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Riolu Hatch Day is among Pokemon GO's latest innovations to get players to go out and play while interacting with the larger community. The event is designed to be like a Community Day or a Raid Day, where players get together to catch or raid the spotlighted critter. In this case, you are expected to walk around the town, hatching 2km eggs to hatch Riolu.
Riolu Hatch Day, like Community Days in Pokemon GO, will take place from 2 pm to 5 pm local time on July 22, 2023. In theory, it seems like the most natural thing for the game. However, in practice, things are slightly more complicated. Players across the world and from different backgrounds have specific needs they need to cater to alongside playing the game.
While some of these needs might be personal, there are others, such as weather patterns, that are absolutely outside individual players' control. u/triiickster (hereafter, OP) took to the Silph Road subreddit to express their concerns regarding the heatwave situation in Greece and other countries during Pokemon GO's Riolu Hatch Day hours.
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Pokemon GO players express concerns about existing event timing system in light of Riolu Hatch Day coinciding with severe heatwaves
Many countries experience severely hot afternoons during summer months. This is further complicated by weather patterns getting more and more erratic owing to climate change. In light of this, u/triiickster brought to notice that Greece and other countries are experiencing extreme heatwave conditions during the hours of the Riolou Hatch Day (2-5 pm on July 22, 2023).
They also noted that Niantic took no account of such regional variations in weather that would make playing the game difficult, or in some cases fatal, for players in the region. They said they were surprised that the company didn't move up the timing of the event as they had done for Community Day events in previous years.
u/tenleid highlighted that they had faced similar situations with an event during extreme cold weather.
Players suggested that having a flexible three-hour window when one can choose to participate in the event on the day would help circumnavigate such issues. This would also make the game more accessible to those occupied with work or other personal errands during the stipulated time.
To this, members of the subreddit, like u/ProperOverwatch, raised some eyebrows suggesting that the OP and those sharing their concerns were being too obsessive. Their point was that one did not compulsively need to overcome unfavorable conditions to play Pokemon GO since it was after all a video game.
u/Stoop_Girl explained the problems with what the OP suggested in a much more elaborate way. They highlighted some of the problems that might arise when too many changes are made to the preexisting code of the game.
While u/Stoop_Girl's comment holds water, one must remember that Pokemon GO's business model runs on players participating in as many of these events as possible. Incorporating methods to increase participation will only help the game sustain itself and even grow in the future.
Pokemon GO's Riolu Hatch Day was met with criticism upon announcement because of the relatively underwhelming event bonuses. However, the fact that players still want to participate in it despite weather adversities reiterates the immense swaying power of the Pokemon IP.
