Gotta Catch ’Em All

I want to be the very best,

Like no one ever was.

To catch them is my real test,

To train them is my cause.

I will travel across the land,

Searching far and wide…………..

You know that your childhood was awesome if you were singing along the lines here. Pokémon has been a very famous Cartoon, or as the nerds would say Anime, for many generations since it first started in 1995. Thanks to Satoshi Tajiri, we had a whole new universe called the “Pokémon Universe”. There were many games released related to pokémon, and many of us are quite familiar with the ones developed by Game Freak and published by Nintendo.

As the saying goes, “The best is yet to come”, Niantic labs established in 2010 by John Hanke as an internal startup within Google and became an independent entity later in 2015 launched Pokémon Go, an augmented reality mobile game in the year 2016. The game is the result of a collaboration between Niantic, Nintendo, and The Pokémon Company. Based on the GPS location system of mobile devices, players aka trainers locate, capture, and train virtual creatures, take over gyms and represent their team. Thanks to the new add-on features, trainers can even go for Raid battles in the gyms where they battle rare and legendary pokemon in groups to take down the raid boss, in an attempt to capture it. Also, they can try PvP or if they want to show off their entrepreneurial skills, even trading of pokémon is permitted. Enough about the features of the game as you will definitely find it explained in great detail on Wikipedia.

I remember back in 2016 when the game launched, it was the closest we ever came to world peace (just kidding). Since the game wasn’t launched in India at that time, I downloaded the app from Google directly (Not the Play Store). Although there were pokemon spawns, the poke stops and gyms were missing since the navigation system wasn’t functional. So with the minimum number of poke balls I had, I wandered around my Pallet Town and caught a few Gen-1 pokemon. If you are wondering what I mean by Gen-1 here, I suggest you read about Pokemon stuff through the amazing site called “Bulbapedia”. Soon after the game was officially launched my journey began as a Pokemon Trainer in the Augmented Reality world.

It’s been 3 years since the game launched and this week all the Pokémon GO players in the world are celebrating the 3rd year of its launch with special tasks. I wanted to point out why I feel that Pokémon GO is one of the most important games in the world.

Getting out:

Although all the games on your smartphone can be played everywhere, Pokémon Go is one of the few games that doesn’t allow you to sit down at one place. You have to keep walking and visit new places (safer too). Anyone whose childhood included video games in front of the TV will have heard parents yell, “Go play outside!” Well, Pokémon GO forces you to do just that. Since you get out and walk, you surely get some fresh air and sunshine, which is good for your health too.

Physical Activity:

Many of us try to motivate ourselves to do some physical activity so that we stay fit. What good is it if we don’t enjoy doing challenging exercises? Take running, for instance, I find running monotonous even though I have my favorite playlist plugged into my ears. Pokémon GO offers numerous incentives that encourage exercise. Players put eggs into ‘incubators’ so they hatch after traveling a certain distance (up to 10km), and can assign a ‘buddy’ who walks with your in-game avatar to collect candy en route (used to power-up and ‘evolve’ Pokémon). Isn’t getting rewarded while doing physical exercises better than not?

There have been several scientific studies which have shown that the proportion of people who played the game walked more than 10,000 steps a day. Another study showed that playing raised moderately vigorous physical activity by about 50 minutes per week and reduced sedentary behavior (such as watching TV and online gaming) by 30 minutes a day.

Social Interaction:

It may sound funny but it is true. I have met several people who play the game while I was playing it myself. While strolling around a park and catching pokemon you come across other players too in the same quest. And I think I don’t need to tell the rest as you can join the dots yourself.

The new additions to the game such as battling raid bosses demand teamwork, so individuals come together and form groups to take it down. To bring even more social interaction, the game has introduced Community Day (Global), Safari Events (Region-specific), where rare pokemon spawn for a limited time which can be 3 hours to a week. During such events, you can meet a lot of people playing the game and thus the purpose of social interaction is achieved.

To conclude Pokémon GO improves social connectedness by creating a ‘sense of belonging’ to a place, which makes it easier to have conversations with strangers and strengthens social ties, thanks to the technology being integrated into daily routines and a shared passion for the game — in other words, players share a common interest that provides an ice-breaker to sidestep awkward small-talk.

Exploring Nature:

Visiting the open countryside or a local park can feel great when you’re finding urban environments claustrophobic. Our busy modern lives can make an aimless wander around seem like a waste of time.

Through gamification, Pokémon GO gives extra reasons to explore green spaces. But with hundreds of different ‘species’ available, the chance of finding the ones you need can be low, and whether a given Pokémon is common in your area depends on geography; you find different species near water versus a desert ‘biome’, for instance. One way to help complete your collection is to visit parks, which are nests of particular Pokémon. Children’s lungs work better and have fewer respiratory conditions or asthma (that require hospital) when there’s less pollution. Green spaces are good for gray matter too: from testing attention and working memory, cognitive development is better when kids commute along green routes between home and school, with 20–65% of that link down to air pollution associated with traffic. As playing Pokémon GO reduces psychological distress in adults, it could help improve mental health.

Pokémon GO is the perfect game for many people. Over the past 3 years, I’ve made new friends in my neighborhood and been to raids at Hyderabad, Mumbai, Bangalore, and Trivandrum. So if you’re like me, someone who needs extra incentives to get fitter and healthier, and also a huge fan of pokemon, Pokémon GO isn’t just a game-changer, it’s a life-changer.

P.S. Niantic has newly launched a new game Harry Potter: Wizards Unite for the muggles to get out and play around with Augmented Reality.