Breaking down the "life isn't fair" argument as it applies to Pokemon Go

The “fairness” debate has been brewing since Pokemon Go’s inception.

 

And it can be unpacked as follows: Is the game unfair; can it be fair; should it be fair?

 

#Is the game unfair?

In-game assets most densely populate urban areas. Due to the spawning algorithm that takes cellular data activity into account, so too do spawns. The in-game tracker was developed for use in areas populated by stops, and therefore developed in a way that favors urban gameplay. Part of Niantic’s revenue model is comprised of sponsored in-game assets, which are essentially advertisements. Advertisements are best displayed in areas that have a large audience, which again is going to favor cities.

 

Now to be honest, this section of the breakdown is just a formality. We all know that the game is vastly different outside cities. Suburban areas, though not quite on the level of major cities, do offer adequate gameplay. It really isn’t debatable that the game is quite barren in rural areas.

 

So undoubtedly, there is in-game inequality. But I want to revisit this question later, within the context of the subsequent questions. Because raids are the hot topic right now.

 

#Can it be fair? This is a more interesting question. Is it possible for Niantic to add more in-game assets to less populated regions, and increase spawn activity? Which is to say, is it within Niantic’s power to make the game better for rural areas? It is a digital game within their control, so the answer is obviously yes. They could accept submissions for gyms/stops with the intent to add in-game assets to rural areas only. If their spawning algorithm is based on cellular data usage, it means that they also have the capability to identify areas where data usage is lower – and can add more spawns to those areas if they choose. It’s a digital game, physical barriers to playing are artificial, and 100% within Niantic’s power to erase if they wish it.

 

This is also a softball question. Obviously, there are things they can do to balance to the game, it is, after all, their game. So, that leaves me with the final consideration, and the more controversial aspect of this debate:

 

#Should it be fair?

Let’s look at the prevailing argument that justifies the game’s current unfairness – “life is unfair.”

 

The “life is unfair” argument is a very easy analogy to reach for. Pokemon Go is purportedly a Pokemon game set in the “real world,” and the “real world” isn’t fair. Thus, it is to be expected that “Pokemon Go” isn’t fair. In real life, everything has trade-offs and opportunity costs. You cannot always get everything you want, and for some, they cannot even get anything they want.

 

I can see how people would be tempted to make this leap. Indeed, the game does require you to go to certain places, beyond the comfort of your home. This makes it somewhat unlike traditional video games. But I want all of you to take a step back from this conclusion, and really look at Pokemon Go. And I say this literally. Look at your phone screen. Look at those flat, bland textures. Now look around you at the real world. When you go to real world locations, what do you do? You play paper toss to catch Pokemon, swipe on the screen to spin stops, and tap on the screen to battle. It doesn’t matter whether you have to move around to play it or not. Because you are still playing - your experience is entirely connected to an overlay of Google Maps displayed on your phone.

 

The fact that you move around doesn’t stop Pokemon Go from being a game. If you play sports outside, you physically move yourself around the field, and guess what, it is still a game with rules. The fact that you are required to walk around, go to places, does not make the game real life - so stop comparing it to real life. The game isn’t, nor should it aspire to be, real. Because as some of the community has correctly identified, real life isn’t fair. We play games to seek entertainment that allows us to escape from this reality – we don’t want to experience real world inequality in our games.

 

At its core, the fundamental argument that many people in the community, particularly YouTubers, make is premised on the nonsensical comparison of real life to gaming. This way of thinking likely stems from conflating their struggle to make Pokemon Go content with the game itself.

 

Now while we may very well acknowledge that life is unfair, and the game is unfair, we cannot equate what is with what should be. Just because things are unfair, does not mean we should just accept the status quo and deal with it.

 

It is interesting to me that many YouTubers will say ‘well life is unfair, why should the game be any different, you just have to accept that things won’t always go your way.’ To me, this sentiment espouses complacency. This is how things are, and you just have to accept that. Since they like to compare a mobile game to real life so much, would they tell someone that they must accept their real-world plight and not try to change it. Many will say don’t complain, but voicing an opinion is fundamental to bringing about change – both in actual and virtual reality.

 

#Are events, raids, and exclusive raids unfair?

Time to revisit the first question, but as applied to the new game mechanics.

 

Exclusive events require you to travel to certain areas to play the game. If you cannot afford/do not have the time to go, you will be unable to enjoy that exclusive experience. Now is this unfair? When Articuno and Lugia raids were released in Chicago, attendees of Go Fest/Chicago in general got them first (also spoofers). Very soon thereafter, people around the world could battle them in raids and catch them. I didn’t pay to go to Chicago. I did not buy a ticket that would admit me into Go Fest, book a flight, or get a Hotel. I didn’t have a 100% catchrate, but the coins I dropped to get more passes to retry raids pales in comparison to the overhead cost to go to Chicago. And in the end, I essentially got the same things that they did, for a fraction of the cost. If anything, all that time and effort to acquire things I got for far less trouble was unfair to Go Fest attendees.

 

The same will be true for Yokohama. They got Mewtwo first. And eventually the rest of the world will be able to as well – the main difference being the overhead in acquiring Mewtwo will have been far less for those who didn’t travel to Japan. Our cost of acquisition is lower, in exchange for a longer wait. So I don’t think it would be accurate to suggest that exclusive events are inherently unfair, at least not entirely. Local players do receive a windfall, but where everyone is special, no one is. Ironically, the exclusivity of the event somewhat reduced the uniqueness of having a Mewtwo for people that live in Yokohama. But even so, we – the rest of the world, do not have to wait that long to get ours. Are we really so disadvantaged having to wait a little bit longer?

 

Now what if you live in an area where you cannot raid due to low player count? I live in a small town. I gradually built a raiding group by going to as many raids as I could in as many towns as I could – which is to say, I didn’t participate in every raid around me. I even went to raids I had no intention of spending a pass at, simply to check out various raids to see if I could find other players to exchange contact information with, and eventually I was invited to a group large enough that would allow me to do any raid I wanted. If your area doesn’t have many players, you don’t need to go to your nearest city. Pull players from neighboring towns to create a raid group so that you can do raids in your collective area. Now obviously, this is a lot more work than rolling up to a city and jumping in with large amounts of raiders. But it is doable, and most of the player base is able to play the game by doing this.

 

One other thing YouTubers argue is that it isn’t Niantic’s fault that you live in a rural area with a lack of players. And it is true in a way, Niantic isn’t responsible for your general local population density. But is that a symptom of real life, or is it that people in your area lost interest in playing because of how lackluster rural gameplay is? If there were a decent amount of spawns/stops/gyms, would there be more people playing in your area? To the extent to which that is true, then yes, we can say that the game is unfair – the game design may have contributed to your inability to complete raids in your area. So, while there is some unfairness, I do think that the game in general isn’t quite as inhospitable as some claim. I myself have managed to catch 54 raid-Tyranitar (out of 60 attempts, excellent throws on fleek) thus far, and my town has almost as many acres designated for farmland preservation as people (3,227 people vs. 2637 acres).

 

#Closing thoughts I would say that the raid system, all-in-all, is reasonably fair. Though this is not to say there aren’t other aspects of the game that are, and do not have to be, unfair. We will have to see how Exclusive Raids play out. I do believe that eventually everyone will get their chance; you don’t need to burn yourself out raiding to get a Mewtwo. And I say this as someone who is moving soon, and all of the raids I have completed up till this point will not help me get an Exclusive Raid pass where I will be living.

 

I think the fundamental problem with the game is unfair, and that’s okay mentality is that it focuses too much on parallels to real life. When we are in fact talking about a casual mobile game. Justifying unbalanced gameplay using real world inequality is an incredibly shallow argument; people that use this type of logic are walking straight into the Is–ought problem. Just because life isn’t fair doesn’t mean our games should be unfair – because in case anyone has forgotten, they’re just games – entertainment meant to give us an escape from the woes of reality. We don’t need our games to impose even more grief upon us.

 

So ultimately, the division in this community is being exacerbated by nonsensical “appeal to nature” fallacies. Things are not as bad as they seem. Indeed, there are parts of the game that are not fair. No, they should not be that way. But yes, raids have been implemented reasonably to give the majority of the player base a fair chance at getting rare Pokemon. Exclusive events are not really that unfair, because the rest of us are going to get whatever the chosen few got anyway, and likely with much less time/money invested.