Most are well aware of the major and obvious advantages it can provide: tandem gym attacking, staggering gym attacks, berry flooding, trading pidgey for ralts, friend attack bonus, extra raid balls, shiny chance is doubled, almost double the exclusive CD move opportunity, etc to name several but not nearly all.
Smaller advantages would be to
1. battle a very boring gym with one hand and catch everything around the gym with the other hand. Pre-fight animation is so long that with the other you can catch and check appraisal on what is around.
2. The extra one can spin a pokestop and check the field task and you can decide whether to proceed with the other’s current tasks or switch.
Any other less thought about advantages? I would hope/anticipate 90% of extras would be totally free playing, but might Niantic get a payment for every Starbucks or Sprint postcard/gift sent?
Well-reported in December they were getting quite a big chunk of change for every sponsored pokestop spin. I imagine this gifting is a more tangible promotional commodity, even if the same person gives and receives that gift.
Then maybe with the chain raiding of Articuno and Zapdos people are actually roped into buying passes for both phones looking for the limited time shiny offer.
Also from what I’ve heard Sprint/Boost/T-Mobile whomever sponsor can wring out real money for some phone plans to have tethering access, that could be a monetary influence
Any other suggestions why a ghost/free account actually could be worth sponsors/Niantic purposely/blindly allowing?
I made level 40 quite a while ago. I know a handful of people who show up at raids with their two phones. None of that interests me. It looks like a hassle. At least more of a hassle than running my one phone.
There are benefits to two phones, but for me personally (and most of the people I play with) they just aren't good enough to warrant it.
it is what it is, but some people can't, don't, or won't speed walk and quick catch to maximize spawn interactions, even on a meta community day. So what looks hectic can actually be more of a lazy virtual snail walk.
Noone has considered the mechanics of curveball catching particularly tough for a long while, whether right or left handed...they generally make CD catching easier, too.
Anyway, some guarantee a desired outcome through relentless hustling, others have a backup plan involving little to no sweat/in-game coins
The best advantage is being about to take down tier 4 raids by yourself. I know a lot of players that take down Ttars and absols when they don’t have time to meet for a tier 5. And you get about the same benefits. And now you get a bette Pokemon in Ttar versus Regice. That in itself is worth it to some players.
I don’t think they should use multiple accounts to battle/berry gyms. That is a little on the unfair side. I think if someone is going to use more than one account, there should be some morals. Help with raids, but don’t go around taking down gyms and using 20+ golden razz to hold a gym.
The only reason I can see why having two accounts would be to the benefit of Niantic is that it would encourage players to buy extra raid passes.
To me, that's the only really legitimate reason to have two accounts. My wife and I created an account for my daughter to play, and we keep at it daily so that her account is at a level that can actually play with us, but most of the time now that means I'm out there using it as a partial-second account. (She's below 13, and we made that clear on the PTC, so gifts and trading isn't allowed with her account) The only time I use the account simultaneously with my own is when I'm using them both for a raid - and given the atrocious raid bosses lately AND the loss of the Raid Maps, getting enough people out to do a Raid is tough, so having 2 accounts can literally mean the difference between doing a raid and not doing a raid. So I regularly spend her Pokecoins on Raid Passes.
That's where I see an advantage for Niantic. Other than that, I don't see any advantage for Niantic in allowing multiple accounts.
(As for Niantic getting a payment every time a Sponsors location Gift was sent... that might be an absolutely terrible idea as it essentially doubles (or more) the already-tenuous problem with the whole concept of Niantic being paid for people using Sponsored Pokestops - they're being paid because they're supposed to be bringing people into Starbucks. Right now, you have 1 customer coming in, getting 1 coffee, sitting down to drink that coffee, then leaving. For ease of math, we'll say this takes an hour, so approximately 10 times the stop is spun. (not spinning the second the stop is ready, having a bit of time between a few of them to pay for the coffee, to put stuff into it (NTTAWWT, but...) finding a seat, etc., taking up enough time to make it 10 spins instead of 12) That's not 10 people coming into the story, that's 1 person spinning 10 times. Add to that now getting 1 gift per spin (yes, it's high, but theoretically possible) and sending out all 10 of those gifts, you've got 20 "interactions" for 1 person instead of 20 unique interactions. Anyway, aside over)
I'm well aware Starbucks somewhat recently started charging me 2.87 (sales tax included) for a venti dark w/ room. Previously it was 2.65 (tax included). I don't sit there and spin, but when I wake up at 445am and go flip gyms, spin, catch, research I stop at Starbucks coming home.
When I return at 635am with a cup of coffee (for me, wife doesn't drink it) and maybe some dog food or kid's juice, she doesn't automatically assume I was mainly playing.
People that get into habits (playing a game and/or drinking coffee) are swayed by constant interactions, they often don't need to be unique. Loads of caffeine and feeling special bc you caught a 100% level 15 Mankey can be similar experiences.
THIS^
Create a second account on a second device and catch every crappy pokemon on it. But never catch the "good ones" (whatever your criteria).
Now your second device is a better tracker for "good" pokemon because Niantic prioritizes the shadowed pokemon on the nearby (anything not in your pokedex). So the second account/device shows you where the good pokemon are that you can catch with your main account.
