I would like to deviate from my normal line of thinking this week. I want to talk about something that everyone is talking about. Pokemon Go. For those of you who don't know, Pokemon Go is a mobile app where you walk around and catch virtual Pokemon in real locations. My husband and I are big fans of this game and actually ran into the problem of our wedding ceremony site being an actual Pokemon gym. I had to make signs asking to people to refrain from playing during the ceremony and those people obliged. That's a big reason why I like this mobile game — it has created a sense of camaraderie and solidarity amongst a niche gaming community.

My husband, who I will now forever refer to as Joe, since that's his name, and I are pretty big gamers ourselves, mostly leaning towards PC and Xbox One but accepting of all forms, including PlayStation, Nintendo, and mobile. However, this is the first mobile game we've seriously gotten into. Why? Nothing before Pokemon Go really caught our attention and held it. Now, I had briefly played Pokemon games in my past but as a kid, my brother was a big collector of the cards. The only Pokemon I really enjoyed was Growlithe because it was fluffy and looked like a tiger. My tubby orange tabby, who has been in all of my article photos, is named Growlith (Growly for everyday use). So yes, I am a mild fan of Pokemon.

The main point of this article is to put forth my opinion on this mobile phenomenon that has blown up in a surprising three weeks. I like this game, not because I, myself, am a gamer and enjoy this game but because of what it has brought to the community as a whole. Part of Pokemon Go is hatching eggs. There are three different types of eggs: 2 km (about 1.2 miles), 5 km (about 3.1), and 10 km (about 6.2). And obviously the farther you have to walk, the better Pokemon you will receive. This is a huge encouragement to Pokemon Go users to get out and walk. This has also sparked a huge amount of cheating, including people putting their phones on their dogs, driving very, very slowly through neighborhoods and even using old toy train sets to rack up their kilometers.

So what's wrong with taking the easy way out? In my opinion, Niantic, the creators of Pokemon Go, created these eggs as a way of encouraging people not to be lazy. To get out of their, almost literal, caves and go meet people. Poke Stops (places you can collect more Pokeballs, healing potions, and other useful items) are accessible only by leaving your house and finding them in your community. Local parks, downtown areas, and even strip malls have these Poke Stops and Pokemon gyms, which, in order to play the game, encourages the player to go out and interact with other players.

In this day and age, when we can scream into our headset at two o'clock in the morning at a couple of German kids absolutely slaughtering us at Call of Duty, I think this game is a God-sent. Now, as long as we are responsible game users, (i.e., if you walk off a cliff or into traffic, it's your fault and don't ruin it for the rest of us by blaming the game) this can be an incredibly fun thing that bonds us. As I've said before, as long as we play responsibly, we shouldn't let anyone steal our fire or our fun. Of course, there will always be people who want to spoil other people's fun by saying we're immature for playing video games but who cares? As long as we're having fun (and being safe, I cannot stress that enough), why shouldn't we have fun playing our games together?

To wrap this up, Joe and I spent our honeymoon in Asheville, touring the Biltmore and enjoying their wines as well as exploring the numerous breweries Asheville has to offer. We also spent the first half of one of those days walking around downtown Asheville, catching Pokemon, visiting shops that doubled as Poke Stops, and just enjoying the game. Many people get quizzical looks when I tell them about this part of our honeymoon, presumably wondering why we would do this. Why? Because gaming is something we bonded over and we had fun doing it, so, in our opinions, it was not wasted time. It bonded us, like a honeymoon is supposed to do and so, to me, this game is great because it encourages it's users to bond with friends and even complete strangers over some virtual creatures.

I recommend this game in small doses because of the aforementioned reasons. It brings people together, and as long as it is done in a responsible way, I think people should try this game out.