Okay, so you're suggesting that this new system will eventually be better than the old one, but at the moment is not.
Not exactly. I'm suggesting that, at the moment, for some players the new system is already better, and for rural players it's worse. It can potentially become better (or at least as good) for everyone later on. I for one like knowing that I won't be sent on a wild goose chase, that the pokemon will actually be somewhere accessible, and that I might get to socialize with other players converging on the same location.
But what is the likelihood of them ever introducing new Pokestops into the game? At the moment they're focused on removing them. Right now your opinion regarding this new system is based entirely on a hypothetical situation where Niantic adds more Pokestops to areas that aren't heavily populated cities, and the fact that you already live in one of these areas.
And your opinion is based on a hypothetical situation where they
don't add more pokestops, and the fact that you live in a rural area. I already acknowledged the subjective element regarding whether the new system is better or worse at the moment.
Unfortunately I don't anticipate them adding more pokestops in the next few weeks, since Niantic is clearly swamped. But I do think they will. They had submissions open briefly at launch (probably receiving more than they could sift through in months), and they indicated at comic-con their desire to make pokestops a bigger part of the game via customizing them. And the lack of them is driving rural players away, as you've stated often. Not exactly good for business.
At the absolute minimum, rural areas will be getting more sponsored pokestops, which might very well happen in the shorter term.
How many players were endangered by this game because of the previous nearby system? I heard the story about someone finding a dead body, and then the one about the people who walked right off a hill. The dead body discovery is actually a positive, and it's really difficult to unintentionally walk off a hill.
How many does it take for it to be a valid concern? Not many. And outside of dangerous situations, there's the issue of trespassing, which can be seriously annoying for people having their property tramped over by players trying to track something down. But if you want more examples:
Teens get lost in cave
Illegal border crossing
Man [allegedly] threatens trespassing players with knife
Woman gets stuck in tree
Old man gets lost inna woods and stuck in a mud pit
Players arrested after trespassing into zoo
Florida man shoots teens looking for marowak and tauros
Not everything should be catered toward idiots. This game was advertised as an exploration-based game.
I agree about personal responsibility, but that's not really the world we live in. If there's a chance more incidents could happen and Niantic could be held responsible, they don't really have a choice. They
have to play it safe. Why do you think they're accepting and approving removal requests for pokestops and gyms, despite not having the manpower to verify the legitimacy of said requests? Because if there are pokestops at holocaust memorials, or sacred sites and cemeteries, or dangerous industrial areas, those stops have to go, even if it means legitimate stops get removed too.
Walking to a Pokestop because the game says there's a Pokemon at it isn't exploration.
I disagree, I've discovered a lot of interesting spots around me by going to pokestops.
They haven't improved the game at all since launch, they've only slowly improved the servers.
Well, that's blatantly false. At the very least, they've balanced movesets, added customization options, made battery saver work, and fixed a multitude of bugs.