Niantic, the company behind Pokémon Go, has responded to the plea of scientists assigned to Antarctica to add their remote location to the game as a PokéStop.
In Pokémon Go, players can send digital postcards and in-game gifts collected at various locations. Raimon Hennessy, 29, an avid Pokémon Go player, realised there was no PokéStop at the main operations building of Davis Research Station to send postcards to his long-distance partner, Alexandra.
Raimon, a communications technical officer at the station, told The Independent, “I have had the game since release, playing it on and off. My partner plays a lot more than me and really wanted some postcards from Antarctica so I started playing again so she could get some.”
Previously, a medical practitioner at the station, Pete Rizzo, 60, had placed a request for a PokéStop right at their location. Still, through Alexandra's Reddit inquiry, Niantic finally took notice and granted the request.
Because of this, Raimon also discovered that Pete plays Pokémon Go. “My partner had asked a question on the official Reddit page – it was more of a shock when I found out our Doc, Rizzo, had requested a PokéStop too!”
While other location-based elements of Pokémon Go are available in Antarctica, connectivity is a major issue, limiting the players’ capabilities to explore various in-game landmarks.
“The stops and gym are within the station limits, however, we have 2G without data so we are limited to going to the different buildings that may have Wi-Fi,” said Pete. “One stop is next to our living quarters... The gym is a bit more challenging though [since] it’s further away.”
While this development makes the PokéStop at the main operations building of Davis Research Station the most southern and remote on Earth yet, to Raimon and Pete, this is just another way to keep connected to friends and family outside the isolated continent.
“There’s not a lot of downtime here in Antarctica. We get weekends off but still have things to do on the weekends. This lets me play games with mates back in Australia,” Raimon shares. “I do share a few of the images from Pokémon to others who aren’t Pokémon players, but I have a few friends that love getting postcards from here,” adds Pete.
Since its launch in 2016, Pokémon Go has been kept alive with consistent updates, adding new gameplay features such as the upcoming Fusion mechanic and the cutesy buddy system. With new events on the way, such as GO Fest 2024, the popular mobile game is still going strong.
Pokémon Go is available to play for free on Android and iOS.
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