'Pokémon Go' Counter-Cheating Measure Rolled Out, Will Cause Creatures to 'Not Behave As Expected'

'Pokémon Go' players still wondering what the new anti-cheating measure does

By John Paul Sunico, Christian Post Contributor Thursday, June 22, 2017

"Pokémon Go's" developers have tried out numerous things to try and discourage cheating inside the game. And now, they are rolling out a new measure that will directly affect creatures that were improperly caught.

Over on Reddit, "NianticGeorge" announced the new anti-cheating measure that will once again attempt to finally rid the game of these individuals trying to gain an unfair advantage.

According to the Niantic employee, "Starting today, Pokémon caught using third-party services that circumvent normal gameplay will appear marked with a slash in the inventory and may not behave as expected."

There is a lot to unpack there, but the one most players are wondering about is related to how exactly Pokémon "may not behave as expected."

The announcement did not provide any further details regarding this matter, and so players threw out their own ideas for what this could mean.

Redditor "DrQuint" speculated that perhaps Pokémon caught under suspicious circumstances may misbehave by refusing to be used as defenders and being essentially useless in battle.

Another Redditor, "TheBlackTalon," put forth a different idea and suggested that perhaps developers can make spoofed Pokémon less valuable inside "Pokémon Go" by messing around with their stats and movesets. Specifically, the Redditor suggested that the stats and movesets of these Pokémon should resemble a Magikarp's which would be both hilarious and probably a fairly effective way to get cheaters to stop.

It is not just the "may not behave as expected" line that is tripping up players up, however.

Others are also wondering which Pokémon may get flagged and what criteria developers may use to identify them. Some players have also expressed their concerns that their Pokémon may get tagged incorrectly and are hoping that developers have addressed that as well.

It is clear that there are still many things that need to be explained when it comes to this new "Pokémon Go" anti-cheating measure, and hopefully for players, more details will be shared soon.