Andrew Krug (Ingress, Niantic) talks bots, spoofing, portal submissions and Pokémon GO

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In a recent Weekly Ingress QA session, Andrew Krug (Global Community Manager at Niantic, Inc.) answered a number of questions that reference technology or issues in Pokémon GO directly. Among those were questions about spoofers, cheaters, portal abusement and using Ingress for getting benefits in Pokémon GO.

In total, Krug answered 89 questions in the session, you can read through all of them here.

Question #30 and #89: Portal submissions opening very soon – “imminent”

Q30: Justin Buettner – We need an actual timeframe of when portal submissions will be open, can you give us one?

A30: Need? I think you’ll be very happy soon.

Q89: nafah – Is the portal submission reopening still in “very soon” stage or are we getting already to “very very soon”? 🙂

A89: We are in the imminent stage.


Question #34: Ingress portal submission, Level 8 and Pokémon GO

Q34: Karlo Vranješ – +Andrew Krug hello from Croatia.Whats your opinion on PoGo players lvling up to portal submission (currently is 8) level in Ingress then quitting because they got what they wanted?

A34: I think if they are quitting then we as the community are failing to reach out to them and show them the awesomeness that is Ingress. I realize they may be leveling up just to be able to do certain things in Ingress that benefits them in Pokémon GO. I don’t fault them for using the system. Buying accounts is not acceptable. But is there more that we as the Ingress player community could be doing to retain some of these other players?


Question #40: Will every new portal in Ingress be something in Pokémon GO?

Q40: Stefan Emmerik – Will every new portal in Ingress be a Pokéstop/Gym in Pokémon Go?

A40: This is a very important question. The answer is – NO. There is not a 1:1 relationship.


Question #67: Why doesn’t Niantic ban all bots and spoofers?

Q67: Florin Bogdan – How come there are still bots in use? And of course fake gps. I’m thinking to quit the game since all my possible guardians are taken down in fake.

A67: The short answer is that it is a very complex problem without a simple single way to resolve it. We close loopholes and exploits all the time but we clearly don’t have all of them, and honestly, I’m not sure it will be possible to ever stop cheating 100%. This isn’t something unique to Ingress. A lot video games have some level of cheating that is possible. There have even been scandals in the competitive gaming circles with professional gamers being caught cheating. Don’t give up. We aren’t giving up on the fight. Maybe focus on something other than your guardian for a little while. Ingress has many ways that it can be played and enjoyed.

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Zeroghan
Zeroghanhttps://pokemongohub.net/
Zeroghan started the Hub in July 2016 and hasn't had much sleep since. A lover of all things Pokémon, web development, and writing.

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