Everybody today knows what Pokemon Go is. You download it on your telephone, and what you get is quite an abstract and not very detailed map of the world (roads and green zones) and your avatar (let’s call him this old school term) walks exactly where you walk in the real world. The app informs you when a pokemon appears within a walking distance. You find a slight move of leaves on the map, rush there and spot it with your camera. That’s how the real world meets the virtual one in a mind-blowing way: I see something that both is and isn’t there and I interact with it, throwing pokeballs into it. It might run away and I go chase it. Go. With legs. Chase something that doesn’t even exist. Or does it? To begin with, personally I don’t play it. Not because I dislike it, it’s just my telephone, old and slow, that doesn’t let me. However, my boyfriend does, all the time, so I am pretty much aware of what Pokemon Go is. Yes, it does irritate a bit, when all of a sudden we stop on the crossroad and miss the green light, because apparently we have run into a Pikachu, which is rare and awesome. It does drive me nuts, when after being peacefully seated on the bench, my boyfriend jumps up, spills my beer and starts running all over the park chasing some shining pony. I do feel like a Labrador, walking him by the hand to prevent accidents on the road. However, I still think Pokemon Go is a good idea, and here’s why:
- You get around town. Instead of staying home or hanging out with a couple of alcoholic friends in the neighborhood you get to know your own city. And you have to see much to catch different pokemons: some of them dwell in forests or next to the water, while the others prefer crowded streets. At some moment you are quite likely to get on a train and find out how wonderful it is 50 km away from home.
- Sights. If you want to get some pokeballs, you have to find them on memorials, palaces, museums and sculptures. And what strikes me most here is that the game kindly provides you with brief historical information about the sight. And that is how “this metal dude in a hat” just next to your house appears to have been an outstanding pilot and a hero of War.
- You do the walking or ride a bike. You sometimes obtain pokemon eggs and they need to be walked to crack. Some need 2 km, some need 5, some need more. And you might get some rare species like that, which makes walking really motivating. The app measures your speed, so a trolleybus, a car or a tram isn’t a substitute – you HAVE TO do sports to get your eggs cracked.
- According to statistics, children get into way less serious trouble because of the app. They don’t catch anything while driving (Pokemon Go tries to control that, by the way, by asking you to confirm you are a passenger if it realizes that you might be in a vehicle). Children also don’t jump into abysses in search of a rare type. For some reason the younger generation easily accept the rules of the game: they have no problem with understanding that the action takes place in 2 worlds, real and virtual, and they have to co-exist. People in their 30ies get lost way faster.
- There have been some situations with trespassing and mobile phone theft in America. Russian churches have already threatened to put pokemon hunters behind bars if they do it in the temple. Synagogue, however, presented a bottle of kosher wine to the first person who caught a pokemon on their territory. I guess, it’s more a question of attitude and common sense.
- I do believe this game has a huge potential. And what I love about it is that it is trying to eliminate the conflict between real and virtual. It doesn’t make you choose, it lets you combine, and benefit in both. There is a Canadian guy who was the first to collect all the pokemons. During the hunt he travelled all over the country and lost 20 kilos. And he’s not the only one! As for the victims, every novelty has some. Remember the first cars? People got killed, but nobody forbade cars: people just came up with rules how drivers and pedestrians should co-exist. That’s what should happen to Pokemon go and that’s what is happening.