in but anyways. I know I've helped legit players due to the fact that ive triggered EX raids due the the fact that I can get 100 people to come to any gym in my city and battle a raid in seconds. I've seen the number of EX raids to legit players increase along side of it. I've also personally helped people calling for legit players to help so they can beat a raid boss. A few clicks and 50 people are there. Never saying a word. Just my way of helping old friends. Do I miss the social part? Here and there but Not too much. I don't miss sitting in a park waiting for the right amount of people and sometimes not being able to raid because of it. Honestly without spoofing, I would of quit a long time ago. I kinda like just playing in the background, I can do a raid if I want, when I want and i can honestly say I'm not hurting anyone...
Answers
I don't spoof simply because I think it would spoil the game for me. Having said that, I wouldn't mind having a few spoofers help out in our tiny berg. It would save me a ton of gas not having to drive to the next big city to do a T5.
Which is why I think Niantic should introduce remote raid passes, even if it's a premium item. That's where all my coins would go.
I guess my post kind of inspired you? Aside, in my eyes you are part of the problem, as you steal Exraid passes for legit players.
I will tell you, how things work in my city: we have a telegramm channel, where ppl add the potential raids and the bot gives a few time options. Ppl now can vote for one certain time and if enough ppl to get the raid done sign up, then its usually gonna happen.
Im pretty sure some kind or organisation like that exists in your area aswell and if not, why not start it?
That would make "helping" ppl at raids obsolete.
In fact we have an overview for ex raid gyms and raids there happen to have 80 ppl participating, which is not bad for a 250k ppl city.
What you said about that gang thing: there are discord, Facebook or whatsapp groups for every team in my area and it wouldnt surprise me, if you would have success with finding those groups by asking some high lvl players about it.
I would say, playing with my teammates is what is the best part of the game, walking around, smashing gyms, soloing 10 raids in a row with a car and 5ppl in there, smalltalking and joking, I really wouldnt have joy plaiyng PoGo without that, plus you get in the nature a lot with it.
As you spend a lot of time playing legit, you may know the taste of teamplay and in my eyes you miss the best part of the game by spoofing. It would be nice to see another post from you anytime in the future with the title "confession of an ex-spoofer".
Regarding one of your first statements, I'm not sure if people are still being excluded from EX-Raids invites when they raided at that particular gym. From what I've seen, everybody seems to get an invite these days within our community at certain (raided) gyms.
Therefore, spoofers don't potentially create an unfair advantage over others anymore.
Telegram is so amazing, I'd suggest you to join our community for a day so you can see how it goes.
Join: @PoGoRdamOostRaid
For more information you can get in touch with me over mail: [email protected]
lmao you know when it starts off with a desperate statement like 'i'm a decent person never stole nothing', it's gonna get tasty. you're a part of a major problem that affects PoGo and I don't think that's anything to be proud of. from using scanners to 'hunt' perfect IV Pokemon - which, by the way, makes you not legit lmao - to picking up spoofing, you're PoGo trash. quit the game and leave it to people who want to play it the right way. Honestly don't give much of a hoot about whether others are going to agree/disagree with me on this, but this is my opinion: your post stinks, you stink as a PoGo player, goodbye.
Hi there, I've always been one of the very few players who has been rebelling against all kind of TOS breaking tools, even scanners. I've even left my community which I originally started because of this.
That having said, in my eyes you are playing a different game than I (used to) do. You're not hurting anyone, so I don't see a major problem with it. Something is considered cheating when you create an unfair advantage over others. However, you don't battle gyms, you don't seem to show off your Pokemon.
Keep in mind that you're still breaking the rules and that no story can make up for stuff like this.
A small writing tip; use paragraphs in the future
Most of the spoofers I know have reasons that they spoof:
socioeconomic standing (too poor to travel)
disabled
no spawns where they are
not safe to venture out and catch
I welcome spoofers to our raids. In the past, I battled against them. When I finally met some of them in person, and I understood their plight, I stopped discriminating. Maybe you should ask spoofers why they spoof. They have reasons and they aren't always that they want to ruin the game for others.
