Once upon a time, Nintendo made its' presence known through exciting games, including Pokémon, on their very own game devices. From their good ole' Gameboys, to the DS series and to their 3DS series — these game consoles kept people coming back to Nintendo for classics such as Mario, Zelda, Animal Crossing, and Pokémon. Part of the reason people kept coming back to Nintendo to buy their gaming consoles was because their classic games weren't available on any other gaming consoles. However, these days of Pokémon past are now over. Recently, Nintendo partnered with a company called Niantic, Inc. This brought a game called, Pokémon Go to the iPhone and Android platforms. So basically you can now play Pokémon to an extent on your smartphone. Lifehacker explains how the game works:
"The game works by using your phone’s GPS for your real-world location and augmented reality to bring up those cool-looking Pokémon on your screen, overlaid on top of what you see in front of you. And you—the digital you—can be customized with clothing, a faction (or “team” of players you can join) and other options, and you level up as you play."
This is different than the Pokémon games everyone is used to. There is no story line in this new game, nor do you play this game on your 3DS, DS, or even Gameboy. However, it's with you all the time on your smartphone. Now as a diehard Pokémon fan, one would think my reaction to this new game would be something like, "how amazing!" or "finally!" But this is incorrect. I am a huge fan of playing the Pokémon games on the Nintendo devices. However, when it comes to this game: make it stop. If you love the game, stop reading here. If you despise the game like I do, please proceed to my rant below.
At first I thought it was going to be a flop, especially when Nintendo launched the game with so many bugs and errors. However, slowly after its launch, I began to notice everyone beginning to play it. That included customers at my job, my fellow employees, random people out in public and many more all playing the game. But worst of all, my boyfriend downloaded the game. He did tell me ahead of time how excited he was about the game. But don't think I'm just being a mean boyfriend — he could get hurt potentially when stumbling blindly around his surroundings while staring at his smartphone. Plus it's just plain annoying sometimes when you are with someone who is buried in their smartphone, no matter if that's texting, tweeting, using Pokémon Go, or anything else. I try to have a conversation with him sometimes, and his response is usually either, "wait," "hold on a second," or "almost caught em!" If it's anything like that, I know he's playing the game and no real conversation will be taking place during that time.
The point is, I would just like to not see literally everyone walking around campus, the mall, the town, etc., buried in their smartphone while playing that game. Texting has never been quite as captivating as this new trend. The point is to not bury your face in your smartphone when out in public or with people. Your smartphone is not a mask, so don't put your nose to it like it is one. Instead of seeing your surroundings through the lens on your smartphone, lower it just a little and see them with your own eyes.
