New Pokemon GO Change Could Get Players Banned for Playing Too Much

Highlights

A new change in Pokemon GO bans players for interacting with over 160 Team GO Rocket Grunts.
Some fans are unhappy with the potential impact on the upcoming Pokemon GO Adventure event, where players may easily hit the limit.
The ban doesn’t terminate the account but renders the game unplayable for a period, affecting Pokemon spawns and map visibility.

Pokemon GO fans could be in trouble for playing too much as a new change is reportedly banning players from interacting with over 160 Team GO Rocket Grunts. This change was rolled out recently and fans weren’t aware of what the threshold was, but an experiment from an avid Pokemon GO player gives players the exact number of Team GO Rocket Grunts they should be careful of interacting with.

The past few weeks have been quite bittersweet for Pokemon GO fans. While the community was excited to get the rerun of the Mega Rayquaza raid in Pokemon GO, the event turned out to be a subpar experience for many players due to various issues. Amid that, it seems like users aren’t happy about yet another change that will affect a highly anticipated event.

Pokemon GO Update Teases Upcoming Feature

A recent Pokemon GO update seemingly reveals an upcoming feature to the game, though it’s not clear if it was an intentional sneak peek.

In a new post on The Silph Road subreddit, user Faladyne reveals an interesting experiment they made for the upcoming Pokemon GO Adventure Week: Taken Over event. Niantic had recently rolled out a change recently that banned users for interacting too much with the Team GO Rocket Grunts, to ensure that players don’t use illegitimate ways to farm Stardust in Pokemon GO. While players were unaware of what that number was, Redditor Faladyne used a new Pokemon GO account to deliberately hit the limits. They found out that it takes 160 interactions with a Team GO Rocket Grunt member for someone to get banned. It is crucial to note that it is not necessary to battle them, and simply talking with them is enough to trigger the ban.

Pokemon GO Ban Triggered By Team GO Rocket Grunts Might Be Temporary

As far as the ban itself is concerned, it is not a permanent ban that gets the account terminated but likely seems to be a temporary cooldown for players. During this period, Pokemon will not spawn in the vicinity and players will get a blank map, rendering the game pretty much unplayable. It is not known yet how long this ban will last. Additionally, it is crucial to note that Rocket Balloons in Pokemon GO do not seem to count for this limit, so players are free to interact with them.

While a player might not hit those limits on a regular day, this discovery is of particular essence due to the upcoming Pokemon GO Adventure Week: Taken Over event. With the increased spawn rate of Team GO Rocket Grunts in the event and players hunting down specific Grunts and Pokemon, it is not quite far-fetched to hit the 160 mark. In fact, some fans noted on the post that they have managed to go way beyond the number in the past and called this change ridiculous as it is essentially banning users for playing Pokemon GO too much.

Pokémon GO

After a test run via an April Fools’ joke on Google Maps, Pokemon GO was released to the public in the summer of 2016. The AR mobile app saw unparalleled success and continues to be one of the largest mobile games in the world, pulling in billions for developer Niantic.

Systems