We’ve just come back from Tokyo and I know the Pokemon Go experience is going to be like nowhere else, but they are so much more lenient with the wayfarer placement. They had lots of stops placed in areas that just wouldn’t pass anywhere else like generic street furniture etc.
We came across a few stops like the one below, they may have been sponsored by the local area but it would be so helpful to people, particularity those living in areas with nothing eligible to nominate, to use a postcard image like this for an area that meets some of the criteria.
Here in the UK we have a lot of small green spaces owned and maintained by local government, they’re great for quick dog walks or meeting up with people, they’re usually on street corners but they’re virtually impossible to get through wayfarer voting and not always easy to photograph.
As long as it could be proven to be placed on a pedestrian safe site and have no obstruction issues etc. I know they’re rolling out stops that are placed on cross roads for areas that have nothing but it would also be nice if the community could contribute and nominate these spaces where we think they are needed. I’d much rather send postcards like this than yet another trail marker that’s in the middle of nowhere and I can only get to once a week.
There are a lot of eligible things in the UK that have not yet been submitted. One of the aspects of Pokemon GO that has translated to Wayfarer is to go out and explore.
The criteria don’t need to be relaxed. In some places, they might need to be applied better, but that’s largely down to the players, not to Niantic.
Proving something is safely accessible is necessary, but it doesn’t make something eligible. Most of these small open spaces are green deserts - mown grass (because otherwise locals would complain), maybe a tree, no plants except maybe in a dog’s-kidney-shaped bed. People meet as much there as they would on the pavement, maybe even less so.
But that’s my point, why can’t a small patch of grass and trees be eligible? You’re making a sweeping assumption about these sorts of sites that many voters take and it then means that in some residential areas we have no stops at all. I’d argue that these spaces have as much significance as signs or graffiti, possibly more so to the community.
I live in one of the poorest counties, we don’t have elaborate landscaping or even signage for a lot of our footpaths or historical sites. I’ve really struggled to get any of these accepted and it says a lot about the community’s prejudice that I was able to add a park entrance with a wooden gateway and nice landscaping in a posh part of town but struggled with another entrance that had an old metal gateway and industrial buildings in the background, every detail was the same apart from the photo. If they introduced generic pictures for areas without a distinctive/attractive object then it would go some way to limiting this disparity between rural and urban, poorer and richer.
Wayfarer expects us to explore but this is not equal amongst the community. They’ve clearly already seen they need to make a change by rolling out new stops for some rural areas but what I’m suggesting is that the community can have some involvement in that. The rules don’t necessarily need to be relaxed but they certainly need to be clarified and where a good case is put forward for safe spaces with limited options available there should be a process to consider these.
I live in the UK - please don’t make assumptions about what I know about these green spaces.
Most of these green spaces are there simply because the urban planning resulted in gaps between housing. Sometimes intentionally, sometimes because they didn’t have the imagination to do anything else. People like greenery, but most people don’t realise how much better the green spaces could be.
A small patch of grass and trees is often not eligible because it doesn’t meet criteria. That’s an overriding rule. Wayfarer isn’t about creating wayspots where people want them as much as creating wayspots for actual points of interest.
I suggested you were making assumptions because you described them as nothing more than barren pieces of land with grass on, that’s a generalisation that doesn’t apply to all and for some sites that is the only public space available that people do visit and explore because it’s all they have. The effort to make these spaces prettier and more acceptable to the Wayfarer community are limited by money and vandalism, not necessarily imagination.
Wayfarer surely wants people to play the game, therefore there has to be some consideration in the distribution of these sites and how it effects players. I doubt that their mission to get people exploring is more important than their need to earn money, especially as they allow multi national companies to sponsor their own wherever they want.
I found numerous sites like the postcard I originally posted, this was not a point of interest, this was pinned to a private residence where there are multiple other stops all within reach. It’s clearly within their capabilities to provide more stops, it’s just not equally implemented.
I said that “Most of these small open spaces are green deserts”. I could provide plenty of examples. I didn’t say this is true of all of them.
When a green space has an entrance, a bench, a seating area, a path, these are features that might make it somewhere people intentionally go to exercise or socialise.
When it doesn’t, when it’s something like the green space below, it doesn’t meet criteria.
Ok so this is going completely away from my original point. I’m aware of all the criteria for green spaces, I’m not suggesting that they currently pass the criteria, personally I think some of them should and I would not say that most are barren but that’s another point. I was only using them as an example of the sites Wayfarer could add as generic spots, they clearly had something going on in Tokyo where they placed stops anywhere there was a gap.
There is a real problem with many areas having nothing eligible to nominate. They currently recognise this and are adding new sites in the US where there are no points of interest nearby, they are not following their own criteria by adding these. It would be nice if the community could contribute and make sure they go where they are needed for gameplay, that’s the reason they exist after all. One way to contribute would be to identify those areas that have nothing and nominate any site that is pedestrian safe but otherwise outside the scope of the current criteria. Making generic spots also limits any inequality due to environmental or economic factors that don’t get considered in the current community process. Green spaces are a good candidate for this because they are permanent, public and safe. This doesn’t relax the rules overall, it’s just a way of saying we have no points of interest within this given area, the game is unplayable, we need a stop here and this is as good as we can do for now.
The insertion of wayspots into street corners in the USA was, based on the evidence I have seen, extremely badly implemented. They’ve dumped wayspots onto street corners where there is nothing except roadway and SFPRP, so every wayspot is on SFPRP to avoid being unsafe.
That is not a good example of anything.
I can’t comment on Japan and wouldn’t use that to show how the UK should look.
Fundamentally, Pokemon Go is about going out and exploring. If there isn’t a lot near you, go out and explore somewhere more interesting. If you post a location, there are people who will help look for things.
Hello @jeblee84
I don’t think it’s a good idea to compare Tokyo to other places.
The gameboard density there is particularly high due to Sponsored pokestops and gyms.
It is not unusual to find wayspots that should not have been approved.
As another U.K. wayfinder I have spent time going to areas I can see have a low number of wayspots. I’m not saying it’s easy but there are often things to be found, and a case to be made. We have a wonderful system of PROW and National Cycle Network routes. These can be a goldmine in rural locations or small town suburbs in the U.K.
Is there a particular area of the U.K. you would like to have help with?
In terms of playability that is very much up to the Pokémon Go game developers, not wayfarer.
