"Pokémon Go - Gym Survey Results"

#PokemonGO: Pokémon Go - Gym Survey ResultsALBUM OF EASY-TO-READ RESULTSHello! About a week ago I posted a short survey on gym preferences on /r/thesilphroad and on /r/pokemongo. Lots of people participated - thank you! I've been aggregating the results and I wanted to share with you guys.Here is how the questions were presented:What is your Pokémon Go trainer level?How many gyms are you currently in?Over the past 7 days, how many gyms have you stayed in on average?What is the CP of the highest CP Pokémon that you currently have in a gym?Which of the following Pokémon do you currently have in a gym? Check all that apply.Do you support or oppose a species type limit on gyms?Do you support or oppose a limit on the number of gyms that an individual can be in at once? 7b. If you support a limit, what should be the maximum number of gyms that an individual can be in at once?Do you support or oppose priority time for battle winners when prestiging gyms?If you could buff (i.e., strengthen) one Pokémon to make them more viable for gym battling, which Pokémon would it be?If you could nerf (i.e., weaken) one Pokémon to make them less viable for gym battling, which Pokémon would it be?The first three questions were required, while the rest were voluntarily. Lots of people took the time to answer - 1,900 people to be exact - which is notable since it kind of requires you to go digging through your Pokémon Go app while filling the survey out!While there were a lot of responses, it's important to note the results probably aren't representative of the Pokemon Go playing population as a whole. There are many thousands of casuals who would not go on forums for the game, and their opinions are likely less reflected here.In fact it seems likely that /r/pokemongo and /r/thesilphroad represent fairly well-established players as the array of trainer levels show:TRAINER LEVELTrainer LevelThe average trainer was level 32.6. The respondents heavily tilted towards more dedicated players. 70% of respondents were level 30 or higher.GYM PARTICIPATIONWe know changes are coming to gym battling, but we don't know what the updates will entail. The point of this survey was to see how our community feels gyms need improving.A baseline of gym activity was gathered. Respondents were asked how many gyms they were in RIGHT THEN, as well as how many on average they were in over the previous week.Number of Gyms Currently Held77% of respondents were currently in 10 gyms or less; 22% were currently in 11 or more gyms.Quite a few respondents weren't actually participating in any hyms at the time the survey was filled out. 23% surveyed were in no gyms at all, while 12% were only in 1 gym.Interestingly, over the week prior to the survey being filled out, most people reported they were in fewer gyms on average. Participants who were in higher numbers of gyms RIGHT THEN reported being in fewer gyms throughout the week, most likely due to being thrown out of gyms. But at around the 10-gym held mark and less, participants actually said they held more gyms over the prior week than they currently did. This is reflected, for instance, in 23% saying they currently held 0 gyms, vs 16% said they held 0 gyms over the prior week.Number of Gyms Held on AverageOver the prior week, 81% of respondents reported they were in 10 gyms or less on average, while 18% were in 11 or more gyms.When Trainers were holding gyms, there was a clear consensus on which Pokémon were being stationed.People were asked to choose from a list of 20 Pokemon and indicate which they currently had in gyms. Ten top-tier Pokémon were in the list, and ten middle and lower-tier Pokémon were in the list. Overwhelmingly people reported having the five top-tiered Pokémon in gyms.Pokémon Currently in GymOur most common Pokémon in gyms? That would be Gyarados. 18% of participants had this guy in a gym at the time of writing.Participants were also asked to self-report the highest CP Pokémon they had in a gym. (No way for me to verify of course.)The average of the highest CP Pokémon participants had in a gym was 2975. This is a fairly high CP! The highest reported was 3670 CP (of which 3 people said they had). The lowest reported in a gym was 10 CP! 15 people trolled with this answer -- and/or are very good prestigers! In case you care: median CP was 3070. The mode: 3300 CP (of which there were 27).GYM REFORMRespondents overwhelmingly support the gym changes asked about, which include some kind of type-limit on the amount of species allowed in a gym, a limit on the maximum number of gyms an individual can be in, and priority time for prestiged spots.Support/Oppose: Species Type LimitA species type limit would be a limit on the number of Pokémon of a certain species allowed in a gym. For instance, it may mean a limit of 1 water type, 1 dragon type, etc. per gym. Or it may mean 3 water type. No one knows how this may be structured, and this question was intentionally vague.Support/Oppose: Prestige Priority TimeThe most popular reform among respondents was priority time for prestiging gyms. The idea of priority time for prestiging means that you are given extra time to get an open slot on a friendly gym after you have battled the spot open. This prevents people sniping your spot before you have time to get in.Support/Oppose: Limit on Gym ParticipationThe most controversial gym reform asked about was a limit on the number of gyms an individual can be in at once. This "buffer," or safety limit, doesn't currently exist in the game. It is supported as a way to ensure lower-level players can compete; to prevent gym stagnation; and other reasons. While people support a limit on conquerable gyms, the support is much softer. Over a quarter of respondents oppose any cap on the number of gyms a Trainer can be in.The more intricate question is how many gyms the limit should be if there is one. Of the people who do support a limit, there is no clear consensus on the degree.Support/Oppose: Gym Limit Amount72% of respondents want a cap below 15 gyms per day; but that 72% is evenly split about whether it should be a hard limit at 10 gyms or between 10 -15 gyms.Another 27% want caps ranging from 15 to 20.There is a slight-positive correlation between the number of gyms people hold and their preference for a higher or lower limit.BUFF / NERFFor the last two questions, participants were asked to name one Pokémon they would prefer to be buffed (or strengthened), and one Pokémon they would prefer to be nerfed (or weakened) for gym battling.Buff: BreakdownFor buffing, Lapras was the most popular choice. However it wasn't extremely popular -- only 10% chose Lapras. Beyond wanting some obvious heavy-hitters like Lapras and Charizard to be buffed, most people seemed to pick their personal favorites to get strengthened. (Full disclosure: my buff vote went for Shuckle here.)Buffing: ResultsMore results here.Nerf: BreakdownFor nerfing, Blissey was the majority choice. 55% preferred Blissey to be weakened in some fashion.After Blissey, Vaporeon and Dragonite were the next most likely to named for a nerf.RIP Blissey.WRAPSo, I hope you enjoyed this write-up and maybe you found the data useful. Here is a link to the original survey results. My takeways are that people don't participate in gyms as much as I thought; that these subs really do represent more dedicated players; that Blissey really is a beast; that players are anticipating the gym updates and are hungry for reforms to fix some problems.Biases, Errors, and OmissionsBias: question wording. It is possible the way my questions were worded, or indeed the questions themselves, introduced bias in the survey.Omission: some people wanted a gym limit under 10, and some wanted a gym limit over 25. I didn't foresee either being an option, or I would have included it. I originally didn't include Steelix in buff/nerf question for 15-20 minutes which may have affected his results.Errors: in the gym limit question, the multiple choice options were not correctly labeled. "10," was an option, as well as "10-15" -- which as you can tell may cause confusion since two answer choices both include "10." I should have said "10," "11-15, "16-20," etc. via /r/TheSilphRoad http://ift.tt/2pXaa5F