Chinese Gamers Invades Pokemon GO in Japan, Conquers Their Pokemon Gyms

 

Pokemon Go is all the rage right now, especially in countries where the game is officially launched. Yes, it’s launched in Singapore today as well.

Japan servers severely affected by traffic

After the game was released in Japan, servers in the country have been severely affected by the massive number of players.

Ironically, these players are not Japanese; they are Chinese from mainland China. This has annoyed the local players in Japan drastically as the jammed up servers are not able to response as quickly as they should.

What makes things worse is the fact that some Chinese players have used the access to the Japanese server for more nationalistic purposes.

Pokemon gyms in landmarks including Yasukuni Shrine conquered

Some of these Chinese players have monopolised specific Pokemon gyms in Japan right on the release day, keeping out the local players.

There is one particular player nicknamed 中国万岁 who took over a particular gym located at the Yasukuni Shrine, which honours Japan’s deceased war soldiers, including those who were executed as war criminals after World War II.

A picture of the patriotic Dragonite even found its way onto Reddit which has annoyed Japanese players to no ends.

How did these Chinese players manage to play the game using Japanese server?

The trick is to download the app using a VPN and a Google account to use the game’s mapping feature, similar to how Singapore players played the New Zealand version before it was launched in Singapore.

Once you get both, you can easily play the game using the server of the other host country. Chinese players have been using this trick to gain access to the Japanese servers, creating quite a stir in the Japanese community.

Pokemon Go Launched in Hong Kong a lifesaver

The most fortunate thing for the Japanese is perhaps the fact that Pokemon Go was also launched in Hong Kong shortly after its debut in Japan.

With Hong Kong being more accessible to the Chinese, it has enticed some players to hop over to Hong Kong to play the game instead, releasing much-needed server space in Japan.

Unlikely that the game will ever be launched in China

We will have to wait and see if the game developer will be moved by such excitement from the Chinese players to modify the game structure to allow the game to be played in China using Chinese GPS server since China has banned Google completely.

Given the high priority China places on its military secrets, it is unlikely for the country to open its door for the game developers to convince its leaders to allow the game to be played on a Google platform.

This might prove to be too much trouble for the developer if it has to redesign the whole game just for China.

Feature Image: geek.com

This article was first published on goodyfeed.com