Most important review youll read

We all love the game, but Niantic is focusing on the wrong things. I wrote a paper in college on what seperates the most successful games from the rest. In the end it boils down to customization, leaderboards, and listening to the community . Nobody wants to be the same (customization), everyone wants to show off (leaderboards), and the community will tell you the most favored way to implement these things . These are the best ways to make the game feel endless like all good MMORPGs must be to last over time.

CUSTOMIZATION
Currently the game is too easy/repetitive for dedicated players. I am level 33 and I would bet that my account looks like 98% of other high level accounts out there. Raids made this fact worse. There needs to be implemented ways to make everyones pokemon/character different . Let me offer some suggestions and I wont go into detail on each one:
-Add the speed stat -
-Make IVs, more complex/impactful
-Implement a way for someone who loves a certain type of pokemon to have a really strong pidgeot instead of everyone just using the same pokemon.
-Give type bonuses for whichever team you belong to (Instinct gets bonus using electric pokemon, Mystic with water, Valor with fire)
-Make a bunch of different clothes/hairstyles and make them cost less. Id spend pokecoins if I could have pants that not many other people have.
-Let people see other peoples pokemon nicknames.
PLEASE just look at how other games implement customization and do something.

LEADERBOARDS
Who cares about how many badges i have if i cant show it off to my friends?! The whole goal with leaderboards is to make the game endless because there will always be someone higher than you. Add a friend system so I can add friends, see what theyre doing, see their progress, and try to beat them. Heck I wouldnt mind even having the location mapping like snapchat recently added. And then go beyond that and let me compare myself to the world. Here are some ideas for leaderboards:
-Show who controlls the most gyms Red, yellow, blue similar to Ingress.
-Add a friend list system so I can have friends
-Add more analystics/stats so I can compare myself to my friends
-Connect gym badges to the gym so others can see who has the highest gym badge for each gym. It would be cool to try to get my name on my gym in my small town.

These are just a few suggestions to improve in these 2 areas. There are literally hundreds out there. Overall I think creativity is extremely lacking for a game that generates this much money. I also think you need to avoid making the game too easy. Ive seen many games fail because they make their game too easy. Please listen to your community better than our government listens to its people.

Please ask me if you have any questions as I have much more to say:)

Thank you for taking the time to create the game and read this.

Jabhands about Pokémon GO, v1.39.1