Go to the profile of Grant Hosford
Grant Hosford
CEO of codeSpark and teaching kids the ABC’s of coding with The Foos (http://thefoos.com)

Pokégone?

Is the wildest ride of 2016 over already? Last week articles began declaring the passing of “Peak Pokémon”. How did we get to this point so quickly?

In nutshell…

  1. Pokémon Go gets less fun the more you play!
  2. You can’t play when you want to.
  3. Pokémon types are tied to specific locations — meaning you see the same Pokémon day after day at work, at home, at your gym, etc.

The higher your level as a Pokémon trainer, the harder it is to catch new Pokémon and the harder it is to find Pokemon at all. When I first started playing I could catch 4–5 Pokémon on the walk from my parking garage to my office. Now I’m lucky if I see one!

Like most casual gamers, I want to play Pokémon when I have a few minutes of free time. Mostly that happens at work and at home, but since neither place has a Pokémon gym, I can’t battle anyone. I can only engage in battles when I walk or drive to a gym and, believe me, I don’t need another gym that I never go to in my life.

In my first four weeks of playing Pokémon I caught 83 types of Pokémon and felt like I was making real progress. However, I’ve completely stalled out because I see the exact same Pokémon day after day at home and work. I have a job and a family. My ability to go to new places everyday is not high. I’m bummed I can’t keep finding new Pokémon in my ususal haunts.

Here Pokémon… Come out, come out whereever you are…

Can Pokémon be Saved?

Well of course, but some big changes need to be made. Here’s how to make Pokémon a game for the ages:

  1. Allow people to trade Pokémon. My kids (and co-workers) would love it if we could trade with each other.
  2. Allow people to battle 1:1 and/or allow them to build gyms. I want to battle with my friends and family and that means direct combat or putting gyms where I live and work.
  3. Create a special, if rare, lure that brings Pokémon from other countries to your area.

It’s simple really — create a sense of community around trading, allow 1:1 battles and create fun ways to catch rare Pokémon. Those 3 changes would make Pokémon a game that’s talked about 50 years from now.

Are you listening Niantic?