5 Thoughts on Pokemon Go, November 2017

1. One-Year Anniversary: Exactly one year ago yesterday, I began my Pokemon Go journey. I started months after the game was released so I missed out on several mons that were apparently more common in the beginning than they are now. Nonetheless, with my weirdly neurotic persistence, I've managed to climb to level 36 in that period. I've gained 7,733,316 XP during that time, which is equal to 21,187 XP a day, every day. In the beginning, I started out averaging roughly 8,000 XP a day, so obviously I've ramped up significantly since then.
2. Golden Razz Berries: They don't make sense. With other berries, feeding your mon in a gym when you're at the gym is more effective than when you're accessing it from afar. Golden Razz Berries, however, can be used to fully replenish a mon in a gym if you're halfway around the world. In turn, people have been using them to hold onto gyms for a very long time even when they're nowhere near the gym. That's antithetical to how the other berries work and the intentions of the game to get people out and about, socializing. If you're not physically at a gym, you shouldn't be able to fully replenish a mon; you should only be able to replenish it by 1/3rd. You know that Niantic realized this was becoming a problem because they suddenly changed the gym raid rewards to cut back on Golden Razz Berries.
3. Passive-Aggressive, Antisocial Game: While Niantic designed the game to boost social interaction, the weird thing is, my experience so far has been mostly the opposite. I've deliberately taken photos of people who have stopped in front of me at multiple gyms to prevent me from taking down a gym or to take down my mon in a gym, but fail to acknowledge my presence in the middle of the sidewalk. It's always the case that I'm the one initiating contact. Even raids are weird. Mostly strangers gather at spots, barely speak to each other, and once the raid is done, scatter to the winds. I don't know a single person's real name, just their face and their ID. Weird.
4. How to Get Ahead Without Really Trying: So you want to get ahead without really trying? Spend lots of money in the game and buy a PokemonGo Plus device. With the Plus wearable, it'll automatically spin Pokestops and catch mons. Again, see above, passive-aggressive, antisocial people. If you want to catch the rare mons, use a tracker to find them. If you want to collect tons of XP, use a GPS spoofer to play in thousands of gyms around the world. That's not me, however. I enjoy the struggle, the work, the effort, the process of getting to the top. All the fun of the game is removed if everything passively happens while you're not paying attention.
5. Three Rules: I have three rules, in general, but specifically for this game.
1. No cheating. I will not utilize rare mon trackers or GPS spoofing.
2. No money. I will absolutely not spend a dime in a game, no matter what. Most games have a half-life of a few months; better games have a half-life of a year or maybe more. I'm not that kind of consumer, though.
3. Exploit efficiencies. Other than FPS games, you mostly are battling to find the efficiencies of a game that enable you to maximize your potential. For instance, everyone who has played Pac Man knew about the specific patterns you'd use to navigate at each level. This is how you become an expert in video games. As a general rule, I'm always searching for those exploitable efficiencies so I'm always examining how I execute my strategy and specific tactics.