Pokémon - Pokémon Go - Pros & Cons - My Thoughts & Opinions (Extremely Long Blog - Pretty Much A Short Story)
9:44 PM
Since this blog is quite long I created an audio version of it. If you would prefer to listen to the blog instead of read it, you can do so with this soundcloud clip. I apologize for the awkwardness when I repeat myself or mess up. But if you like this, let me know and I'll do it for future blogs. Thanks!
My History With Pokémon
As a young child, I recall the very first time I had heard of Pokémon. I was outside at the school playground playing dodge ball with my classmates. It was when we were taking a break that a few of my male classmates were holding these cards and geeking out over each others handful of them. I advanced towards them curiously wondering what these objects were and what they meant. I looked at them. They looked like playing cards but instead of having royal figures on them they had these adorable yet fierce drawings and powers attached to them. I remember telling those kids that I didn't know what Pokémon was and they excitedly explained it to me. One kid in particular even gave me a card. I cannot remember his name at all but I vaguely remember him telling me that he had many copies of that card and that he didn't mind giving it to me so that I could start collecting them.
Eventually McDonald's started offering the cards in their kids meals and I used this as my ticket to getting the cards. My family is very religious and at the time my mom was convinced that Pokémon was extremely satanic and that I was forbidden to take part in anything related. Like any other child, I clearly disobeyed and went about clever ways to acquire my own stash of Pokémon cards. My neighbors were obsessed with the franchise and coined themselves as honorable fans. They had the cards, they watched the show, they had the merchandise and all of the knowledge. This was my way to gain any sort of knowledge.
I think I had around 40 - 60 Pokémon cards in total, including a few holographic versions and some Japanese ones. I vividly remember coming home from school one day. I walked in the door and my mom was leaning against the living room couch and asked me if there was anything I wanted to talk about. Growing up as a child, my mom and I were never close. We weren't very involved in each other lives. Unless I was doing chores for my mom, I pretty much kept to myself. I couldn't think of anything valuable that happened that day that was worth sharing with my mom and I also found it quite odd that she would ask such a thing. Puzzled, I looked at her and asked her what she meant when she quickly revealed to me the stash of Pokémon cards that I had neatly tucked away underneath my bed mattress.
My mom has OCD in the realm of cleaning and organization. To give you an idea, she would make me pull out every single soup can from the cupboard and organize them by flavor alphabetically and by code date so that we would consume them in order so none would go to waste. While I admit that it is a smart idea... as a 10 year old, it was extremely infuriating. My mom also had a habit of spending her entire day off cleaning and cleaning and cleaning and forcing me to join her.
Typically, when I didn't want my mom to see anything I was hiding, I would hide it under school related items and I would keep it organized that way if she looked at anything it wouldn't stand out to her or seem odd. As I grew older I thought that hiding things under my bed was a good idea but quickly realized that when she cleaned my room that was a dead giveaway to hiding things and so I upgraded to underneath my clean laundry in the dresser drawers as well as hiding stuff between my mattress and my bed spring.
For the longest time my mom never discovered anything I hid in these places until this very day. The moment she displayed those Pokémon cards in front of me, I knew that nothing good was going to happen. I was not prepared to make any sort of excuse about them so I fessed up and said that the neighborhood kids and some classmates as school were kind enough to give them to me and I was afraid that you would punish me if you saw them so I decided to hide them. I thought that maybe my honesty would let me off the hook a tad bit more than it would if I had lied even more. Unfortunately, the worst case scenario was exactly what I got. I thought that maybe my mom would shrug it off and tell me to not keep secrets and that it's okay as long as she did some research to make sure it wasn't evil after all. I even remember explaining to her that they're just like having pets but instead of taking care of them you and your friends battle each others pets and that they're just drawings and she was NOT having it at all.
I have many traumatizing memories of growing up with my mom and even though it sound so childish and silly this is honestly one of them. My mom marched me into the kitchen and handed me the cards. There was a spark of hope in me that thought that she was going to let me keep them but then she lifted up the lid of the trashcan and told me to throw them away. I looked at her in shock and all I could say was, "What?" She nudged her facial expression at the trash can and said, "You heard me. Throw them away. Now." And before I knew it, tears were flooding down my face. This was the equivalent of a child who had dropped their ice cream at a petting zoo.
Instead of being outside getting involved with swear words, drugs, underage drinking, sexual activity, or violent video games, and other inappropriate activities for my age... she was determined that Pokémon cards were going to turn her precious angel into a demon. What she failed to realize is that her mentality and actions are the reason why I changed my outlook on life and who I am as a person.
Defeated, I dumped the Pokémon cards into the trash can and sulked away. Clearly she had no mercy because instead of letting me go to my room to cry and calm down she pulled the cards out and threw them on the floor like that "52 pick up" prank. She told me to turn around and pick them up. I'm already a crying mess. I think the only time I ever cried as hard as I was crying in this moment was during my first boyfriend break up experience. So I'm crying so hard that my voice is cracking and all I can do is beg to my mom to let me keep them but no matter how hard I tried to convince her to turn this around she was determined to break me til I was nothing.
I was a very obedient child. Anything my mom asked me to do, I did it without question until this day. I felt like I was being punished for something so petty when I knew my classmates were getting away with much worse. I always spent my free time at their house because their parents were cool. I have never brought a friend over to my house before. Not a single time in my life. The only people who have ever been in my houses growing up were family that my mom invited.
By now I have the cards picked up and I look at my mom with bloodshot eyes. My face is red with misery and depression. Hatred is pulsing through my veins. In this moment I remember thinking - I wish my dad would have killed you instead. Looking back now, I regret thinking that because I understand that my mom was just doing what she thought was best and even though it is clearly NOT what was best it could have been worse. Her ignorance was clouding her judgement and my anger clouded mine. My mom was clearly fucked up from the 3 abusive divorces she was a part of. I understood that my father fucked her up more than anything else in this world. I understand why she is the way she is but I wish she had the ability to see beyond what she is and know that there are better versions of her that she can aspire to become.
I ripped the cards into halves then fours. I toss them in the trash can. This entire scene was already extremely slow motion for me like it was a movie scene from the most depressing movie I had ever witnessed as a child. I put the lid down over the trash can as if I were at a funeral and we had just lowered the casket and covered it with dirt. From age 10 to age 22 I had never touched a Pokémon card again in my life.
There was a strong desire for me to play because it seemed genuinely fun. All of my friends were playing the card game, watching the tv show and playing the game on the gameboy handhelds. I felt alienated because once the started talking about Pokémon I felt like the lone wolf who wasn't included. It wasn't that they didn't want me there, it's just that I didn't really know much about Pokémon enough to really understand or follow what they were talking about.
When I was 19 I moved out of my moms house and began living with my boyfriend. I love my mom dearly but she and I are extremely toxic around each other. She will never be the mother I wanted or need in life and I will never be the daughter she wanted or needs in her life. I accept that. We meet each other half way when it comes time to do so but that's all I can handle. I hope you understand.
My boyfriend and I have a lot in common and for a long time we played Magic: The Gathering together which is another TCG in the world. Eventually we started getting back into Pokémon cards because I told him vaguely about my history with them. He doesn't know this story in full detail but I did tell him that my mom made me throw them away and that she was extremely against them. I didn't feel like it was healthy or necessary to really dig up this emotional scar. As I write this now I'm only able to do so because I've been drinking and when I drink I become open and emotional and stronger when it comes to emotions and deeper thinking. When I drink alcohol, I use it as an outlet to learn and understand things.
Pokémon was pretty much dead as far as mainstream gaming and community goes but eventually Nintendo released Pokemon X and Y and you better believe we bought it for our DS XL handhelds. We played it together and I managed to get 3 badges before getting distracted by World of Warcraft for the millionth time. It's the only game I can get addicted to lol. Sorry not sorry. >_<
Pokémon Go
Fast forward a few years and news comes up about Nintendo partnering with Niantic Labs to create a game called Pokémon Go. At first I was like meh, whatever... I'll check it out when it comes out but I doubt I will get that involved with it. I had spent so much of my life avoiding Pokémon because of my past that avoid it some more was extremely easy. But on 7/6/16 Pokémon Go was released in the US and I downloaded that game so fast that nothing else in this world mattered to me. Day in and day out I was playing this game and I got some of my co-workers and friends to start playing it and then BOOM mainstream media was all talk about this game. My entire social media news feed was filled with Pokémon Go this and that and it was awesome. There was so much hype and energy and there was also a lot of complaints and backlash which is expected with pretty much everything in this world.
Pokémon Go is a mobile device app that allows you to play an adapted version of Pokémon on the go, thus its name. It grabs your gps location and your area map as well as your camera to generate the game map. From this game map your character can move around the world in real-time as you walk in real life to catch, power up, and evolve Pokémon that randomly spawn in the world that is fabricated inside of the app itself. It incorporates augmented reality (AR) to make it feel like the Pokémon are physically there with you in our world. It is new, exciting, and innovative.
Is it as good as previous Pokémon games? No it isn't spectacular but it is extremely fun and engaging. Pokémon Go reignites a flame that once burned very strongly in people like me and the people of my generation who grew up to know and love Pokémon on various levels. I am by no means a hardcore fan because of my experience with the franchise. However, since I am an adult and this is something very modern I was extremely inspired to take part in this game and I play it several hours every single day. There is something very invigorating about going around town and hunting down a Pokémon that you haven't collected yet and telling your friends all about it.
PROS V CONS of Pokémon Go
I would like to discuss the good and the bad of this game in detail. Like everything else, nothing is perfect and this game certainly is no where near amazing or perfect but that doesn't necessarily mean that it is bad either and here's why. Here are the pros and cons of the game.
PROS
Pokémon Go is good because of this very story I'm about to tell. When I moved away from Gettysburg to Mechanicsburg I had left behind all of my friends. In the neighborhood that we moved to everyone was elderly, adults with no kids, college kids, or babies. There was literally nobody my age. So I either had to hang out with preschoolers or college kids. I hung out with the college kids for a while until people eventually moved in that were my age. For a few months we would hang out day in and day out playing outside, bmxing and skateboarding or even swimming in the community pool. But like most people my age, families move and then move again and the process repeats many times. Once again I was very alone. I was 12 years old when I started becoming a recluse.
Instead of spending 8 - 12 hours outside, I was spending that amount of time playing on the computer chatting on internet forums and playing video games. From age 12 to age 26 I spent my time going from school or work to playing my computer to going to sleep. I would repeat that same process identically every single day. When Pokémon Go came out I was forced to go outside. Unlike some people who play the game, I don't live near a Poke Stop or a Gym. I have to walk 6 blocks to get to the first stop and then from there I can access additional stops and gyms. Since the release of the game I have walked over 25km or 15.53 miles. I suffer from mild insomnia and ever since Pokémon Go came out I've been sleeping better because I'm spend way more energy being active versus sitting at a computer feeling like a slob like I am writing this blog.
In all of these years I have been extremely anti social because going outside is an exhausting chore and I only go outside if I'm walking to work or going to get food. If I'm not doing those two things, why do I need to go outside? If I want to talk to friends all I need to do is text them or message them on social media. Pokémon Go has allowed me to get over this cesspool of depression, social anxiety, and introvert prison I've branded myself into. My co-workers and I play Pokémon Go together several nights a week and not only am I with people I am comfortable with socially, but we are having fun talking and laughing while exercising and playing game.
Pokémon Go is revolutionary not for its quality but its idea. It's the first video game that requires you to go outside and physically move in order to operate. So not only is it a video game, but it's also a social app for making friends and meeting new people in your area. Not to mention, it's also a great excuse to exercise and actually be outside.
If you look below I made a facebook post displaying my excitement for getting a sunburn.
I guarantee if you're reading this you probably get sunburn or tan several times a summer.
But for me, it's been 8 years. That's how little I'm outside. And since that day, my sunburn has vanished and I'm literally just as pale as I was before the sunburn. I was mildly excited to get a slight tan but it didn't happen. That just means I need to burn again a few more times while playing Pokémon Go lol.
Pokémon Go has brought me so much joy physically and spiritually. I haven't felt this much excitement in a very long time. Imagine standing side by side with the child version of yourself and you're hanging out together and you're showing them everything you've discovered since you were their age. I'm not going to lie, I'm crying right now because I feel like I was robbed of a childhood because of the things my mom made me do and the things she wouldn't let me do. I can't tell you how many times I was envious of other kids parents and how I wish that I had that kind of life. I know coveting is a sin and I try not to envy people anymore because the grass is always greener on the other side. You never know what kind of struggles people are facing and what kind of mask they are placing over the truth of what's going on beneath what you see with your eyes. Despite the amount of privilege I was given in life, I still feel very robbed of things. Is it a crime to ask why you were born into certain things? Why you were given a certain life?
Pokémon Go is a way for me to re-experience being a kid again since I cannot physically go back and be a kid and live my life over in a different manner. Like most adults, life is consumed by working an exhausting job that you either love or hate. But regardless of that, you aren't left with much free time and for most of us not much money either. When it is time to relax and unwind I want to do things that I feel like doing that I enjoy. Instead of obsessing over work and bills it's nice to feel like a kid again. It's great getting excited over basic things that exist around you. While I understand the importance of being mature and other things that are necessary, I also understand that it is okay to take a few steps back and live youthfully. Pokémon Go brings out the child in all of us who grew up with the franchise as well as those of us who did not.
I've been living in my area for 6 years now and I have NEVER seen so many people outside walking around, congregating etc... as people are playing this game. It is so amazing to see the kind of community and friendships that are being built because of a phone app. When I was growing up you made friends at school or you made friends with your next door neighbors and/or through your family. Now, you can make friends in other countries, who speak other languages, who have different lives, all at the touch of a button. As I've mentioned in other blogs, the people I know online, are closer to me than my own family.
Not to mention, I know so many people like me who are introverts or people with social anxiety, depression, or even obesity etc... who can use this game as a reason to step outside of their comfort zone and make a change in their life. When exercise seems like such a difficult task, walking around the area makes it seem so much easier because you have Pokémon to catch and eggs to hatch.
I've seen relationships between lovers grow stronger because they can spend more quality time together walking and talking while they are waiting for the Pokémon to spawn or the stops to refresh.
Local businesses are even gaining a larger customer base if the stops are planted in front of or on their establishments. Some are even playing into it by offering special discounts and/or services for people who are playing the game. So not only are players able to take advantage of locations to play the game, but businesses can also benefit from the increased activity to make more money and gain additional customers. If you're a local business and you have a stop/gym near you, if you're smart you'll hop on this bandwagon and advertise or find a creative way to promote your business to entice people to stop in and hang out while also supporting your business in return for their presence in the area. For example, the sushi restaurant we go to every weekend just so happens to be a stop. So while we wait for our food and while we eat we take advantage of the stop.
I can see Pokémon Go having SO much potential as they develop the game for additional areas. I have thought of so many features that they could implement into this game to make it way more engaging and fun and I'm sure some of them will come to life as time goes by.
However, I understand that despite all of the great things that this game as brought to our communities, there are some downsides and everything has its pros and cons.
CONS
Now I would like to share the cons of this game because there are definitely plenty.
First and foremost, I think a con to this game is that it's a mobile game. Society is already plagued with the whole concept of people being life-linked to their phones between social media, business, leisure, etc... adding this phenomenon to the mix doesn't really improve the situation. But to be fair, you as an individual have the authority to choose when, where, and how you spend your time being "plugged in" and being "unplugged." I think there is a healthy balance between being on your phone and taking a break. For example, at work I try to avoid being on my phone unless I'm on a break. When I'm out to eat or with friends I try to avoid being on my phone unless I'm in the bathroom. However, since Pokémon Go came out, we've been breaking this behavior because we're playing a game together therefore talking to each other while also looking at our screens is a mutual thing so it doesn't feel disrespectful or obnoxious. But still, it doesn't help that people are glued to their phones 24/7 these days.
Despite the fact that the game physically tells you to be alert and mindful of your surroundings at all time as soon as you open the app, people are stupid and will find ways to get injured or killed over anything. I'm sure someone has died doing something as trivial as sharpening a pencil or licking a stamp or tying their shoes. Every time something is released something bad happens. Hearing stories about people being injured or dying is bound to happen. I would like to believe that 99% of the time it is the user's fault for what happened. For example, if you stick your hand out at a lion and the lion bites it off, I'm going to blame you for being a dumbass and putting your hand out at a lion. I feel no anger towards the lion because the lion smells meat, and you are meat, therefore, lion eats the meat. What else is there to say? When I hear stories of people getting hit by cars because of Pokémon Go they were most likely looking at their phone while it happened and didn't properly look both ways before and during their crossing of the street. I personally put my phone down or in my pocket when I'm crossing a street to ensure that I have 0 distractions. Once I am in a safe area, I will look at my phone and make my next decision accordingly. It's one thing if a drunk driver runs you over even though they had a red light and you were walking on a crosswalk and doing everything properly. If that's the case, then shame on the drunk driver for their giant fuck up on many levels. But all of these people who are getting injured from the game are injured because of their own stupidity.
There is absolutely NO reason why you need to be staring at your phone to play the game. The game takes a while to respond when it comes to the Pokémon locations and the game shows you your map which is literally the same thing you're looking at in real life. If you need to turn left in the game, if you put your phone down, it's not like the road is going to jump away and change directions on you.
Please people - use your common sense and please be safe.
This might come off as ignorant and insensitive but I'm going to say it anyways. I'm glad things reveal the amount of stupidity that people have so that A) the stupid people can literally fall off the face of the earth and B) allow YOU to re-think your life so that you don't make their mistakes so that you become less stupid than they are or C) provide intelligent people something to laugh at because they're smart enough not to do anything stupid like the people in group A. If you've ever read the warning labels on products or read those outrageous laws that exist... just understand that the reason why it exists is because someone out there in the world was stupid enough to do something that required companies and/or lawmakers to create those things as a warning for the rest of you. Let that sink in. If you've seen something that made you think 'wtf why does that even exist, who is stupid enough to do that?' Understand that yes, there ARE people who are THAT stupid to do something like that and all we can do is pray that people stop reproducing those kinds of people. Nuff said.
The next con to this game is that the users were not in charge of the placement of gyms and the stops locations. For people who live in cities or major touristy areas, there are tons of stops and gyms for people to congregate at etc.... but for people who live on the outskirts of a town or live in a small town the availability is dramatically decreased or may not exist at all causing people to travel long distances just to participate. For example, I have to walk 6 blocks through town just to get to the first stop. I'm thankful that it's only 6 blocks instead of more, but it does suck knowing that there are people at college campuses or people who have gyms/stops right in front of their house and they never have to leave in order to reap those benefits.
Certain establishments and/or the people who visit those establishments are not necessarily thrilled to have the increased activity in their areas. While most places ARE very accepting, not all will be and that's fine. You have the right to dislike unwanted attention from people. For example, in the news there was this huge uproar because the Holocaust Museum is a stop and players were going there to participate in the game and people visiting the Museum to pay their dues or learn were greatly offended at how insensitive and disrespectful it is. I personally wouldn't go to a place like that to play the game because I understand where they're coming form, but I also wouldn't get mad if I saw people doing it because I know that they're just trying to play the game. However, players aren't required to go there so if they have other places available, I would suggest that they visit other options but if they're like me and they only
Fortunately for you there are ways to change this. If you send the company an email requesting a stop/gym location change or additional locations then perhaps if the location of the game spots are bothering you, you can request to have them moved somewhere where you see fit for them to be within reason. Likewise, if your area is very lacking of places to visit, you can request locations to be added to the map. Unfortunately, it seems like there are SO many people making these demands that you will most likely receive an email response telling you that they are currently not accepting any new locations because well... to be honest, they're busy releasing the game in other countries not to mention trying to improve the games behavior and/or meet the demands of the people who submitted their requests way before you. My only suggestion is to wait and/or keep trying and hopefully your call will be answered!
To break way from the whole "stupid people getting hurt" concept, I would like to acknowledge the concept of safety. This is the type of game where you MUST play at your own risk. Walking around in public to play this game is no different than walking around town before this game existed. You could be assaulted, robbed, murdered, bullied, injured, etc... at any given time. That is something that you must use your own judgement for. The game cannot protect you, but hopefully you do not encounter a dangerous situation and hopefully your local police enforcement is aware of the game, the stop locations and patrolling the areas to make sure that nothing bad is happening. Unfortunately, not everyone in this world is good and sane. There are many people out there battling mental illnesses that can cause them to have violent or dangerous thoughts and intentions and some people just grow up and learn to be evil.
I'm sure you've heard thew news story about those teenagers putting up a lure at a Poké Stop and were robbing the people who showed up. Where there is a stop, there is going to be increased activity from people walking and/or driving. The amount of activity will vary based on the time of day. When someone drops a lure there, it makes the Pokémon spawn more frequently which not only benefits the person who drops the lure but also any player who is at the stop for a total of 30 minutes. This is a great opportunity for people who are playing the game to connect and bond but this is also a way for people to become instant targets for malicious behavior and crimes.
The one night I was walking home from a Poké Stop that was over 12 blocks away from my house. Since the game drains your phone battery very quickly I was down to about 3% life on my phone until it eventually shut itself down. It was after 9:30pm and I was by myself. I'm a 26 year old female with absolutely no background in self defense. As you know, I'm a recluse who never goes outside so without the Pokémon Go map I am not 100% sure where I'm at until I see landmarks that I pass by frequently which thankfully, I knew where I was going to being in the dark didn't bother me.
I get to about 8 blocks away from my house and this car slows down to the block I'm approaching. The road is very dark but where I was walking was a very dim streetlight where you could probably make out my frame and know that I was a female but you couldn't see my face or the details of me for the most part. At first I wanted to assume that the people in the car lived at the house I was getting ready to approach and they were just getting home from something. However, the car was sitting still and wasn't turning off. Once again, for a moment I thought that maybe the people in the car were just talking before saying goodbye or maybe getting their stuff together like most people do. However, as I'm approaching the car, the car started inching backwards as if they were going to back into the space but I don't understand why they would have waited SO long just to do that. By this point I'm walking parallel to the nose of the car. I'm power-walking to make it seem like I am exercising and the car continues to inch back in sync with me. I look over and notice there are two guys in the car and the passenger opens his door and says to me, "Hey wanna ride?" I don't even answer him.
1) I don't accept rides from strangers, especially at night in the dark.
2) I cannot see the peoples faces and I have no idea what their intentions are.
3) My phone is dead and I am low key freaking the FUCK out that I'm about to get kidnapped, raped and/or murdered 8 blocks away from my house and I have no way to emergency call the police or panic call my boyfriend.
So I'm holding my phone in my hand and my shorts had no pockets so I'm playing it off like I had earbuds in my ears and I'm listening to music on my phone while doing a nightly walk/jog. So I continue walking for about halfway down the block without looking back because I didn't want them to know that I was aware of them beyond seeing a car there. At this point I think it's safe to pick up a jog so I'm hoping they are thinking I'm just doing jog/walk intervals and now I'm back to jogging.
In that moment, I was 99% sure they were going to get out of the car and grab me and do something malicious to me. I had goosebumps all over my body. My body is shaking from being hot, sweaty and exhausted from walking around town all night. I'm by myself completely unprepared for everything that is happening in this moment. I'm freaking the fuck out. I jogged maybe 4 or 5 blocks until I finally encountered enough lights and traffic to feel "safe" again. At this point I look back and I am extremely relieved to know that nobody is following me.
I finally make it to the corner of my block and a race home and the door is locked. I'm freaking out because in the 6 years I've lived here I've never needed my house key because there is always people home at night. Apparently my bf's family thought I came home hours ago. My bf is playing video games with his friends on a headset. I'm locked out of the house. My phone is dead. I'm freaking out having a panic attack because I could have been murdered 4 days after the Pokémon Go game came out and I did not want to die this way. Fortunately we have an annoying dog that barks at every little noise and when I knocked on the door, she started barking which alerted my family to look out the window to see who the fuck was at the door and it was just little ol' me. They repeatedly apologized for locking me out and I kept telling them that it was okay because they didn't know I was still outside and my bf failed to tell them that detail. So relay all of this info to my bf and now I have a curfew when it comes to going outside by myself. When the sun is going down, that's my time to book it home because being alone in the dark just spikes my anxiety through the roof. I was never scared of the dark until that night with those guys in the car.
Some of my friends said that maybe they were just other Pokémon Go players trying to be nice/helpful but woman's intuition tells me that they were not that kind of people. I always trust my gut and 99.9% of the time I am right and I was not going to be like "oh yeah, sure I'll get into your car strangers whose faces I cannot see at all - my phone is dead - so if you want to rape and murder me, you'll get away with it just fine!" /sarcasm.
If I end up saying out late now, my friends escort me home so that I'm not alone. Cuz there's 3 of us hanging out and they live near each other so they walk together going back home whereas I'm alone. So they take me home first and then they go home. And since then, my fear has diminished.
But please use my experience as a token of knowledge be safe when you are playing the game. Do not visit unfamiliar places by yourself and be careful when it is dark outside. If you have children who are playing the game please supervise them and play with them because this game definitely creates a window of opportunity for dangerous people to gain additional ways to prey upon people despite their age or gender. Always be alert of your surroundings. I cannot stress it enough.
This game can be so much fun as long as you play it while being smart.
One of the more less important cons are all of the server issues. The game is very new and while I think they should have spent more time stress testing and beta testing, they obviously thought what they did was enough when it clearly wasn't. The first few days were horrible when it came to connecting to the game and/or playing it. Then all this week it was working just fine until Poodcorp decided to DDOS them the same day they released the game in 26 countries. So today the connection was off and on but I managed to get a few hours of play in so I cannot complain too much.
Haters
This next segment is dedicated to the haters!
If you are someone who has little or no interest in the game then you are probably drowning in social media posts about it and I understand how frustrating that is. There are things that I have no interest in and when I see my pages being spammed with that, I get nauseated. I suggest that you either avoid social media until the hype goes down or just endure it for a few days until the hype goes down. By now, I think that a lot of the hype (in my experience) has died down. The news seem to be talking about it nonstop because of stupid people, hoaxes, and whatever else they discuss to get views.
To the people who think the game is a rip off off the "real" Pokemon games. You need to understand that Pokemon Go is meant to be a fun and casul on the GO type game where people can pick it up and put it down at the drop of a hat without feeling any sense of commitment or loyalty to experience and enjoy it. As I mentioned earlier, of course it is nothing like the actual games that we grew up with and it's definitely not as good as them but it's something new and different that we can get excited about and share with other people.
Many people are mega salty about people playing the game because those are the people who used to bully them for playing back when they were kids. I get it - being a nerd was considered a bad thing growing up. You were picked last in sports during gym. You had little to no friends. You were a part of the things the popular kids avoided etc... you were victimized, bullied, and shunned for everything that you aspired for and looked up to and all of a sudden in 2015/2016 being a nerd or liking nerdy things is popular and now you have this general distaste towards the people who suddenly like the things that you loved as a kid when they hated you for it. I totally understand where you are coming from, but hating them will not changing anything or benefit anyone. 60 seconds of being butthurt is 1 minute you're wasting when you could be doing something you enjoy. Instead of being angry and holding a grudge, you should be excited that more and more people are showing interest in the things that you are passionate about. The more that people like something the more that thing will be invested in. That's why they are bringing back older fandoms and creating new content. That's why so many Marvel and DC comic movies are being funded to be made. Because supply and demand runs the world. And if you want your fantasies to become realities, you need to inspire and encourage people to enjoy and share the same love that you have for these fandoms. It doesn't matter who liked it first. Just celebrate the fact that is is being loved.
To the people who think people are losers for playing Pokemon Go. You will sit there and criticize people for sitting on their asses and being fat and lazy but when they get up to go do something you tell them to sit the fuck down and quit trying so hard. What do you want? And why does it matter to you? If you don't like the game and if you think the game is "stupid" then that's your opinion but you don't need to shit all over everyone else who is actually having fun. This game is getting people to disrupt the boring schedules they've succumbed to over the last decade or so. Encourage people to make a change in their lives. Even when Pokemon Go dies off and people move on to other trends... I hope that the game has shaped their life in a positive light in some way or another.
I saw a picture on twitter today that made me upset.
Let's just discuss this for a second. This photo is saying that killing animals in real life is better than several generations sharing a common interest in a game collecting characters made up by artists. Do you know what is wrong with this picture?
First of all, not everyone likes to go fishing or hunting for real animals. I personally don't want to kill animals. As I've mentioned before, I consume animals unfortunately but I do no want to take part in being the one to kill them or hunt them down and extract them from their habitat just to take a photo saying lookie at what I did. If hunting or fishing is what gets you hard then you keep doing you boo, but that life is not for me. I am not an outdoorsy, mud-lovin, dump truck kinda girl. I prefer sitting in my computer chair destroying noobs. This suggests that I prefer video games. Video games are something that a LARGE majority of people take part in on some level. Some people like to hunt in real life AND play video games. Some families have parents who grew up playing video games and have kids who also enjoy video games and instead of having their kids out alone by themselves where they could get kidnapped or injured, the families are taking part in an activity together as a family.
So if you and your family enjoy hunting as a sport and activity that you guys can do together, then that's great. Keep doing it. But don't shit on people like me who grew up playing video games who want to continue that legacy into adulthood with or without kids.
Just because you take part in a video game or a social activity does not make you any less a part of "real life" than someone who hunts animals. Everyone has their own idea of what is "fun." What may seem fun to you might be really fucking boring or stupid to me. Likewise, what I like might piss you off and make you want to vomit. And that is OKAY. We are not required to like the same things. But disliking something doesn't mean you need to degrade it and shame people for being a part of it.
Once again, you should be glad that people are taking interest in an activity that they can share together safely. When I see mothers and fathers playing Pokemon Go with their kids. I'm not looking at a family who is staring at their phones instead of enjoying real life. I see a family who shares the same passion for a game that I do and that makes me SO happy to know that those children are blessed with parents who are doing the things I wish my mom would have done with me. It's bad enough growing up without a father in my life, but to grow up with a mother who is 30 years older than you that has nothing in common with you that does nothing but make you feel suicidal and empty... do you know how much that sucks? Do you realize how draining that is? I can live without a father... but it just would have been SO amazing to have a mom who would take me to the movies to see batman or power rangers etc... It would be so cool if my mom bought me a t shirt with my favorite video game characters on it etc... I am VERY grateful that my mom was kind enough to buy me a super nintendo. The only games I was allowed to play were Tetris, Dr. Mario, Yoshi's Island, Top Gear, and that Lion King game. Eventually I was allowed to get the GameBoy Color and the only game my mom ever bought for me was Tetris.
So before you go telling people that they're a piece of shit for playing video games outside on a sidewalk you should really consider the fact that those kids have parents who are willing to spend their night walking outside with their kids instead of sitting inside drinking or smoking or beating them up. You should be glad that instead of those kids getting involved with drugs or crime that they are sharing family time doing something that makes them happy just like YOUR kids are happy going fishing, hunting, or camping with you and learning the things your family taught you when you are a boy. It makes me so sad to know that in my entire child hood my mom and I had little engagement. No matter how many times I tried to get her involved with my school work or activities, she wanted no part of it. She didn't care about my grades. She didn't get me involved in extracurricular activities or sports. She never encouraged me to apply myself at anything. Everything I've done in my life is from my own drive and free will. I wonder if she had been the mother I wanted... would I be a better a person?
What are your opinions of this game?
What kind of experiences or memories do you have?
For me, it is bittersweet.
As you can see, my past has scarred me on many levels.
But despite those scars, I am having so much fun playing this game.
In fact, I picked up my DS XL this week and started a new game in Pokemon X.
And whenever Omega Ruby comes out, I will probably play that, too!
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