By the time you read this, many of you will already be familiar with the latest digital gaming craze. Maybe you’ll have heard about it from the news, or from the grandkids, or the internet. Or maybe you’ll have caught a few Pikachus yourselves.
That’s right — I’m talking about Pokémon Go (PO-key-mon GO).
For those of you who aren’t so familiar with the latest augmented reality gaming app, here’s a brief summary. Pokémon Go, an app based on the Pokémon media franchise of video games and card trading from the 90s, is a game played on your cell phone that functions like a GPS, but lets you interact with your surroundings on the screen, and challenges you to capture Pokémon characters who could be hiding just beyond the nearest apartment building or neighbor’s swing set. The game generates characters and locations into play, so you could go anywhere to earn points and play the game. All you need is your smartphone.
This global phenomenon was unprecedented and sudden. Overnight, people all over the world became players in a shared virtual game.
Of course, there are the obvious drawbacks to this kind of phenomenon: too much screen time, not enough looking both ways before crossing the street. I read an article about two guys who literally walked off a small cliff while staring at the their phone and playing the game.
But there are some unforeseen positives to this new craze as well. At the local parks, there are people (not only kids) roaming the area in search of a rare Pokémon. People are getting more fresh air (you can’t wait at home for the Pokémons to come to you!). People are experiencing camaraderie with their friends and other members of the community. “Want to go to the park and play Pokémon?” is a text message I’ve received numerous times over the past few days. At the local college campus, the quad is sprawling with young adults roaming the field in hopes that a rare or “legendary” character will appear.
Other ripple effects from the game were unexpected. The other day at work, I registered a married couple for new library cards. When I asked them what brought them to the library, they said they’d lived in town for two years but didn’t stumble into the library until they were out searching for Pokémon.
Normally, I wouldn’t be a fan of yet another trend that keeps people glued to the screen. But I don’t think it’s another Facebook or Twitter. I don’t think it’s life-changing.
So, no; I don’t think Pokémon Go is here to stay. It will rise and fall like any digital age craze, delivering nostalgia for 90s kids and providing something for people to reminisce about in the future as “that time when.” So far, it’s brought people together for just long enough to have some fun.
And that’s the beauty of it.
