As a virtual reality game mapped onto the real world, Pokemon Go entices players to get outside and move. That’s one of the joys of the game for many. But, it’s also one of the game’s biggest sources of contention. Whether you’re in a rural area of the depths of winter, sometimes, a long PokeWalk just isn’t an option. Over the years, players have found many workarounds to get the Pokemon and items they want without putting in the miles. Many of these tricks violate Niantic’s Terms of Service, and now, the developer plans to crack down on another popular Pokemon Go trick.
Knowing whether your activity in Pokemon Go could get you flagged for violating the Terms of Service (TOS) is pretty important. Accounts that run afoul of the rules risk getting banned from the game, temporarily or for good. Most players know the risks of spoofing and similar activities. However, a common player dubbed “Micro GPS Drift” has always been a bit of a gray area. Now, Niantic is making it clear the developer plans to crack down on this player behavior, which means it could get you banned from Pokemon Go.
If your avatar gets as location-confused as mine does every time you open Pokemon Go, this could sound pretty scary. Natural GPS drifting is pretty common in Pokemon Go, as the GPS can struggle to pinpoint your location due to many factors, including tall buildings, weather, and network issues. However, GPS drift is a separate, intentional activity that players have been using to make some things easier in-game.
What is GPS Micro Drift?
Many gamers know that the GPS in Pokemon Go isn’t always precise. Periodically, new updates make it so that GPS drift gets more significant. That looks to be the case with the recent Pokemon Go update. The increased instances of natural GPS drift have led to more players honing in on a way to use this to their advantage.
The main reason people lean into the Micro GPS Drift exploit relates to the difference between Remote Raid Passes and Daily/Premium Raid Passes. Remote Raid Passes are pretty hard to come by unless you pay for them in PokeCoins, whereas you get one Raid Pass for free every day. So, participating in Raids in person is obviously the better deal. And this tempts players into intentionally causing GPS drift to make their avatar read as closer to a gym than it actually is. This can let you use a standard Raid Pass, rather than a Remote Raid Pass, to join.
Gamers use a few methods to cause the GPS to drift on purpose. This includes toggling GPS on and off quickly or switching in and out of the game to throw off the system. However, Niantic is warning players not to try this hack for getting closer to gyms.
A recent Discord message from a Niantic Community Manager confirms that Micro GPS Drift is a violation of Pokemon Go TOS. More to the point, Niantic’s anti-cheat teams are able to tell when a player is engaging in this behavior, which means you can get caught and banned from Pokemon Go for forcing your avatar to drift closer to a Raid.
This bug has sporadically plagued the game, but the recent update much it much easier to “fly” to gyms from further away. Naturally, that means more players have been using the exploit, which may be what drew the developer’s attention to it. Given that paid Remote Raid Passes are a source of income for Pokemon Go, it makes sense they’d want to crack down.
Can Non-Intentional GPS Drift Get You Banned from Pokemon Go?
That said, many gamers are concerned this attention to Micro GPS Drift could lead to false bans. Who among us hasn’t had our avatar go flying of their own accord? Fans fear that Niantic’s anti-cheat team could start flagging accounts for issues that aren’t any fault of their own, simply caused by poor GPS signal or switching out of the app to do something like check a text or start the next episode of your podcast.
In theory, the team should be able to tell the difference based on whether the “flying” was immediately followed by using a Raid Pass where a player shouldn’t have been able to. Hopefully, that means you won’t be at risk of getting banned for normal gaming behavior, but we’ll have to wait and see what happens following this latest warning from Niantic.
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