My story: Becoming Spoofer
Spoofer alert! This post contains slight confession and mild spoofing.
Backstory: I live in a city of 60k population. About 30-50 pokestops around the city and 25 gyms. Mystic is VERY dominating gyms scene. I chose mystic with my gf. We were lucky to live on the pokestop which means infinite resources and 7 spawn points around the house. After spawn migration 3 spawn point, but enough to get daily bonuses. After 6 months my gf got bored to game and I was basicly playing 2 characters through the cold and snowy winter. We were at that time lvl 32. Now I'm 35, she's turning to 33. Collecting steady 7-10 every day.
Several weeks ago we were visiting at her parents and I got bored. I had small itch torwards spoofing but I resisted the temptation.. Untill now. At night I searched at google play pokemon go and very soon I faced a spoofing app. I downloaded it and I was ready to joystick spoof. At first I learned controll speed so I get 500m distance every 4min (7,5km/h) and then battled few gyms. Gps cover wasn't perfect and seldomly warped back to my real place.
At first I put my character walk whole night while I sleep and I got 8 snorlax candys after hitting daily cap. When we got back to home, I didn't remove the app.
Reason 1: I was salty about Lapras nerf. I walked 280km during and after double candy event. Spent 86 lapras candy to power it to 2800 just to see it drop down to 2300.
Reason 2 unregistered distance I have missed. I have had so many days in which I have to bike 30km for 10km distance in game.
Reason 3: Fall of 3rd party trackers. I didn't really used them to find rares. I used them to check gyms. I really miss that opportunity. Warping around the city checking what is going on there.
Now in during these weeks I've spoofed around same amound ( 280km) for my buddy and hatched many dozens of eggs. I didn't get any really rare. 2 Dratinis and miltank were the best hatches. Now I just spoof to local nests 1-2 times a day and that's it. I dont want risk losing this "almost" legit character. I take down gyms mostly legit ways, but some nights I warp to get more gyms at the edge of city.
And no, I haven't got new "ban" pop-up window.
This is my story.
Answers
This post contains slight confession and mild spoofing.
If this is mild spoofing, i wonder what real spoofing is.
Reason 2 unregistered distance I have missed. I have had so many days in which I have to bike 30km for 10km distance in game.
The game rewards walking, not biking. This is intended.
Warping around the city checking what is going on there.
Other people have to walk to get this information. Or they use the bike. But then, the kilometers don't count.
I take down gyms mostly legit ways, but some nights I warp to get more gyms at the edge of city.
I go out at night and take a gym at the edge of city, freezing my fingers off. I would be really upset if i saw smoke and nobody around.
And no, I haven't got new "ban" pop-up window.
Maybe, it will happen some day.
All I can say is I hope you get banned...
I maxed 2 Lapras and walked more than you with them.
Everyone has the same issues as you with biking, etc...
Just another "entitled" player, woe is me...so I now spoof to do this or that.
I wish Niantic would just find a way to randomize all spawns (break trackers) and gym spoofers completely..Just saw one today on my morning route...
Hit 2 gyms faster than you can possibly walk/bike and no car since I was watching a gym fall.
I'm sorry but these are not excuses to spoof. Everyone was hit by the Lapras nerf, anyone who bikes or runs gets a fraction of their distance (believe I only get a quarter or third of my actual run distance), and there is a site to scan for gyms (gymhuntr).
If you want to spoof and also be on your girlfriends account, please refrain from gyms... it's not fair to others.
We KNOW you didn't post here to get pity or that you simply care about anything anyone says honestly...I don't care about you or your comments neither and I know you don't care what I put neither. (wonder why you even posts to begin with)
You're some random internet person and all I/we are saying is that we just hope you lose your level 35 account and if your g/f spoofs too, she loses her level 33 account as well.
That's all.
Simple as that.
You posted, I commented that I hope you lose all the time you spent playing legit and if you decide to play again, have to start at level 1.
Look bud, justify it however you want. You live in a good enough area to play legit, and collect more gyms than you deserve. Nobody likes a spoofer. Especially any spoofing that concerns gyms, even if you're just "checking". We've ALL lost distance due to the inaccuracy, biking, in a car etc, so your whining falls on deaf ears. Would we all like 8 buddy candy a day? Yes. Do we all spoof? No. I also wasted lots of Lapras candy and time, cry me a river, it wasn't just yours that got nerfed. I hope you stop or get banned, likely you're already on their list for the next ban wave, so I suggest finding a new pair of underwear.
I get the thinking behind starting spoofing. The same happened to my 96% Lapras with optimal moveset, so it was kind of tempting to just say "FU Niantic", but I think, that spoofing is what completely ruins the game. I'm so fucking tired of seeing my gym being taken down by a spoofing asshole, especially when my group put like 30 min of work into raising it. Mystic is quite dominant in my area, BUT I see the same spoofing people in 50-70% of all gyms over and over again. Instinct and Valor are waaaayyy better organized and would probably hold a lot more gyms otherwise here. I also wonder, why spoofers dont simply conquer 10 gyms in rural regions and stop annoying people in crowded areas.
Also I dont get, what exactly is fun about spoofing? The point I love most about PoGo is going outside, explore formerly unknown places and meet up with some nice people. It feels just so cool, to get 8 Instinct people together from all over the city, build up multiple gyms and crush some Mystic gyms afterwards. Last but not least I feel like it is totally unfair to steel the players in the edge regions a gym spot, without putting some work in it.
Anyway, I hope you stop using that stuff, because all your excuses dont really justify spoofing to me and the only real issue is your laziness. You seem to be aware of what you are doing there, so maybe not all hope is lost.
I don't spoof at all but:
1. Use gymhuntr - does not seam to far from one of OP's activity for Reason 3. I succeeded a lot, I found 2 gyms in a nearby location (10-15 KM outside of town) that together with a few others that I find just by travelling, the one near home and 1 or 2 towers from my team allows me to fight only 1 or 2 gyms per day for collecting 10. And recently discovered, still with gymhuntr that a small town at about 30 km has a lot of lvl 2-3 gyms of my team, stagnating. A longer lunch break early next week and I will battle only for fun or helping my teammates that will not join my on the remote ones (we are totally dominated in my 400k city by Mystic :), from 70+ gyms they control around 50 of them ).
2. Tried to get extra distance in the night following advises from this very QA board (like wrapping the phone in various materials :) ). I did not succeeded :).
But since I control more gyms, I play less (no need to get out in the evening to prepare gyms for my morning collect, no need to push for more team gym raids) and read about the game more, becoming more knowledgeable in theory. I'm yet to decide if should change the reading vs playing part :).
3. I used pokemap for a bit more than 1 week, then it was closed. Was useful for me to also detect the spawn points, helpful at that stage in the game. They changed after, of course, but at least I was sure there are spawn points :).
So I don't spoof but I cannot consider myself without a spot and for cases like OPs I don't wish a ban, I wish they return to normal playing as someone above mentioned.
Yes, you are a real spoofer/cheater.
I'm lvl 31 and live 2 miles from the nearest pokestop in a dead zone where nothing ever spawns (unless I use incense). I have to make a lot of trips to the nearest park with several stops (3 miles) and to the nearest city (25 miles) to find decent pokemon. But I have never been tempted to spoof.
You seem to live in a poke paradise and still choose to cheat. Where's the fun in that? The lvl you have reached you haven't earned.
Hey mate, interesting story but it´s a pity that you decided to join the dark side of the game. I would consider you very lucky with the area you live in. As a comparison, I only have 1 pokestop in my sightings when I open my PoGo app and 1 gym.
This doesn´t stop me to make the best out of the game. I know your pain with the lapras nerf way too good, I have walked about 400 km. I also freeze my fingers off just to catch that pokemon.
Could you explain me what the fun is for you now that you are not playing the game legit anymore? I never understood the fun of playing a game while cheating.
I don't find the joy of spoofing. I earned 34,5 lvls legit ways and did almost everything excluding traveling outside of my city. Freezing my fingers while building lvl 10 gym and watch it come down in a few days. Falling of my bike because of PoGo, catching 1700 pokemons during valentines day event (LEGAL ways), cycling 40km at summer in 1 day. Hatching 3x 100% iv pokemons etc etc. I even jumped out of my bed middle of the night and ran like maniac for wild chansey.
Even though I also believe you should be banned from the game, I find it very interesting to read a spoofer's confession for once. There is one thing I would really very much like to know, especially since you say you did not find joy in spoofing. What is the whole point doing it anyway?
As a game, Pogo quite obviously sucks. At least to me, the only thing that holds my interest is the "being there" part, and just like in real life, I feel it is above all the frustrations that teach, humble and enlighten us (like collecting and powering up an army of exeggutors just to get them all nerfed into oblivion, for example, or collecting loads of candy the hard way for a rare mon which then evolves with shitty moves ... twice (looking at you, machamp)) and, by contrast, enable us to savour our lucky breaks (e.g. db/dc dragonite on first try) even more.
As for gyms, at least to me holding them feels only good if I battled for my spot on location and put in a mon which I earned and fed legitimately. It may not be a 100iv fully maxed out dragonite out of an army of 20, but just one of my two 8x iv ones at around level 31 (of which the second got sw/hb), but hey, it took me six months of grinding to get them and I treasure them both for that precise reason. I would rather hold less gyms and be in a lower spot to boot than have 10+ gyms filled with perfect mons I did not earn. Not because I am holier than thou, but because I just know I would not feel any vibe otherwise. And if I didn't, why waste time with this app anyway?
To get back to the point: Could you please share what personal pleasure or satisfaction one can get out of spoofing? And since you went all the way to level 34 "the hard way" and must therefore know what I was talking about above: how can spoofing possibly feel better than the real thing with all its ups and downs? What is the satisfaction that non-spoofers will never feel?
Thanks in advance for sharing.
I powered up a 73% IV Lapras all the way to max, many of us have wasted tons of dust on things that get subsequently nerfed. We are all playing the same game and facing the same (or similar) challenges. Sounds like you are lucky enough, like myself, to live in a great area / biome for PoGo. Enjoy that.
I wrote I was tempted a few weeks ago... and yet resisted
My temptation was a spoofer that took down 10+ gyms down about a 5 mile loop and left level 8 pokemon from accounts like CrazyFastSpoofr and TanksforTheGym.
It sucked going back and rebuilding those gyms up.
Especially since the potion investment was very real time for me to gather, where for the Spoofer it wasn't.
Yah, it's cheating and a offense deserving to get banned. I do appreciate you sharing your story though, took some courage to do it especially in this board. I think you knew that you were going to get some flack / backlash with the post. At the end of the day, it's a game. Like all games out there, there will be cheaters. To each their own . It's really up to Niantic to stop it if they really wanted to. We, legit players, just have to live with it or join the darkside.
I know the burn of the Lapras Nerf, I walked for months (the most of any other buddy I had) to power up 2 Lapras to be stable gym defenders. Now they can't even be put in gyms in my area b/c of the low CP.
I was emotionally neutral with your post until I read "I take down gyms MOSTLY legit ways, but some nights I warp to get more gyms at the edge of the city."
It's like playing call of duty and having the ability to know where every player is at any given time. Or it's like playing soccer and getting to use your hands. Why should you have the priviledge of getting handicap support? It negatively impacts players of both your team and other teams when you knock gyms take/take up spots.
That's where I'm coming from. The video in the reply above mine does an excellent job conveying the message I am.
