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> It is interesting that it would be trivial for them to localize the units, it seems like they specifically didn't. In addition to a possible esthetic prefere
by thevibesman 10y ago
> It is interesting that it would be trivial for them to localize the units, it seems like they specifically didn't.
In addition to a possible esthetic preference for km, I had two thoughts for gameplay reasons why they wouldn't localize the units:
- Conversion to miles would have a loss of precision in the UI (2.0km vs 1.24m)
- The name of the item is a 2.0km, 5.0km, 10km egg; it would seem odd when players were discussing the game online to refer to the items differently depending what country they are from.
- iokanuon 10y ago>gameplay reasons why they wouldn't localize the units Their previous game, Ingress, didn't have any gameplay reasons for using one unit system, yet it still used only metric. See a four year old discussion about Ingress using the metric system alone here: https://reddit.com/r/Ingress/comments/13vjcw/the_real_nianticingress_conspiracy/ https://reddit.com/r/Ingress/comments/13vjcw/the_real_nianti...
- CydeWeys 10y agoThere are reasons. It's a worldwide game. Badges, that impact leveling mind you -- I got to level 16 on the back of an onyx Trekker badge, are awarded for walking 10, 100, 300, 1000, and 2500 km. The badges need to be consistent worldwide across all locales, because any player can play anywhere on the globe. It's exactly the same problem with the badge requirements as with the Pokemon egg distances. If you convert it, now the requirements don't make any sense. Hitting 2,500 km walked is a big nice round number, and gives you an onyx badge. Hitting 1,553.4 miles walked is meaningless, but that's what the top badge would be awarded for if written out in miles.
- iokanuon 10y agoThere were initially no badges, the game existed for about a year without them.
- CydeWeys 10y agoThe game was in beta and running on a small budget at that point. Core gameplay features were a higher priority than localizing units for an audience of nerds that understand SI just fine anyway. And they probably had badges in mind for awhile before they actually released them, so they likely knew of the issues that localizing units would've had.
- jasonjei 10y agoI think that partly explains why non-American airlines use miles over kilometers for frequent flyer rewards program. A program denominated in kilometers would have to undergo conversion to miles if being deposited into a US account holder. On top of that, benefit levels would be different--a Star Alliance Gold level will be 50,000mi or 80467.2km. However, ANA Mileage Club has a better ring to it than ANA Kilometerage Club. Interestingly, most airlines are now moving away from miles in rewards programs and moving into the Unit of Measurement that counts the most: revenue.