Niantic pulls out the ban hammer for cheaters

Pokemon Go Bar Crawl participants, from left, Patrick Merkle, Amanda Drake and Andrew Drake check their phones as they stand in front of Paddy O' Beers during the Pokemon Go event on July 24, 2016 in downtown Raleigh, N.C. (Chuck Liddy/Raleigh News & Observer/TNS)

Niantic Labs is cracking down on Pokémon Go cheaters, giving them three chances before permanently banning their accounts.

“We strive to create a friendly and fair gameplay experience for all players. As part of that commitment, we enforce a three-strike policy against cheating,” says the company that created the virtual-reality mobile game based on Nintendo's Pokemon franchise. 

They warn that the policy may provide offenders with a series of disciplinary actions that gradually increase in severity to encourage them to change their behaviour.

“If offenders reform their ways, they are welcomed back into the game. However, if offenders continue cheating, they will be permanently removed from the game in accordance with the Pokémon GO Terms of Service,” says Niantic Labs, on its FAQ page. 

The policy defines cheating as behaviours that violate the Pokémon GO Terms of Service and Trainer Guidelines, such as falsifying location (GPS location spoofing) and accessing Pokémon GO clients or back ends in an unauthorised manner, including through the use of third-party software or add-ons.

“A strike serves as a warning. Everyone can make mistakes... If you have been issued a strike, don’t ignore it. Take action to ensure that you do not commit any further transgressions,” says Niantic. 

On the first strike, users will see a warning message within the Pokémon GO app informing them the account was detected cheating.

In addition to the warning, the gameplay experience may be degraded in the following ways: users may not be able to encounter rare Pokémon in the wild, plus these Pokémon may not appear the user's map or Nearby Pokémon tracker – also known as a shadow ban – and the user will be excluded from receiving new EX Raid Passes.

The first strike will last for approximately seven days.

On the second strike, users will be suspended from their Pokémon GO account for 30 days. 

“When attempting to log into the game, you’ll be presented with a message stating that your account is suspended. You will not be able to bypass this message,” says Niantic. 

On strike three, the user's account will be permanently banned. “Keep in mind that offenders are not always offered three strikes. Some misbehaviours may result in immediate account termination without prior warning,” warns Niantic. 

However, the company is allowing users to appeal the termination. 

“We will respond to your appeal after a complete investigation of your account. Please note that due to the high level of accuracy in our detection systems, very few terminations are ever overturned,” it adds.