A Pokémon Go player shared that they received a suspension from the Wayfarer program for “violating Player Guidelines for Routes” on Nov. 20… the same day the one they submitted was approved.
In a Reddit thread, the user shared screenshots showing a Route they submitted in August getting published on Nov. 20 and then removed shortly after—before getting suspended from using the Wayfarer program for having submitted it.
The Pokémon Go player’s game account wasn’t suspended, contrary to many others in the past months. They can’t submit Routes through the Wayfarer program anymore though.
The thread stirred a lot of reaction from the community, with users agreeing that punishments for submitting Routes that didn’t end up being approved were still too strict, despite Niantic softening them on Sept. 15.
“Just don’t create routes or stops. If Niantic is going to punish the behavior of helping them then don’t do it,” reads the top-voted comment. “Does Niantic really think that any player is trying to hurt other players by purposely putting in dangerous routes? Are they really this stupid? We just want routes,” read another comment.
The Wayfarer program allows Pokémon Go players to create Routes and PokéStops, to submit them for the staff’s approval. Routes need to be safe for users, as well as provide interesting itineraries to navigate. If players submit Routes that don’t meet those criteria, they can be considered abusive and the creator can be suspended. Before September, players were banned from both the Wayfarer program and the game when they submitted Routes that weren’t approved. Now, they are only forbidden from submitting them, but can still play Pokémon Go.
Players have been complaining about the approval process too though, as poor-quality Routes have been published over the last few months. Some of them were set on highways or solely consisted of going around circles. It looks like Routes are still targeted by several controversies, and it’s seemingly not slowing down.
Published: Nov 21, 2023 10:55 am