Kids are back outside again—kind of. It's been about a week since Pokémon Go was released, and it's been pretty obvious that the reception has been super effective. Nintendo stock surged days after the app debuted, and there is an exciting buzz about it on the internet. Being a Pokémon fan and a user of the app myself, here are my two cents about Pokémon Go.
It Really Gets You Outside
Pokémon Go’s main feature is that in order to play the game, you have to explore the outside world. Walking around outside allows you to encounter and capture Pokémon. Visiting popularly frequented locations such as local landmarks or stores rewards the user with loot. The most popular areas are designated as gyms, where users can battle other Pokémon in an attempt to control the gym for their respective team. All in all, the app fulfills its goal excellently; on a Pokémon Go trek of our own, my friend and I realized that the majority of people we spotted were playing Pokémon Go. In fact, a local fountain attracted 20 or so users sitting around, quietly ignoring everyone except their phones. The strange feeling of seeing people wandering around with their eyes glued on their phones aside, the app has definitely succeeded in getting people out again.
There are a lot of Awkward Interactions
When your local church or your apartment complex becomes a gym, there is a really good chance that there's going to be a lot of interesting situations. Interactions between two app-users can be awkward enough; while there are a lot of users who are very open and friendly, there are also lots of shy folk who would rather hide behind a building wall and crush your Pokémon from a distance. But the really strange situations occur between people who play and those who have no idea about it. For example, my girlfriend works at an animal clinic. There's a bronze statue of a bulldog on the clinic lawn that just so happens to be a designated Pokéstop. You can imagine the confusion and concern the employees felt when through the course of one work day, multiples cars drove around the bulldog for a minute, then drove right back out. Now repeat that chain of events every day. Luckily, one of the kennel workers knew about Pokémon Go, and now the occurrences are more annoying than terrifying. But this may not be the case with a lot of other locations. I'm sure that churches never applied to become a gym. Understanding that the demographics of the most frequent churchgoers rarely overlaps those of Pokémon Go users, the app has the ability to cause mass confusion and even security concerns. It'l be interesting to see how the app deals with this over time.
Some People take this (too?) Seriously
In my opinion, Pokémon Go was made to be a semi-casual app. Something that would compel you to venture outside more often than you do, but not something that drives your daily schedule. I have no issue with people who do take it seriously, but it's surprising how intense people follow Pokémon Go. I met a user who told me he walks downtown before work to snag loot and check out the gyms, and then checks on them after he finishes work. For some, this may be too much. For someone who spends disproportionate amounts of time farming and building prisons on my PC, it's not that big of a deal. However, I did think that a couple of guys may have been overdoing it when I drove by my church at 1:30 a.m. and saw them staring at their phones, presumably battling the gym.
The Big Winner: Nintendo
This next installment in the Pokémon universe has definitely been well received by fans of all ages. With new content such as player-vs-player battles rumored to be on-the-way, Pokémon Go has the potential to really become something special. For a company that has struggled to match huge expectations in the console market, Nintendo will be happy to ride this wave of good fortune and hopefully can spur this success into future projects.
