Now, I never got into the whole Pokemon thing because I just assumed it was for little kids, but maybe I was wrong. I’ve also never been too big on computer games. I’ve never played Farmville, or Candy Crush, or The Sims, or Minecraft,or any of them.
I suppose to some I must seem a dull,humorless type seeing as how I spend all my computer time arguing about politics, writing this blog, writing poetry, and….well, that’s about it, really.
So, I’m not the most qualified person in the world to be a social media critic. Nonetheless, this Pokemon Go game seems to be taking the world by storm, I’ve read a few news articles about it, and I’ve got some opinions, so here they are.
It’s a good thing that it’s getting gamers out of doors, interacting with the real world. A teenager in Wyoming, looking for Pokemon along the Riverside, found a dead body. A bit traumatic for her, but better found than unfound. On the other hand, some accidents have been reported (as dangerous as selfies or texting? maybe), and some people have figured out how to use it to lure victims in for a robbery. So, kinks are being worked out, and people need to be careful.
It strikes me that the reason for it’s popularity is that people do want to inter-react with the real world, probably always have, but it’s not easy in this age of alienation. This game may provide a starting point,a bridge for people who mostly know how to inter-react online. That,too, is a good thing.
It’s kind of like what Google Glasses wanted to be, i.e. a merging of the real and cyber worlds, but for some reason that didn’t catch on the same way. Because people like games. Silly, silly games.
Will I play it? Nah, still not a gamer. No appeal to me, I’m not even terribly curious. But, it’s an important social trend, so I’ll be paying attention.
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