Yeah, I really feel that. I actually tried to become a Community Ambassador myself, and it was so hard to get people to come together consistently. I went all out — finding player names from gyms, sending Campfire invites, creating Facebook groups, planning events the second monthly content dropped… I put a ton of effort into trying to grow a local community.
Some folks showed interest, but a lot of players preferred to stay low-key. Even at in-person events, people would kind of hang back or stay quiet. A few times we knew other players were there, but no one really stepped forward to connect, and we never quite hit the 10-person mark needed for the program — at least not all at once for a photo. It definitely wasn’t for lack of trying.
So yeah, I completely understand what you’re saying — when the sense of local play fades, the whole experience shifts. And while this could probably be a whole thread on its own, I do think it ties into the broader topic. The feeling of rural or spread-out play isn’t just about location or density — it’s also about how hard it’s become to recreate that in-person community vibe that used to be such a big part of the game.
I hear you — I love digging into maps and doing the work too! I’ve had a lot of fun growing the areas within a 10–15 minute drive of me, and I totally get the satisfaction of finding those sweet spots. But yeah, when it comes to finding anything walkable from home — what I think of as your “base community” in a community-based game — it’s really tough. For me, it’s just houses and private property with nothing eligible right nearby.
You’re so sweet to offer to help look at maps — I genuinely love doing that kind of stuff too! I even chat with other groups that are more than an hour away in our Facebook community, and we swap tips, talk cells, strategize placements — all of it. It’s definitely one of those things that comes and goes depending on my mood, but when I’m into it, digging into all the mapping and planning is honestly a blast.
That’s why I just felt like there’s a need to maybe address that some of this could be worth revisiting. A lot of the stricter placement rules Niantic follows now came from a lawsuit back in 2016 — one involving a few wealthy property owners and gated communities in California — and as a result, they self-imposed limitations based on that settlement. It worked well for them in that it avoided future lawsuits, which is great, but nearly 9 years into the game, maybe it’s time to re-evaluate.
At this point, most players who are still active and involved in the game are well aware of the rules — we’re not out here trying to trespass or trampoline into someone’s yard. I totally get that it’s still a valid concern for Niantic, but these kinds of community discussions are happening more and more, and maybe that alone suggests it’s time to take another look. There could be more creative and inclusive ways to support gameplay for all types of communities — not just the densely packed ones.
I live in the UK and a place with multiple theatres and bowling alleys would never be rural, it would be a larger town or even a city! The edges of these would be suburbs.
In a rural part of the UK, you might have a village with a shop or 2, a post office, a bus stop and a church and pub in the middle. The post office may have closed years ago, and there is possibly a primary school but likely not a secondary school. A smaller village may have less than this, and a hamlet is just a handful of houses with no facilities.
These areas would be surrounded by farmland and woods with a network of pedestrian footpaths providing the only source of potential PoIs. All major leisure pursuits would require a journey into a town ie cinema, clothes shops, supermarkets, bars, gyms etc.
Your area sounds like a suburb. These are generally difficult places to play, especially when amenities aren’t mixed into the sea of houses. I live in a suburb too, but luckily Im a 15-30 minute walk from the village or town centre.
Ah, yeah — fair point, I think I just misspoke a bit. I’m definitely not in a suburb, though I get why it might’ve sounded that way. When I say “my area,” I mean more like my general region or town, not just my immediate neighborhood. But to clarify: I live on a road where about half of it (and many nearby roads) are still dirt. We’re on private wells and septic, no sidewalks, no hydrants, no transit, and certainly not a sea of houses. Honestly, I don’t think dirt roads are common in suburbs!
That said, I also relate to what you mentioned — I’m a good 10–15+ minute drive from things like a supermarket, theater, or any major facilities. And the way you described rural UK communities actually helped me realize how different the definitions can be depending on where you are. The U.S. has its own lens, and my state is so small that other Americans often forget it’s even a state. I’ve literally told people where I’m from and they respond with, “Oh, what state is that in?” and I’m like… that was the state.
Anyway, I appreciate the perspective. It’s always interesting seeing how place and access look through different cultural contexts. Thanks for the thoughtful reply — it gave me a chance to clarify and also smile a bit.
That is really interesting, so you’re a short drive from what sounds like a substantial town/city centre but have dirt roads and no mains water? That’s kind of crazy to me!! Shows how different our countries are!
The villages and rural communities I described from the UK would have tarmac roads and mains water. Some isolated rural properties may be without it - for example my aunt’s family have a farm in rural Wales without mains connections, but their driveway is a mile long up a mountain (it is tarmaced though!!), and they’re around a 45 minute drive to the nearest supermarket. Probably 10-15 mins away from the village which has a pub and not a lot else.
It’s really fascinating to learn about each other’s parts of the world! I even had to google what a “tarmac” road was — that just shows how much geography and language shape what we think of as normal.
Where I live, we have places officially called “towns” or “cities,” but honestly, some of them feel more like small towns or large villages, so I put “town” in quotes because it can get a bit confusing. I’m not claiming to be deeply rural, though many of our towns — especially in the mountains — are very much like what you described with your aunt’s place: long driveways, spotty cell service, and a solid 45-minute drive to a proper supermarket.
It’s the kind of place where one minute you’re “in town,” and the next all you see is farmland and wide open fields. Some towns even allow ATVs on the road — it’s definitely a unique and interesting dynamic! When I go camping in those areas, I don’t think there’s a single place to play Pokémon Go for miles — no stops, no gyms… but also no cell service, so it hardly matters. I’ve never even tried nominating anything out there.
Thanks
Would you call your neighborhood historic?
You seem to be someone who’d not hesitate to put some effort into a project.
While I’m a german, my infos are googled but I’ve found that there’s a process to establish trails in the USA.
If your area is more historic a “National Historic Trail” or if not a “National Recreation Trail” could be considered.
Maybe it is possible to help your area in more than a game specific way.
Aw, that’s really sweet of you—and honestly very helpful. I really appreciate that you took the time to Google all that. And yes, you’re right—I’m definitely not afraid to put in effort when it comes to a project.
There is a lot of historic stuff nearby, though my immediate area probably wouldn’t be considered historic by most—just by me! It used to be my late husband’s family farm, and I’ve watched it change over the years. What used to be a little dirt farm road has now at least become half-paved, and there are more houses around than there used to be. So while it’s not “officially” historic, there’s definitely a quiet kind of history here that means a lot to me personally. I really love the idea of helping the area in ways beyond just the game, so thank you again for sharing that—it really does mean a lot.
Oddly enough, I just saw a comment in another thread mentioning that Pokémon GO and Ingress are no longer tied together now that Scopely has taken over Pokémon GO. I did a little light digging and… it actually seems true? If so, that really changes things.
Ingress was the reason so many of the stricter “stand on top of the waypoint” placement requirements were so baked into the logic, but the remaining active games — Pokémon GO, Pikmin Bloom, and Monster Hunter Now — all function with interaction radiuses and don’t require you to be right on the Wayspot.
I used to be one who gave the example of actions you had to perform in Ingress to show why the pin had to be ON the Wayspot. Apparently that was a bad thing to do if it has led to the idea that “Ingress is gone, so change the pin rules” thinking. The pin needs to be ON the Wayspot. If it only needs to be “somewhere nearby” that leads to chaos. I think it is more interesting to be able to find the point of interest in the game I am playing.
While Ingress is no longer part of the set of games covered by Wayfarer, it does not change the fact that the wayspots we identify are currently used in multiple games and potentially new games in the future. The requirement to have a player interact directly with a wayspot (not just at a distance) makes sense to keep to support these games even if not always used.
Aside from giving the games more ways for the players to interact with the real life objects, it does mitigate the issues of trespassing.
Additionally the scans that are requested in Pokemon Go need to be done at the object.
Just to clarify, my post was more about how the interaction ranges in the remaining games could now shift how we interpret “accessibility.” The pin should absolutely still be on the actual Wayspot — no argument there — but what’s considered “accessible” feels different now than it did back when Ingress was the main frame of reference, with its strict stand-on-the-spot playstyle.
What all this discussion has me thinking — and I say this as someone who never really played Ingress but is learning more lately — is how wild it is that trespassing didn’t seem to be much of an issue back then. I’ve never heard of lawsuits around Ingress portals. But then Pokémon GO launches, reuses many of those same locations, and suddenly people are hopping fences and getting cease and desist letters. Maybe it’s because the game exploded in popularity? Or the audience skewed younger and didn’t yet understand the boundaries? Either way, I’d say most players today seem a lot more aware of what’s public vs. private than in those chaotic early days. Funny how much things shift over time.
Again, I never played Ingress myself, so I could absolutely be misinterpreting how it worked — or your comment. Just learning and thinking out loud!
Pokémon “power spots” can be seen as an example of an in-game location that can be interacted with from a distance and has relaxed criteria. It could be someone’s former home business, it doesn’t require public access, it may not be at the exact location, and it might not even exist. But it’s also not a Wayspot, so it doesn’t affect other games or future titles.
So if Pokémon is moving in that direction, there’s no need to relax Wayspot criteria — instead, Pokémon should add more power spot–like objects.
That’s a fair point — my thoughts are more along the lines that the wide interaction range in today’s games (like Pokémon GO’s 80m radius) already helps a lot with accessibility and avoiding trespassing. I don’t need to go anywhere near someone’s yard to spin a stop or catch a Pokémon — the design kind of naturally keeps things safe and simple. My neighbor’s yard often has Pokémon, and I’ve never had to jump the fence to catch any.
Players have probably gotten smarter too, but it seems like newer games are built with that in mind from the start. I’d imagine any future real-world games would follow the same approach — assuming they even last (RIP Harry Potter: Wizards Unite ).
Was it even the PokéStops that caused most of the issues? I always thought it was players trying to catch Pokémon that sparked the lawsuits. Things seemed to settle down after that, and there haven’t been many lawsuits since — maybe the game adjusted, or maybe players just got a little wiser from all the headlines. Niantic also made some policy changes around reporting and removing problematic locations, so it was probably a bit of everything. Hard to say what made the bigger difference, but either way, it feels like the whole scene has mellowed out over time.
Not every Wayspot is somewhere I’d want to linger either. Like that historical marker in the middle of a busy roundabout — or the mural painted right outside a public restroom I walked past recently. In both cases, I’ll just wave from the sidewalk, spin the stop, and definitely skip trying to scan anything with traffic flying by or… other activity going on nearby.
Yes! I totally forgot about Power Spots — great point. I remember hearing some were right on former home businesses or just kind of in the general area of something that used to be there. And yet, no one seemed to get upset or start complaining all over again. Probably because we as players are just smarter now about how we play. No one went trampling through someone’s flower bed to battle a Gmax Gengar.
It’s kind of cool how they add more ways to interact with the world without relying on the same strict criteria. If more features like that keep getting added, it might be another way to bring meaningful change to the gameplay experience — especially in areas where traditional Wayspot submissions can be tough. Now if only we could submit Power Spots ourselves…
I dont get how this conversation has gone for so long when every response is an AI response with a whole lot of fluff (holy walls of text batman) and not genuine heartfelt responses.
That’s not true, and honestly, it’s not a helpful comment. I use tools to help me write more clearly and concisely, but everything I share is genuinely from me—and heartfelt. In fact, your comment kind of proves it, because I’m naturally long-winded! I’m constantly pushing back when writing tools try to shorten things too much, because I want to include all the thoughts that matter to me—X, Y, and Z included. I’ve even shared personal parts of my life, like my late husband’s family farm, because this matters to me deeply.
Well im sorry, but its just so difficult for me to read and follow along and i dont know how other people are doing it. It does not read natural at all with all the fluff that AI adds. And im sure AI is making a lot of assumptions for your arguments that didn’t come from you, like spme contradicting things that have come up.
If you think that’s hard to follow then here is me free writing. (Good luck. I won’t be offended if you now have to put into AI yourself to interpret) if I contradicted myself it’s probably valid. I do go back and forth to be sure the words and thoughts being put in are my own before landing on my decided post. But I’m as terrible and editor as I am an writer. I speed read and skip things that may be the fluff you’re seeing. But also up to this point I was having lovely conversations with all those responding bringing up things I hadn’t thought through or thought about. So they have been making me waver back and forth in my thoughts and stance….so contradictions could have come up due to that as well. I genuinely appreciate you all that have been posting though! I’ve learned a lot! When I write it’s long winded and tends to go round and round with my thoughts instead of in clear concise order so yeah I used tools for the assist. Plus we all know writing versus speaking leaves a lot open to interpretation and gets misread. So I like the helping hand. I do agree this forum especially on mobile is hard to follow especially given the long thread happening here. Never posted here before. Had been thinking I found a thread lacking the usual negativity I find on FB, Reddit etc. I never post there just lurk. I’m not interested in the snarky rude commentary that tends to happen there. I’m too soft hearted for that I also usually ask AI if I’ve been rude cause yeah I sometimes start venting and it settles me down to convey my message in a clear and respectful way. So I’ll apologize ahead of time for being again long winded and entirely possibly accidentally rude.
I must admit that at times I did wonder whether I was conversing with a bot with areas having a bit too much “fluff”.
Would much prefer to read the “long winded” but natural messages.
I have enjoyed the conversation which is why I have been returning and continuing the chat. Things have come up which even though I don’t think Niantic will or should change I can see why it could help some people. Neither would it bother me if changes where made.
So I return as I have enjoyed the conversation even if at times it didn’t seem natural.
It used to be my late husband’s family farm, and I’ve watched it change over the years. What used to be a little dirt farm road has now at least become half-paved, and there are more houses around than there used to be. So while it’s not “officially” historic, there’s definitely a quiet kind of history here that means a lot to me personally. I really love the idea of helping the area in ways beyond just the game, so thank you again for sharing that—it really does mean a lot.
).
I also usually ask AI if I’ve been rude cause yeah I sometimes start venting and it settles me down to convey my message in a clear and respectful way. So I’ll apologize ahead of time for being again long winded and entirely possibly accidentally rude.