"Pokemon Go," Niantic's freemium mobile game based on worldwide hit franchise "Pokemon," has soared to unprecedented heights a mere few weeks into its release. As players of all ages continue to jump into the seemingly unstoppable "Pokemon Go" bandwagon, a few resourceful programmers have figured out ways to automate their progress - much to the chagrin of Niantic and cheated players all over the world.
As discussed in detail by Ars Technica, these automated programs send simulated data to "Pokemon Go" servers, thereby allowing players to catch Pokemon, collect items and reach the level cap at impossible rates, without having to invest much effort and time into the game. Obviously, honest players limited by time and physical constraints - the game requires extensive walking and travelling, after all - would be at a disadvantage.
In response to widespread cheating allegations from the online "Pokemon Go" community, Niantic has finally decided to penalize players who use bot programs or GPS location spoofs to unfairly advance their levels. Several players are now in danger of getting kicked out of the "Pokemon Go" world, following Niantic's crackdown on those who violate the game's terms and conditions. In light of this, "Pokemon Go" bot developers have also decided to halt operations before further legal action could be taken against them.
Necronomicon, the developer behind location spoofing bot NecroBot, has already taken out the bot's download files as a result of Niantic's hardball stance against in-game cheating, according to Polygon. Other bot programs, such as Haxtonbot, PokeBuddy, MyGoBot and PokeMobBot, have already followed suit. Some of these bots have previously charged clients as much as $5 for using their programs.
Honest players could now rest easy knowing that illegal, previously unmonitored "Pokemon" game hacks will soon be out of the picture. As of this writing, most of those who have downloaded and used bots and other unauthorized "Pokemon Go" software may have already received ban notices from Niantic. Those worried about being mistakenly banned from the game need not fret however, as Niantic has given players the chance to appeal their ban, in case a termination has been made incorrectly.
