Spirittea Is Stardew Valley Meets Spirited Away, Can Take Our Money Now<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

What are Routes in Pok\u00e9mon Go<\/em>?<\/h2>\n

Routes are essentially user-generated content. You boot up Pok\u00e9mon Go <\/em>while you\u2019re out catching Pok\u00e9mon, and you can create a start and end point for a designated path other players can follow and earn rewards and resources. Kotaku <\/em>participated in a hands-on demonstration at Summer Game Fest, and despite some jank where the path didn\u2019t register exactly right (Niantic attributed it to the high signal interference at the event), it seems like a neat idea to give people who can\u2019t always find a Pok\u00e9stop close to home. Rural players often have to face a lack of landmarks, which means way fewer rewards and resources than others players, so theoretically giving them another way to earn those is a good thing.<\/p>\n

All that being said, because Pok\u00e9mon Go <\/em>is a game that, thanks to the changes to Remote Raid Passes, necessitates walking through the real world, user-generated content merits scrutiny and caution. To catch some problems before they\u2019re ever seen by the public, Niantic has implemented an approval system that will require every route to go through the company before it shows up in any other player\u2019s game. This starts with an AI-based system that will catch things like profanity or other inappropriate language in the descriptions, and flag paths that might run through something like a construction zone or government property. But the team will also have a dedicated team of people to catch what AI can\u2019t.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe sort of like the sneaky threat vector is the combination of if I write something that seems innocuous, but in combination with what I\u2019m doing with the path [can be a problem for others using the route],\u201d Senior Producer Chad Jones tells Kotaku<\/em>. \u201cLike let\u2019s say I\u2019m just circling somebody\u2019s house and I\u2019m like saying something about this person [in the Route description] because I\u2019m trying to troll them. That\u2019s hard for AI to catch. […] And that\u2019s generally our approach to try and like walk the line between getting great content out there in a speedy way while also being aware of the fact that not only are there bad actors, but the world is also dynamic.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Welcome to Exp. Share, Kotaku<\/em>\u2019s weekly Pok\u00e9mon<\/em> column in which we dive deep to explore notable characters, urban legends, communities, and just plain weird quirks from throughout the Pok\u00e9mon<\/em> franchise.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n

While trolling and the like is a concern, one of the biggest is obviously ensuring players, children especially, are safe when following a Route. Jones says part of the AI filter will attempt to catch descriptions that could be viewed as CSAM. But in terms of alerting players to whether a Route might be in an unsafe place, Niantic says it doesn\u2019t want to pass judgment on areas on its own and is relying on local communities and reporting features to field any routes that might be dangerous. Some places, such as New York, have banned registered sex offenders from downloading Pok\u00e9mon Go<\/em><\/span>, but Niantic says it will look to the locals to tell the company if a Route should be removed for safety reasons like a high-crime area.<\/p>\n

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