Pokemon GO players have already seen a boycott get results from game maker Niantic amid a still-ongoing pandemic, and those on Reddit are now taking aim at the message board with a protest they hope sparks change online as well.
The Pokemon-based mobile game recently reversed its rule rollback about distance requirements and other pre-pandemic standards earlier in the year. That came following a boycott and plenty of noise on social media about the changes that went into effect as Niantic decided to take away some concessions they made at the start of the pandemic about proximity to real-life locations to complete tasks and challenges in the virtual world.
That pandemic is still ongoing, many pointed out, not to mention the accessibility issues for those in wheelchairs and who have mobility issues that those changes helped solve. So the decision to change course on that rollback was welcome news for basically everyone playing. And the community of people playing the billion-dollar game that celebrated its fifth anniversary recently has decided to keep its activism going on Reddit.
As Kotaku detailed, the r/pokemongo Reddit board has switched itself to “private” in an effort it says is directly tied to the way Reddit has moderated, or in most cases refused to moderate, the spread of coronavirus and vaccine misinformation on other boards.
During most of August, this obviously led to much discussion of the topic on the game’s Reddit channel, which in turn led to the arrival of a lot of users from less…scientifically minded Reddit subs, such as NoNewNormal, Conspiracy, and Conservative. Clearly this has meant a lot of distracting conversation about matters not directly relevant to POGO, and as a result the community has decided to go silent in protest against Reddit.
They say that until Reddit bans the NoNewNormal sub, and significantly improves its moderation regarding Covid misinformation on others, it will stay private.
It’s a really fascinating example of how direct action in many cases shows the power of organization and begets further direct action. And how online communities can see impacts in the real world and look to further action as a result. The message board is explicit about how this move is a result of pandemic misinformation, too. The front page of the game’s Reddit community now says the following:
“We have gone private in protest of Reddits inaction against Covid misinformation. As our users know Covid directly impacts this gamer because Go is played outside in real life with others. We have stood against Covid misinformation publicly before, and stood with the community when they petitioned Niantic to return the 80m distances so we could continue to play safely. To that end, we will stay private until NoNewNormal and similar subs dedicated entirely to misinformation are banned.”
The thing about insular communities, however, is that it’s tough to judge just how much an impact a small section of a site’s population can make. But Pokemon GO, a game many have left behind with their playing habits since its explosive first year, still has an extremely strong community of dedicated players. So we’ll see if Reddit listens to them about all this and actually makes positive changes.
[via Kotaku]