Can I play on PC?
DeFuNkT
Posts: 8 ✭
Bluestacks just will not work for me so I don't know about that one (Still trying) but Nox, Andy Android Emu and a couple others don't seem to work. They don't have the game available for download in the store and the few apk's I've downloaded don't seem to work in them either.
So, since I spend a fair amount of time working on pc, does anyone know of a way that I can get this game running on my pc?
(side note: I also tried Apowermirror but that requires the phone to be plugged into the pc to basically mirrorcast to my monitor. I don't even know where my phone is right now so thats useless to me).
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And... What then? You stay at the same place? Or you spoof your location to play? Besides, like with Ingress (and I assume pogo too), emulators are against the ToS.
As always someone has to take it somewhere it doesn't need to go. I don't play pogo. I don't spoof.
I guess by your standards if I'm not moving around I'm cheating. I'll make sure to start sprinting all over town every time i play on my phone.....
I play at least 50% of the time in the same place because I have just about everything that can spawn does spawn right next to me. I do my inns without going anywhere, i do battles, grow my plants. All of this is right on top of me.
Anyone with a useful answer?
According to the TOS:
You agree that you are responsible for your own conduct and User Content while using the Services, and for any consequences thereof. In addition, you agree not to do any of the following, unless applicable law mandates that you be given the right to do so:
(...) bypass, remove, deactivate, descramble, or otherwise circumvent any technological measure implemented by Niantic or any of Niantic’s providers or any other third party (including another user) to protect the Services or Content;
So by trying to get the App to run in an environment other than what it was designed (and released) for, you violate the Terms of Service and thereby risk being flagged or banned.
Asking for help violating the Terms of Service in the OFFICIAL COMMUNITY FORUM of the Company whose ToS you want to violate is... not exactly "smart".
Additionally, in the Section "Cheating", the ToS mentions:
Cheating includes, but is not limited to, any of the following behavior, on your own behalf or on behalf of others:
Accessing Services in an unauthorized manner (including using modified or unofficial third party software); (...) Using any techniques to alter or falsify a device’s location (for example through GPS spoofing); (...)
Apps may not work on devices that Niantic detects or reasonably suspects to be cheating, and Niantic will not provide support to players who attempt to cheat.
Any further questions?
If anyone can point me to the part of the ToS that describes Niantics "implemented technological measures" which protect the services or content that would be great. I will read through the terms more in depth myself when time permits. If I don't know what these measures are then how could I know if something I was trying to do would against this. All I am trying to do is play on pc, not to remove, deactivate, descramble or anything like that. At most "bypass" is the only thing I am trying to do, bypass the use of my phone, not bypass any "technological measures" or anything else that effects the game.
Also I'm assuming there is a list of authorized and unauthorized software that Niantic do or do not allow (eg. ios, android is allowed, emulators not)?
Otherwise all that was pretty much like being told "don't do anything I wouldn't do".
Either way, no services have been accessed in an unauthorized manner, a simple "No" many posts ago would have wrapped this up.
Okay, then. To wrap this up: "No."
As for the Terms, just click the Terms of Use-Link in the footer of this VERY page.
Niantic considers emulators to be unofficial or modified third party software and may suspend your account for it.
Furthermore, helping you out with this issue can get anyone else banned from this forum.
Long story short, you're not going to find the answer here.
Just read them.
Basically just a load of statements such as "Accessing Services in an unauthorized manner (including using modified or unofficial third party software)".
But no explanations as to what is official or unofficial. Quite a few more contradictory statements further down in the Terms of Use. Pretty much "don't do anything naughty" but no "real" explanation as to what naughty is.
Anyway, I'll take your prior comment with the "No". Problem solved, thanks.
I have no need to try and access the app via PC, but I'm just curious, so I'll ask. I get that you don't feel like you'd be cheating because POIs are within reach from the location you'll be playing from. However, without a GPS enabled device, how is location determined without manually entering your coordinates? If, in fact, the location is established through manual entry, it seems like any reasonable person would agree this clearly violates the TOS. I have no experience with using emulators for this purpose though, so it's entirely possible I'm missing something.
There is no version of this game for PC. So your answer is No!
And I'm curious why you wrote that idea here, because nobody here give you a hint to cheating processes, in front of the moderators eyes! Btw, there is no emulators for this game that I know.
@Acumen I don't pay too much attention to the stuff that windows puts on when installed but I installed it recently and location services was one of the items installed. My browser seems to know exactly where I am so no manual entry needed. I would assume Niantic was up to date with its tech and this would be possible for the game if pc play was a possibility.
@Zakhi hi I'm honestly not too sure what you are saying. If you are saying that nobody in these replies has mentioned cheating then maybe a re-read is needed because they did.
If anyone feels the need to ask me more questions thats fine but no need to keep repeating the fact that there is no pc play. As I already said, Problem Solved, Thanks.
If I may, a little humility might suit you better @DeFuNkT. You ask questions of the community and expect concise answers, but are easily offended or annoyed when members of the community ask questions of you in return. I'm curious about how emulators for mobile games work, and you seemed to be the right person to ask, but perhaps you don't fully understand yourself and that's okay. You could just say "No, that's not how it works" or "I don't know exactly". Just get to the point and be clear about it, as you've instructed others to do. I asked because, based on the quick reading I've done on the emulators you've mentioned, the primary purpose of these installs is to be able to manipulate location on a non-gps enabled device, like your PC. In Nox, for example, this is easily accomplished on the Virtual Location tab. So yes, the location is determined through manual geocode entry. Look up any conversations on this topic anywhere on the web and this is literally the ONLY reason why anyone is using any of the third party apps you've mentioned. I wanted to know more about this sort of activity, because I've only heard a little about it and hadn't done much reading on the subject. I asked you, but you weren't very helpful and just blamed Niantic for "not being up to date with its tech", as if that has anything to do with the subject matter at hand. I ended up finding the answers I was looking for through more reliable sources. So, I'll say it too... problem solved, thanks.
@acumen I wrote a long reply but after 20 mins i lost the will to live trying to hit every point and somehow convey wether I'm happy or angry. So in short, I'm neither offended or annoyed (weary from constantly swimming upstream maybe), I didn't just blame Niantic, I answered your question about location services. You're welcome. The fact that you can spoof gps with emulators is neither here nor there. You can do the same on your phone. Location is (once again) determined by the location services on the pc (In my case, can't speak for others).
The primary purpose of an emulator is to run programs in a foreign environment. Gps spoofers and the like are for what you are talking about. Emulators predate phone gps. If every topic you've read states emulators are for cheating there's not much i can say for other people but until the creation of these kinds of games emulators were never for cheating and in my eyes never will be.
Thank you for the information @DeFuNkT. It was very helpful and informative. I use a couple different emulators myself for server administration purposes. As you've stated, they're used to access environments foreign to the platform you're working from, like a Linux shell from a Windows desktop. Indeed, they've been around a long time. However, the sort of question your post in particular brought to mind is, "Why would a person want to emulate a mobile, GPS-reliant game using third party software capable of spoofing one's location?" The answer, 99.9% of the time is the same. Even if you've been tragically misjudged and you belong to the .01% of people who want to do this for perfectly honest reasons, surely you can still understand why a software developer would prohibit the use of such third party apps. I would also think the flood of responses you've deemed as daft, forcing you to swim upstream, would be expected when you ask how to go about violating the terms of service in a forum hosted by the very people who drafted those terms. Just try to play by the rules and be kind to others, and you might feel less push-back from the community.
I am actually wondering if BlueStacks would technically break the TOS. It's an emulator of an approved device so honestly, I don't know where that would fall. It would be interesting to hear from an admin on that one. Personally, I think playing on a PC would be a PITA so I see no purpose for it.
To the GPS point, you can get GPS dongles that slip into your USB port (I have one for when I was running my laptop in the car for tech runs). I would think that should be ok, but using your browser's location setting could be considered cheating because it's easy to spoof your IP (which is what they use for that) using a VPN or other means.
My recommendation: Be safe and don't do it.
@HPWULola - Can we get an official on this one?