I did it. I downloaded the Pokemon Go app and have been playing it off and on for the past week. My intent was to sit down and write up a blog post, but as soon as I got a few seconds to gather my thoughts, some other blog post or news article had come out covering, hyping, complaining about the very points I wanted to cover. It seemed that anything I wrote would just be additional noise. But, to heck with it…
I was intrigued with the game because of its geolocation and augmented reality aspects. Without knowing anything about the game, it first struck me as a virtual form of geocaching. It seems I wasn’t the only one, as seen in this Bloomberg article, and several memes posted to Facebook.
Some of my fellow geocaching friends have lamented this association with Pokemon.
What it does bear in common with geocaching is a search for a type of treasure, be it a virtual monster or a plastic container in the woods. Even before that there was Letterboxing and Orienteering. There’s something appealing about following clues or a treasure map.
But, on to the game itself…
When I first started with the app I was impressed with the level of detail in the maps. There was a game-like quality, but there was a ton of information, including general building shapes. In fact, it was almost a scary amount of detail.
Over the course of several days I found the game play to be unlike geocaching at all. These stupid little monsters can pop up anywhere, and you really don’t need to move too far to find them. The “gyms” and “poke stops” are another matter. These are usually located at public places, but sometimes they are a bit…off.
Amy drove back from the store while I looked at the app. We noticed that EVERY church along the route had a poke stop. I know some of these would hail this as a way to attract church goers. One struck me as amusing, though. It was in front of a very conservative fundamentalist Baptist church, of the type that usually preaches sermons against things like Pokemon.
I don’t know what algorithm they are using, but some of the stops are in inappropriate places like cemeteries. Woodlawn Cemetery near Vero Beach, Florida, had nearly ten poke stops and two gyms. There were two guys hanging out at the entrance, obviously having a battle. Cars were slowly circling the cemetery to collect more poke balls. When I passed on another day, I saw that a funeral tent was set up right where there was a poke stop. That could get very awkward.
My friend Keith Dover works at a funeral, and he’s had to run some folks off for playing the game. Other places have outright banned the game, like all of the Bon Secours hospitals and medical offices. Here are a couple more images that have been circulating on social media.
Some organizations have been embracing the game, though. There is a gym at the notorious Westboro Baptist Church, a group that I thought would be totally against Pokemon. The gym is currently controlled by a creature named “LOVEISLOVE,” a statement against Westboro’s brand of hate. Westboro has vowed to battle the current champ with their own Pokemon. That should be interesting.
I also spotted this sign in our local CVS:
Personally, I think all this hype will blow over, and the novelty will wear off. As for me, I’m still fascinated by the game engine. I would love to see some other use for the technology. I could see this same thing used for tours. For example, something like this could be used at a historic battleground like Gettysburg, where users go in search of information and trivia about the historic site. Or, walking down Main Street of a town, a historic photo showing how that location used to look pops up. This goes beyond simple placemarks on a Google Map.
As for the game itself, the cuteness and concept generate make it seem somewhat silly, which is one reason why it gets so much derision. Well, that and the inappropriate locations, and the reports of people walking off cliffs playing the game. However, my friend Ken made a good observation while watching people play this at Furman.
The campus was flooded with people, and many …. most had hand-held devices and were apparently playing the Pokey man [sic] app.. Some folks make fun of people playing this, and many don’t understand. I have a positive take. The Harry Potter books got people reading who were not avid readers. The Pokey Man game gets people walking and looking. Yeah, the obsessive looking at the device is about like zombie apocalypse, with the shambling steps. But, in actuality, folks looked enthusiastic and happy and were getting exercise in nature. Yeah; I’m a fan now … if for that reason if none other.
And I think, in a nutshell, that was the original intent of the game. If that’s what happens, then I’m all for it. Plus, it actually is fun to play.
Nah I’m good I made a lot of good friends by playing this game unlike well I gotta “catch em all.”
I see this post is over a year old, so maybe you know some of this by now, but the location of the pokestops and gyms were not actually based on any algorithm that is related to Pokemon Go. This game is by a company, Niantic, that has another game called Ingress that’s been around a lot longer and is still going strong. It is also an augmented reality, GPS-based game you play on your phone. It involves 2 teams (factions) playing against each other in what is essentially an endless game of worldwide capture-the-flag. It is extremely social, cooperative, and strategy based. The places all around us that are now Pokemon locations, are such because they were Ingress “portals” first. Niantic just used the same map that was developed over 5 years by the actual players of Ingress and laid Pokemon right over the top of it.
The other part I thought you might find interesting, is why these places are portals/pokestops/gyms to begin with when some of them seem so inappropriate. There is a fictional backstory in Ingress, and the short version is because “exotic matter” is leaking into the world at certain places called “portals”. Exotic matter subconsciously influences people to gather at these areas where it is most concentrated. People are drawn to places, inspired to create, and to be or do all of the best things that make us a human civilization. So under this influence, and at these portal locations, people gather to create, learn, worship, build, celebrate, and yes, even to mourn. This is why portals are churches, public art, architecture, historical markers signs, graves of important people, and local points of interest. They were submitted to Niantic by the players themselves over the years. When you look at it that way, it makes more sense, doesn’t it?
Ingress players have been going to these places for almost 5 years, quietly unnoticed most of the time, playing our game. Now, Pokemon players have come along en masse, trampled and disrespected many of theses places, and caused a lot of problems with bad behavior. They are, on average, a much younger crowd. Not that all young people or Pokemon players are badly behaved, just as not all Ingress players are innocent angels. It’s just a different demographic. A year later, a lot of the initial furvor has died down, thankfully, and the Ingress players can continue playing, as we have been all this time.
Aside from the people I have met playing Ingress, and friendships I’ve made, my favorite part of this game is discovering all of these amazing things all around us that I had never stopped to notice. I have learned an astounding amount of history from the portals and places I’ve visited. I get excited to read historical markers now and I frequently look things up when I get home to learn more about the places I’ve been. It’s fascinating. The reason I even found your wonderful website was because I was googling a place I saw today when I was out playing and stumbled across this. When I saw one of your posts about old mill cemeteries, I thought, “I wonder if he’s written anything about the American Spinning Cemetery,” because I discovered that one through Ingress, and sure enough, you talk about it here. I’m sorry I wrote a novel for a comment, but I love Ingress and the adventures it sends me on, and I have a feeling you’d very much like that aspect, too.