Pokémon Go, a New Form of Exercising
First off, what is Pokémon Go? Pokémon Go is an augmented reality or AR game using location and GPS features to create a map of your local environment. Players can explore public areas to collect items, catch Pokémon, battle gym leaders, and much more. It brings the childhood dream of becoming a Pokémon trainer and catching them all to life. While walking around in public areas, Pokémon will randomly appear. As you walk towards them you use the rear camera on your phone to aim and catch them as it also portrays the player’s surroundings. Doing all these activities will allow players to level up. Pokémon Go also seems to bring a solution to the exercise mix of making it more fun and interactive unintentionally.
How Pokémon Go Keeps You Motivated
After a long day of school or work the last thing you want to think about is exercising. You just want to do something fun and relaxing such as play video games. Exercising can be a lot of hard work and uncomfortable. However, exercise is an essential part of a healthy lifestyle. Our lives are very busy and demanding, at times it seems we cannot fit anything else into our busy schedules. Pokémon Go combines the two; you can play a video game that is intuitive and fun for social gatherings while getting in your exercise. The app on your phone sends you constant reminders about your progress and will send you positive messages sometimes saying, “Keep up the good work!”. In most cases, it is much easier to stick to a routine when you are doing something you find pleasant. Pokémon Go was never intended to be used as a fitness app but requires players to move around to different public areas to accomplish their goals. Playing the game offers a distraction to players of being able to achieve their goals without thinking about exercise, moving around so the exercise and getting in shape components really takes care of themselves.
Arguments against Pokémon Go for Exercising Purposes
Although Pokémon Go is a great app that unintentionally promotes exercising for players, there have been some arguments against using the game for exercise purposes. One of the points made was the addiction to the game where players are out and about playing the game much longer than anticipated. The result from this is a lack of sleep that affects people’s performance in the workplace or their studies negatively. Another point made was how players interacted with non-players saying their time interacting with them has been very limited compared to people who play the game. Player’s social interactions and who they talk to depend on who is playing the game. It creates this very exclusive community where people’s worth is unintentionally based on who plays the game.
Solutions to Combat the Challenges Pokémon Go Brings
Pokémon Go is not a perfect application by any means. As players, we need to think about these challenges and how we can overcome them. First, have limits on the amount of time you are on Pokémon Go. You should have about an hour of physical activity a day. So, set an hour at minimum and two hours at maximum to play the game. Next, play the game with only your close group of friends so you do not get overwhelmed by the amount of people you interact with on the game. Just because someone has more “friends” does not necessarily mean you are better connected. Lastly, discipline yourself. Do not let yourself slide and just say “five more minutes”. If you keep letting things slip it will catch up with you so make sure you say, “When the time is up it is up.”. If you do these things and stick to them, it will allow you to have a balanced life and give you the best possible exercising experience.
Pokémon Go Impacts on Human Behavior
Pokémon Go like, many other AR games, affects the way players behave in the real world. Many players have been using it while walking their dog, commuting to work, traveling, and much more.
People kind of multitask and incorporate the game with more activities in their lives other than exercise. While for some people it may impact their social interactions negatively, some people can use it strengthen social bonds with other people such as family members and significant others. The game creates this sense of sharing time and memorable experiences with people. Instead of thinking of using the game to exclude people who do not play the game, it is nice to get more people included in the experience to share a new common interest. The game also treats you with rewards and perks when playing frequently. This can be especially helpful for players who suffer with mental health issues such as anxiety and depression. It serves as a distraction when anxiety or depression hits by serving as a coping mechanism by making players feel happy about achieving their goals without needing to take it seriously. Overall, not only does it have a positive effect on physical health, but mental health as well.
How Pokémon Go Became Mainstream
When Pokémon Go was released in July of 2016, it suddenly became very popular with a lot of people and became mainstream. Even people who were initially not interested in the series started to play. Originally, Pokémon was only available to play on Nintendo handheld devices such as the Nintendo DS and 3DS at the time which not everyone owned. Additionally, Pokémon games are on the more expensive side at about $30–50 for a used copy of a game. Many more people own smartphones and Pokémon Go is free as well as incorporating the real world in the game with AR. Soon enough, it became a talking point for many people and was integrated in our lives. Many people have fitness goals, but never really put in the time and effort to achieve them so this game made that possible for people by being able to set goals and check their progress. People also can think about it more as play rather than work so it can incentivize people to play it. People started thinking of Pokémon Go as a revolutionary way to exercise and play video games even though its intention was never to be used for exercise and fitness purposes. The hype was short lived since many people were having issues using the app such as lags and glitches that interfered with gameplay. Although it may not regain the popularity it once had, it is still very popular among avid Pokémon fans.
Conclusion
Pokémon Go revolutionized the way people exercise. It created this unintended solution for exercising and fitness by making it fun and interactive for people by offering a distraction from exercise. It added another opportunity for people to find a method of exercise that works for them personally. Although, there are arguments against using the game for exercising purposes, people need to do what works for them. If Pokémon Go is working for them, they should just stick to it. It may not work for everyone or be of interest to everyone and that is okay. Who knows? Down the road there could be another iteration of Pokémon Go. Something like a hologram to make it more intuitive with the real-world allowing players to focus on the world around them instead of on a phone screen. Overall, if you discipline yourself and use the game responsibly, it will make your exercising experience more pleasant.
