Lots of ground to cover on this one…
The first thing that comes to mind is that there have been (and will be at the time of publishing) some game events that have been very poorly timed. The managers of Pokemon Go must look at the calendar a little closer when they schedule events.
In recent memory was the Lunar New Year event which was on during Super Bowl Sunday. Some people who do not understand were saying this is an American only problem and were dismissive. Those people are not correct. The Super Bowl is a major social event for many in North America. There are many other American style football leagues and fans who don’t live in the US who watch and enjoy the game. Many people have Super Bowl parties that last all day with family and friends. There are plenty of people who are not fans of football, but enjoy the winter party and time together. Many watch for the commercials and pay attention to them and not the game action. The timing of the event would have forced those in the western half of the country to choose between the Super Bowl and the Lunar New Year event. Even those of us in the east could have choices between the parties and being with friends and the game possibly. Add on that the US and Canada market is one of the largest markets for Lunar New Year activities outside of Asia, this was poorly timed. There is, however much worse.
Philadelphia’s Pokemon Go Safari Zone is Mother’s Day Weekend (May 8-10). Yes, the first Safari Zone in the Northeast USA is on a weekend where most of us have some kind of family obligation that Sunday and would preclude us from going to a major Pokemon event. I was considering driving down and spending at least one or two days of the weekend there. I figured this would be a nice mini-vacation away and even if I took Monday off from work, it would be a nice time to do something different, Pokemon related, and meet fellow Pokemon Go enthusiasts. That’s not happening. I cannot believe that the managers of Pokemon Go were not aware that they were putting this Safari Zone on Mother’s Day Weekend. Yes, there are Moms who play and would enjoy this and bring their family to this event. Mine understands that I play, but would be very disappointed if I did not show up to the family event. This is a major timing error that is easily avoidable by looking at a holiday calendar.
Another timing issue is the issue of the Ex-Raids. Why have these rewards on weekdays when people should be at work or at school? The current Ex-Raid pass I have is on a Monday at 1:30PM. This is a working hour for 9-5 people (which is the majority working hour) and is during school hours for children. The Ex-Raid I am invited to is also nowhere near me, so it’s not even a lunch time event. I remember when Ex-Raids were on weekends and that worked for many of us. I can understand if there is a rotation so that people who work weekends have a chance at the Ex-Raids too. If theses are rewards, let’s allow people who earn them to have half a chance to participate.
There are other timing issues, but I have separated them into another post.
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