"[Discussion] Playing PoGo the rural way"

#PokemonGO: Out of the original group of people I played this game with, I was the last to start playing (3 weeks after launch) but the only one left playing. 2 of my friends who grew up huge Pokemon fans have quit because of the speedlock - coincidentally both of them exercise and frequently jog but quit because there are no pokestops near them so they essentially were forced to buy balls or just quit.Me? I don't jog and between my wife and I both working full-time on opposite shifts, with 3 young kids there is really no time or chance to get out and GO now that winter is upon us in the North. Luckily for me, I can collect balls because I drop my kids off at Daycare twice a week in a relatively large town, Stroudsburg, PA and it has a LOT of pokestops. After I drop the kids off I can go through town and hit about 30 stops on my way to work - driving slow and hitting the traffic lights makes this easy; I will cash in on about 95% of the stops. Still though, these once or twice a week passes only give me a small stash of goods, so I have to conserve.I rarely get the 7 day pokestop bonus because 1 day a week I stay home - the nearest pokestop is 8 miles away from my house. I can easily get the daily catch bonus at home.After spending a few weeks in Philadelphia I really got the feel for the game the developers have -*get an unlimited amount of items since Pokestops are everywhere - rural playing means I conserve everything, you don't haphazardly throw balls at Mons.*catch everything because you can in the city, stuff is everywhere and your inventory is always full - in rural areas each ball is a precious commodity and unless you are purposely trying to evolve something or need it, you pass on 90% of what you see*You throw great balls willy nilly because you get tired of things breaking out - in rural areas you conserve your great balls for those special encounters*you find yourself throwing Ultra balls at harder to catch things because you have a hundred of them and your bag is overloaded - in the country you only use ultra balls for dex absences and those occasional RARE encounters*the mon diversity is incredible in Urban areas, my god you can go from biome to biome block to block - in rural Murica you get a hard on if you see a Magikarp or machop. Lord knows Dratini are legends and Lapras are a myth.*Egg hatching is glorious as you never stop going in cities; there are stops everywhere and it pushes you to walk "one more block" - In the rural environment the game is very dull. Do I need another Ratata? Maybe it is a Ditto...probably not.*Your screen is constantly LOADED with MONS in the city - In rural areas you literally have to walk multiple km's to have another paras pop up that you are going to ignore.*I see lures being used in the cities - Lures are pointless in rural places. it's not like I have a reason to sit for 30 minutes in a church parking lot.*Walking is feasible in urban areas as there are sidewalks and reasons to walk towards things - out in the rural places the game design forces you to drive. Stops are MILES apart off roads without sidewalks or berms. Gyms are miles apart as well and it's easier to pull up and sit in your car anyway.With that being said, the only drawback I see is gyms. But that's a sore issue anyway as there is no depth to it. In my rural gameplay I can usually cash in on 3 gyms a day that occasionally get taken down by the same players over and over...In the city each gym gets slammed back down very quickly.I for one enjoy the game in the respect it is something fun to do and hits me in that special spot of collecting things. I just wish they would find a way to make the game more playable for rural folks and city folks alike. The game is all about "GO"ing but it literally has chased people away that do GO quite a bit just because of their model. I am glad that I can still enjoy the game but having no one to chat with and share experiences with is slowly killing it for me. via /r/pokemongo http://ift.tt/2jmRs92