Cheating and Pokémon Go
All video games have ways of cheating, and for many players these make the games not only more fun, but actually make it possible to complete things that would otherwise be too difficult – hence the popularity of cheat sites like iwantcheats.net. However, because of the nature of Pokémon Go, the advantages players can get from some types of cheating unbalance the game and make it less fun for the majority, so it is understandable that Niantic want people to stop. However, rather than taking measures like issuing bans to discourage people, they may create a less bad feeling by removing the reasons people cheat at the game.
Location Based Unfairness
Niantic don't want people to cheat because they want the game to be fair, however one of the primary causes of cheating is that people feel the game is inherently unfair based on where you live. One of the main reasons people use things like GPS spoofing or sharing accounts with friends in other locations, is that there is an unfairness in the way Pokémon spawn. People who live in rural areas or small towns do not have the same opportunity to catch diverse Pokémon as people in cities, and people in cities don't have the same opportunities as people in major world cities like New York and London.
Some people will always have slight location based advantages like having a pokestop accessible from their home, but the huge difference in what can be caught between a less populated area and a major city leads players to feel discriminated against, and spoof themselves to Central Park. Niantic need to balance this better if they want people to stop finding ways to get Pokémon in places they can't physically go to.
No Built In Tracking in Most Locations
While a built in tracking feature has been implemented in some parts of America, most of the world doesn't have it and is reliant on the 'sightings' tab, which doesn't help you work out where the Pokémon actually are. Because most people don't want to wander what could be a 3 square kilometre area looking for something that appears on this tab (and considering that Pokémon don't stay spawned long enough to even do this if you wanted to), the map apps and services like Pokevision made the game more fun – you actually stood a chance of finding things. Niantic may not want third parties profiting from their product or touching on their servers, but if they want people to stop searching for new map applications they really need to create an in game equivalent.
The best way to stop cheating is always to make the game better so people don't feel the need to do it to stop the experience being boring or unfair. Hopefully Niantic are aware of this and will address these issues soon.
