Pokemon Go Or Pokemon No?

The news has been full of the excitement and controversy about the new mobile app called Pokémon Go. Given that my last memories of Pokemon were of my 7-year-old son collecting cards and playing some kind of game with his friend, I figured I had to find out what this new craze is all about.

It turns out that, just like anything in life, there are some good and bad things that go along with Pokémon Go.

Created by a company called Niantic, an offshoot of Google, with Nintendo (the originator of Pokemon) as an investor, Pokémon Go takes players into the world of what is called augmented reality. That’s a fancy term for a program or application that interfaces the real world with the virtual world. Pokémon Go takes the original Nintendo Pokémon game (which evolved into the game that my son played with cards and coin-like pieces) into the “real world” location the player is in.

It works like this: You download the app on your iPhone or Android. You are asked to develop your personal avatar after allowing the app to know everything about you, including your location. From there, your avatar is inserted into a cartoonish looking version of Google Maps of your location. As you start walking around, Pokémon cartoon creatures begin showing up on your screen. You then use Pokeballs to catch the creatures. The idea is to catch as many different creatures as you can. The other features of the game include Poké-stops and Poké-gyms, hatching Pokemon eggs and even something with incense – presumably to lure the Pokemon in – all of which are too involved for a player of my age and limited knowledge to understand.

Since its release earlier this month, USA Today is reporting that at Pokémon Go has more than 21 million average daily users. The average amount of time that players spend per day using the Pokemon Go app, according to Survey Monkey, is 33 minutes (compared to 28 minutes per day for Facebook). That’s right.  In fewer than two weeks, Pokémon Go has taken over Facebook as the top application. At its peak, the Candy Crush game was only seeing 20 million daily users.

To say that Pokemon Go is the latest craze would be an understatement.

People are having a blast with Pokémon Go.  Reports are that college campuses, filled with those 7-year-olds who are now college students, are being taken over by Pokémon Go players. Reviews report that the benefits of the game are both physical, social and intellectual. The game gets players off their couches, out of their homes and walking around their neighborhoods. Considering that the nexus for Pokémon Go started with a decidedly couch friendly video game that people played on their screens, this is pretty amazing. The game involves strategy and decision-making and problem-solving skills. The game, reportedly, is also facilitating socialization as Pokémon Go players are walking around, meeting up with other players and even participating in some friendly competition through Pokémon Go teams.

Of course reading about a guy who had his face in his hand, walking around looking at his phone screen, who then fell off a cliff suggests there might be need to be some caution in playing.

Since the release of the game, there have been a variety of positive reviews and negative concerns. In addition to complaints about server down time and the battery and data consumption of playing a game on our handheld devices, there have been issues that have bubbled out of the virtual world and into real life.  Since special Pokémon or those of higher “value” in the game can be found near real-life water or art or historical attractions, there have been complaints about people wandering through the Holocaust Museum in Washington DC or the 9/11 Memorial searching for Pokemon.  

It was reported that at least one guy was busted for cheating on his partner when she saw that he had been collecting Pokémon at his ex’s house. One bakery, hopefully in jest, listed pricing for their baked goods dependent on the customer’s Pokémon Go team.

Then, there was the kid who found a dead body floating in pond while he was searching for Pokémon.  And the reports about the man who started shooting at Pokémon Go players who had gathered outside of his house. Authorities are reporting car accidents caused not by texting and driving, but by people on their phones searching for Pokémon.  

And then there are the criminal elements. Within what seemed like hours of the game’s release, people with negative intent were using the fact that people are out and about, searching for cartoon creatures overlaid on their phone maps, to do harm to others.  

The game was released just 12 days ago on July 6, 2016.

As a leisure and recreation professional, I like the idea of people getting out, getting exercise and exploring their environments as long as we do it with some forethought and some caution. The benefits of mixing technology with real life experience have already been documented with programs like geocaching. I have friends with younger kids who say that this summer, more than others, their kids have been outside more and riding bikes more, just looking for Pokemon. It is apparently a fun activity to do as a family. The app has a feature that allows players to put their phones on a setting that will vibrate when a Pokémon is near so it can be played without the need to keep your nose in your screen. Mixing a trip to a local museum or park with Pokémon might spark interest in those activities for the future – without looking for Pokémon.  

With each new technological advance and greater interaction with the virtual world, I note how much closer we are getting to the Jetsons, that futuristic cartoon that some of us watched as kids. Handheld devices. Augmented reality. Pokémon Go.