"Community days need to be longer": Pokemon GO fans complain about upcoming Dratini event

Niantic recently unveiled November's Pokemon GO Community Day events. The first one, Community Day Classic, will feature Dratini and will be active on November 5, 2022, from 2:00 pm to 5:00 pm local time.

This three-hour window has caused a fair amount of backlash within the Pokemon GO community. In previous years, Community Day events had a six-hour window for trainers to catch and collect the featured Pokemon. However, both Community Day events featured in November will only be three hours long.

For many Pokemon GO trainers hoping to participate in the events, three hours can be a very constrained period.

Real-world obligations, such as jobs or personal commitments, can interfere with a player's participation, leading them to only catch a few Pokemon or miss the events entirely.

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Pokemon GO's subreddit unhappy with November's three-hour Community Days

November's Community Day events are far from an anomaly in Pokemon GO, as previous months have also featured a shortened time window.

Be that as it may, many fans of the mobile title have flocked to social media to make it clear to Niantic that three hours simply isn't enough time to enjoy Community Days. Not every trainer can dedicate their whole day to playing the game, and such a short time window can cause many fans to be excluded.

When six-hour Community Days were implemented during the COVID-19 pandemic, trainers around the world rejoiced. They had more time to catch the featured Pokemon, including ones with high IV stats or in their shiny forms.

However, Niantic reverted to the three-hour timeframe for 2022 but added a three-hour raid rotation afterward. While this may seem wise in theory, many trainers don't want to expend several Raid Passes because they missed the Community Day spawns in the wild.

Some Redditors have suggested that players should be able to schedule specific times during the Community Day, allowing them to pick the best timeframe to suit their needs.

This would allow fans who have real-world obligations during normal Community Day operations to participate on their own time and not those imposed by Niantic.

This could be done in the form of a pass or ticket, perhaps one that will temporarily remain in players' inventory until a Community Day's 24 hours are up.

Pokemon GO's dedicated Redditors make a very good point. Part of the game's appeal is FOMO or "fear of missing out."

By featuring attractive Pokemon in their Community Day events and setting a short time window, trainers will naturally worry about missing out on a quality Pokemon. It's a tactic we've seen with other time-limited features in the game, such as Elite Raids and Regional Tours.

It's a disappointing reality, but Niantic is a company that has to balance its obligations to profiteering and data-gathering with the expectations of Pokemon GO's fanbase.

Listening more closely to player feedback would inevitably assist Niantic in the long run. However, the company has its own financial roadmap in place based on metrics that aren't often seen by fans.

Hopefully, Niantic will be more concerned with player complaints in the future, but there's no guarantee that this will occur.