A long-awaited update is coming to Pokemon Go.
Developer Niantic announced Monday that the augmented reality game will be adding a new friend feature, which will allow trading within the game.
Trading has been a longstanding tradition among Pokemon card game players.
The feature will be the first opportunity players have of competing in the game together.
To add a friend, youll need to use a friends trainer code. When they accept, theyll appear in your friend's list, which will cap at 200 people, according to Niantic.
Once youre connected, you can do a number of things with your friends, including battle opponents in gyms, send gifts and even participate in raid battles together.
Trainers can send gifts to their friends remotely by collecting them from PokStops, which can include useful items and Pokmon Eggs, according to the press release.
And, for the first time ever, trainers who are connected as friends in Pokmon Go and within close physical proximity to each other will soon be able to trade Pokmon, according to the press release.
To make sure people have fair trades, the game has developed four tiers of friendships: Good Friend, Great Friend, Ultra Friend and Best Friend. You develop your friendships based on how much time you spend playing the game together in a number of the other activities.
Only Great Friends and above can trade legendary Pokemon and shiny Pokemon, Polygon reported.
Otherwise, stardust, which is a reward players can earn in the game, is required to complete trades among players. Depending on the friendship level, trades cost more or less stardust.
While the trading/friend system might seem a bit complicated, with its stardust requirements and daily limits and friendship requirements, it theoretically helps limit some issues that a free-for-all trade system might face, according to TechCrunch. Its easy to imagine someone spoofing back and forth around the world to farm rare Pokmon as they pop up, slinging them on eBay (or wherever) for a few bucks a pop, and just spoofing to an agreed location to initiate a trade. Requiring players to have some history of playing/raiding/battling gyms together before they can trade the good stuff makes that a bit more challenging.
Kirsten Koa, a Niantic software engineer, told The Verge the company has been planning the trade feature for years.
We wanted to make sure we got this right, she said. I hope we came up with something thats natural and enjoyable.
The company said it wanted to make its core game successful before it added trading.
Niantics Kento Suga told The Verge the company also wanted to make trading safe for children.
We believe this is the best way to be fair, safe, and fun for users, Suga said. It took two years for us to build that feature thats how hard it was.
Developer Niantic announced Monday that the augmented reality game will be adding a new friend feature, which will allow trading within the game.
Trading has been a longstanding tradition among Pokemon card game players.
The feature will be the first opportunity players have of competing in the game together.
To add a friend, youll need to use a friends trainer code. When they accept, theyll appear in your friend's list, which will cap at 200 people, according to Niantic.
Once youre connected, you can do a number of things with your friends, including battle opponents in gyms, send gifts and even participate in raid battles together.
Trainers can send gifts to their friends remotely by collecting them from PokStops, which can include useful items and Pokmon Eggs, according to the press release.
And, for the first time ever, trainers who are connected as friends in Pokmon Go and within close physical proximity to each other will soon be able to trade Pokmon, according to the press release.
To make sure people have fair trades, the game has developed four tiers of friendships: Good Friend, Great Friend, Ultra Friend and Best Friend. You develop your friendships based on how much time you spend playing the game together in a number of the other activities.
Only Great Friends and above can trade legendary Pokemon and shiny Pokemon, Polygon reported.
Otherwise, stardust, which is a reward players can earn in the game, is required to complete trades among players. Depending on the friendship level, trades cost more or less stardust.
While the trading/friend system might seem a bit complicated, with its stardust requirements and daily limits and friendship requirements, it theoretically helps limit some issues that a free-for-all trade system might face, according to TechCrunch. Its easy to imagine someone spoofing back and forth around the world to farm rare Pokmon as they pop up, slinging them on eBay (or wherever) for a few bucks a pop, and just spoofing to an agreed location to initiate a trade. Requiring players to have some history of playing/raiding/battling gyms together before they can trade the good stuff makes that a bit more challenging.
Kirsten Koa, a Niantic software engineer, told The Verge the company has been planning the trade feature for years.
We wanted to make sure we got this right, she said. I hope we came up with something thats natural and enjoyable.
The company said it wanted to make its core game successful before it added trading.
Niantics Kento Suga told The Verge the company also wanted to make trading safe for children.
We believe this is the best way to be fair, safe, and fun for users, Suga said. It took two years for us to build that feature thats how hard it was.
