Unless you’ve been living under a rock, I’m sure you all are aware about Pokemon Go, thought I’d make a thread discussing this rather addicting game, thoughts, etc.
I’ve loved Pokemon since the Gen 1 days so naturally I had to get this on my phone. Initial thoughts: It’s a battery hog. If you’re going out for a bit to catch some 'mons, bring a battery pack with you. I was out at the local theme park today which seemed to be the perfect place to rack up on items and catching pokemon (many dups, needed for evolution) and a couple rare and uncommon pokemon.
While it’s dangerous to go alone (especially younger players), I think this game is a good idea, gets kids to actually go outside and go on some form of “adventure”, hopefully with some responsible guardian with them. For us adults that play like myself, it’s good exercise, just going out for a walk. When you get eggs, you have to walk 2km, 5km or 10km depending on the egg, to get it to hatch for a pokemon.
What I wish was possible: being able to request battle with nearby players rather than just the gyms. Would be fun to engage battle with a stranger when you’re standing in line at the park or want to battle it out with your friends.
Microtransactions: I know they’re there but it’s easy to actually forget in my case. I live right next to a pokestop, and was in an area full of pokestops today.
Game is far from perfect, been getting several glitches but I’m sure that will all get ironed out and look forward to whatever updates they have in the works.
i am NOT pleased with groups of kids and young adults parading through the street, faces down, not talking or looking, making cars have to honk to notice they are in the middle of the road.
I see idiots causing accidents by stopping abruptly try to get one.
its saddening and creepy to see a group together but isolated and not interacting with each other in real life… Forget that…
If texting and driving wasnt bad enough, now its 10x worse, and now we have 10x the number of oblivious youth with not a clue or care about the “real” world around them.
Police stations, hospitals, etc are all reporting problems of idiots going in to get some.
Not a fan of this at all. not.at.all… >:(
i like pokemon as much as the next guy, but the “players” ive seen are too dumb to be aware.
im looking forward to this fad to pass and be forgotten…
I’ll flip back over to the other side for a moment.
The first night it arrived officially in Canada, I fired it up and went outside. There were tonnes of like-minded people, and they were all talking to each other. A few groups shared tips with me. As I did a circle of the neighborhood I bumped into a few of the groups a second time and they stopped to chat me up for updates on progress or if I had any sightings or pokestops to report.
It was extremely social. Nobody was buried in their phones.
Made my way over past the community center, where there is a gym. There was such positive energy, it was unreal. Told my wife about the experience when I got back… she couldn’t believe it. I mean, it was seriously emotionally and spiritually uplifting to be out there sharing this thing with strangers, and everyone being so friendly and awesome and… engaged not just with the game but with each other. Not sure I’ll ever forget it!
Alas, all good things must come to an end or at least seriously wind down.
The game itself doesn’t remain compelling. It’s still fine and could inspire the hardcore to keep going for walks, but that initial burst of social gathering and interaction has definitely gone. Sure, there are still groups of people at the parks, but it’s not the same. They DO talk to one-another a bit, but the exhilaration has faded and it’s more about game mechanics than joy.
I do like it as an excuse to go for a “Pokewalk” with my kids (they like catching the Pokemon, but even they are not that interested in catching their umpteenth Weedle; they want to catch new and exciting Pokemon they haven’t seen before!) but a once every other day thing is all it has become.
Niantic needs to seriously up the engagement factor of the game itself. There are a million things they could do to make it more fun and more social, but they need to get there more quickly.
Short version: the initial rush was amazing. Then it died down and the game reveals itself to be a minor distraction at best. Still worth firing up, but not worth obsessing over.
I enjoy the game, but if everyone else at work wasn’t playing I think I would have given it up after the first week or two. It’s kind of become like a competition for us, trying to one up each other. And we step out for a few minutes here and there if there’s something rare in the area. It’s a pretty fun distraction.
