Reminder: Selling Or Buying A Pokémon Go Account Counts As Cheating

Although it might be tempting to make a few bucks off the stable of rare or valuable Pokémon you’ve collected so far in Pokémon Go by selling your account, according to game maker Niantic’s player guidelines, that’s cheating.

Player accounts are popping up online on sites like eBay, Facebook, and Craiglist, Polygon notes, with for accounts featuring rare or high-level Pokémon for more than $100. Buying a player account is a quick way around having to actually walk around and play the game, which involves stopping by PokéStops to collect various tools and then chucking Pokéballs at Pokémon to catch them.

Some players say they’ve decided to buy these accounts because they live in areas that don’t have as many Pokémon as others do. Living on a farm out in Idaho, for example, doesn’t render as many opportunities to catch Pokémon in cities with higher population densities like New York City.

Niantic, the company behind the popular Nintendo game, specifically forbids players — known as “trainers” — from purchasing or trading accounts in its Trainer Guidelines.

“No cheating,” Niantic’s heading reads, listing various methods folks might use to advance in the game without the corresponding effort required, including “sharing accounts; using tools or techniques to alter or falsify your location; or selling/trading accounts.”

If you do run afoul of those guidelines, you could be banned from Pokémon Go… FOREVER.

“Accounts are penalized for violations of the Terms of Use and/or the Trainer guidelines — we may issue a warning, suspend you from the game, or (for serious or repeated violations) terminate your account,” Niantic notes.

Pokémon Go players are selling their accounts for upwards of $100 [Polygon]

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