Pokemon GO

[Fireswraith]

Well Pokemon GO is undoubtedly almost upon us and soon it will be time to Go Out and catch them all! This will be immensely amusing to keep track of, see how many people you come across walking around with that GO plus wrist thing, etc.

[Jerba]

Well, I heard lots about Pokemon Go. But I find it a bit surprising that the press calls it an MMO, to me it just looks like the average Facebook game.

I guess for me, an MMO must be played on a PC; a smartphone is too casual. Then again, it looks like there are very elaborate game mechanics in Pokemon Go, so it's wrong to call it a casual game.

 

In any case, I don't see what the fuss is about. I consider myself an MMO player and I have played Pokemon on the Gameboy non-stop 15+ years ago, but Pokemon Go doesn't interest me in the slightest. It just looks like a grindy app with no real accomplishments.

In a theme park MMO like SWTOR, I identify with my toons, I can take screenshots, meet new players and killing a boss for the first time feels like a real achievement. Pokemon Go fails to offer those things IMO, which is why I'd not consider it an MMO.

Edited July 10, 2016 by Jerba

[Jeweledleah]

its honestly only fun if you live in a city. I'm out in a countryside and not only do we have almost no pokemon around to catch (you'd THINK they would like the wilderness, but nope) but there are no pokestops within walking distance (unless hour of brisk walk is walking distance), but nearest gym is even farther away. or they are close enough if you drive, but I thought the whole point was to go out and walk :/

 

and I'm not exactly in complete boonies either, its just mostly residential area where houses are not touching (standing apart? I mean they are close enough to see your neighbours and call out to them if need be, but far enough apart that you have some privacy and don't have to worry about waking your neighbours just becasue you felt like playing heavy metal inside your house at 3am in the morning). I mean... we have a mini shopping mall within walking distance, but are there pokestops there? nope.

 

I wouldn't call it an MMO though, it came across to me as a fun way to get people out of the house and walking and interacting while not so subtly encouraging their competitive natures into buying currency to speed up the process of hatching/reviving pokemon etc.

Edited July 10, 2016 by Jeweledleah

[Codedrago]

Dunno, all I've heard is news outlets complaining how this is gonna get people killed.

[Jerba]

Found another article about the game: Did Pokémon GO Just Reinvent The MMO?

Of course, console- and computer-based MMOs hinge on socialization, too, but in a different way. They're anonymous in nature [...]. That faceless, remote form of communication has never appealed to Nintendo. [...] Nintendo [...] prefers cooperative play in-person, face-to-face, and Pokémon has embodied that idea for 20 years. Players take their Game Boy (or GBA, or DS, or 3DS) along with them, trading or battling with fellow-fans in person. [...]

 

This in turn has led strangers united by the pursuit of a common goal to strike up conversations, share tips, and join teams. Pokémon GO players are, in effect, following the same procedures that players of standard MMOs do. The difference being that, aside from some limited team hooks, none of these social functions exist within the game; rather, they've come about as a side effect of the portable, positional nature of Pokémon GO. It is, essentially, an emergent MMO.

 

I doubt Pokémon GO will be nearly as long-lasting as a proper MMO. The underlying gameplay seems far too slight to support sustained play. [...] The fact that it cleverly marries altered reality and MMO gaming in a form that has elicited such interest (even temporarily) means it's likely to pave the way for even better, more fully realized, more successful works.

I agree with the article that Pokemon Go lacks the amount of endgame an MMO has, I don't expect tons of players to still be playing it in one month. But it'll be interesting to see if it has an impact on future games.

 

I'm sure the marketing people at EA and other companies are already envious at the player numbers Pokemon Go has climbed up to and will plan a response.

Edited July 11, 2016 by Jerba

[Jerba]

its honestly only fun if you live in a city. I'm out in a countryside and not only do we have almost no pokemon around to catch (you'd THINK they would like the wilderness, but nope) but there are no pokestops within walking distance (unless hour of brisk walk is walking distance), but nearest gym is even farther away. or they are close enough if you drive, but I thought the whole point was to go out and walk :/

I find this funny because the devs specifically stated that they had addressed this issue. But your comment (and what other players are saying) makes me believe this is still a major issue with the game.

 

(source)

We had that as a design goal. If we’re going to build a game that works with location, it has to be fun for people anywhere to play, in small towns as well as San Francisco. If we designed something that only worked in San Francisco, it wouldn’t be a real success. We wanted it to work globally.

 

[...] What people might be doing in very small, remote locations is still critical to the global game. We’ll find that a town in rural Mississippi all of a sudden has a global spotlight on it because it’s an anchor for one of these big fields. [...]

 

I feel like we’ve learned a lot of lessons from Ingress that we’ll bring to Pokémon. We’ll make sure you can play it everywhere.

Edited July 11, 2016 by Jerba

[Jeweledleah]

I find this funny because the devs specifically stated that they had addressed this issue. But your comment (and what other players are saying) makes me believe this is still a major issue with the game.

 

(source)

 

well.. they did... of sorts. our nearby small town has a lot of pokestops and several gyms. nearby however - is relative. I live in a pretty spread-out area, so nearby usually refers to driving not walking. and granted - we are talking fast driving, but it essentially means that to play, I cannot just leave my house and be able to enjoy myself immediately - i have to drive to location first. purely residential rural (or even semi rural liek where I am - like a cross between rural and suburbs) areas, I understand why they would have trouble with. what do you chose as a landmark? but even so, doesn't change the fact that you need to be in a city to enjoy the game. oh well.

[Jerba]

well.. they did... of sorts. our nearby small town has a lot of pokestops and several gyms. nearby however - is relative. I live in a pretty spread-out area, so nearby usually refers to driving not walking.

Apparently, all of the places were player-submitted from their previous game (Ingress), and then carried over to Pokemon Go. So it would make sense why some cities are heavily covered while other cities are nearly empty.

Maybe they will allow new submissions in the future, but obviously they'd have to hire staff to go through and check the submissions.

 

 

The more I read about it, the more I am convinced this game is a major hit. Going by the Facebook and Reddit likes, it must already have millions of players and it's not even one week old. Will it manage to keep the player numbers this high? We'll see.

This will also depend on whether they are successful in monetizing the game. Given how many server problems they are facing, they definitely have to invest some money to increase the capacity, and that's only possible if there are enough in-app purchases to warrant that. (Edit: Nvm, analysts are currently expecting the game to make $1.6 million each day. That's crazy...)

It's nice to hear the positive stories of people going outside and meeting strangers; I don't think there's ever been an app that had such a big impact on society. Obviously, there are already many stories of criminals abusing it as well. Looking into the future, I find it a little unnerving how a single addictive app can have such a big impact on humanity in such a short period of time. Kind of reminds me of all the dystopian stories where a computer AI is is controlling everyone to be a mindless drone, lol.

 

Edit: And another article about the game: Hype check: Pokémon Go says more about Pokémon than it does about AR

Edited July 11, 2016 by Jerba

[AshlaBoga]

At least 2 people killed trying to capture Pokemon since Go released. I don't blame the devs, it's human stupidity at it's finest.

[Jeweledleah]

At least 2 people killed trying to capture Pokemon since Go released. I don't blame the devs, it's human stupidity at it's finest.

 

it absolutely is, since you just need to be in general are,a don't need to be right on top. like... when I was out walking - pokemon technically showed up in someone's back yard, but I could very easily acess it from a sidewalk without trespassing of any sort, becasue it was within my scan area. I was also able to grab a couple while in a moving car (I was a passenger, not a driver - so no one was being endangered by that) - and once they are in a middle of battle - doesn't matter how far away you are from initial spawn point

 

last but not least - there is an option in settings, battery saving which also happens to notify you with a short vibration if there is a pokemon within catching distance , so you don't (and shouldn't) keep staring at your screen and can instead pay attention where you are going >_>

 

but... people will be people, sadly.

[AshlaBoga]

it absolutely is, since you just need to be in general are,a don't need to be right on top. like... when I was out walking - pokemon technically showed up in someone's back yard, but I could very easily acess it from a sidewalk without trespassing of any sort, becasue it was within my scan area. I was also able to grab a couple while in a moving car (I was a passenger, not a driver - so no one was being endangered by that) - and once they are in a middle of battle - doesn't matter how far away you are from initial spawn point

 

last but not least - there is an option in settings, battery saving which also happens to notify you with a short vibration if there is a pokemon within catching distance , so you don't (and shouldn't) keep staring at your screen and can instead pay attention where you are going >_>

 

but... people will be people, sadly.

 

Well if a driver kills a pedestrian because the driver is trying to capture a Pokemon, I don't think the driver should EVER get his/her license back. EVER.

[Jeweledleah]

Well if a driver kills a pedestrian because the driver is trying to capture a Pokemon, I don't think the driver should EVER get his/her license back. EVER.

 

and they shouldn't. because they should've even had their phone out if they are driving, with sole exception of said phone doubling up as GPS map. like I said, I wasn't driving at the time, but seriously the game no only has built in safety features, they even warn you while its loading up to be careful and cautions and pay attention to surroundings.

[Jerba]

when I was out walking - pokemon technically showed up in someone's back yard, but I could very easily acess it from a sidewalk without trespassing of any sort

There are plenty of examples where the sidewalk was not close enough and you'd have to trespass to catch the Pokemon, e.g. https://i.redd.it/napr0c0sks7x.jpg

 

And this video from Australia:

 

I think it's too easy to blame the players, the devs should have some responsibility as well. Just because they put a warning in the app doesn't excuse them from all harm. Especially considering how many kids play this game, who'll ignore those warnings anyway.

Then again, they cannot check each player-submitted location manually to see if it is safe to access, so hopefully they can remove the more problematic locations soon before too many people die.

Edited July 11, 2016 by Jerba

[Codedrago]

 

I think it's too easy to blame the players,

Being stupid doesn't absolve the person of responcibility for their dumb actions. If an idiot purposly rams his car into another one, I'm not gonna blame the car designer for not putting in extra effort to tell the guy to listen to common sense.

[Damask_Rose]

I've been playing this nonstop since I downloaded it. Walking with my son. Walking with my husband. Walking with my sister. We are visiting parks we've never been to. Our local park was Pokemon central yesterday. It was like one big party! My son felt like a hero when he got to lead a pack of college kids to the Psyduck we found. I'm thrilled to have my son begging to stay out walking longer!

 

I haven't experienced any server outages since the first day. We are having more issues with my husband's cellular coverage There are already announcements that new features and improvements will be rolled out soon, including trading. Best of all, I haven't felt the need to buy anything in the shop yet

Edited July 11, 2016 by Damask_Rose

[Jeweledleah]

There are plenty of examples where the sidewalk was not close enough and you'd have to trespass to catch the Pokemon, e.g. https://i.redd.it/napr0c0sks7x.jpg

 

And this video from Australia:

 

I think it's too easy to blame the players, the devs should have some responsibility as well. Just because they put a warning in the app doesn't excuse them from all harm. Especially considering how many kids play this game, who'll ignore those warnings anyway.

Then again, they cannot check each player-submitted location manually to see if it is safe to access, so hopefully they can remove the more problematic locations soon before too many people die.

 

so... don't go there? I mean... no one needs those pokestops or those pokemon badly enough to endanger themselves and others around them. common sense, people!. and seriously, if you are on a highway driving, don't have your phone out, don't play the game and for cripes sakes do NOT just stop the car to catch stuff.

 

yes, I'm blaming players, becasue players are the ones that chose to do something dumb like that.

[Jerba]

Even outside of the criminal opportunities, I found some concerns about the game, including a ton of negativity about the developer Niantic.

 

For their previous game Ingress, they did nothing about the numerous bots and cheaters in the game and they made changes while ignoring player feedback, which is many players lost interest in the game.

It seemed pretty arbitrary which Portals (player-reported locations) were accepted into the game, and why certain cities had many portals next to each other, while in other cities portals were declined because they were too close.

And there's the whole issue of Niantic using all the work players did for Ingress the past 3-4 years and making money off of it in Pokemon Go. There are some salty players in the Ingress subreddit, let me tell you.

Pokemon Go is far from ideal (high battery usage, lack of long-term goals), so Niantic will have to step up from how they handled Ingress if they want to succeed with Pokemon Go.

 

I know you Americans don't care about privacy but at least in Europe this is a concern; Niantic has access to 24/7 location data and can create movement profiles (they know where you live, where you work, where your kids go to school etc.) and in the fine print it says that they will share it with third parties for analysis. For a game aimed at children, this is worrisome (though many adults are playing it as well, I know) Keep in mind that Niantic was previously a project inside Google, so they don't take privacy very seriously.

What worries me most is all the marketing opportunities this represents. There are already some individual stores advertising with "Find a pokemon here" or "Get 10% discount if you are a Pokemon trainer". Giving how popular the game is, it won't take long until we see brands influencing the game. It's all fine if Pokemons spawn randomly, but what if they are manipulated? What if chain X says "Spawn all Pokemon next to my stores so we have more traffic and people will go shopping while they are here"? This runs counter to their claim of "Go outside, learn to know your city and meet new people".

 

I'm sure we'll see more criticism over time; for now Pokemon Go is moving so fast ahead that only few are thinking of the consequences.

Edited July 11, 2016 by Jerba

[Firwik_Howlo]

It kind of really bothers me that EVERYONE is playing this game. I've seen so many people talking about it that don't even know a single pokemon past Pikachu. I honestly can't wait until the fad passes and those people move on to whatever is cool next. Not long ago people made fun of me for being an older dude that still plays pokemon on my 3DS but now...apparently it's super awesome right? I really dislike people that jump on whatever is cool even though they have 0 interest in it.

 

Overall, It's a pretty fun game and if they add features like trading and battling it will be a really good game. The servers can't hold all the people playing though, so it crashes quite a bit. I will probably get bored since there isn't much to it but I think it'll hold me over until Sun/Moon comes out.

[MadDutchman]

And then this happens

 

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/pokemon-go-armed-robbers-lure-victims-game-trap-us-a7130431.html

 

Kids have been couch potatoes too long I think, got no common sense left.

Edited July 11, 2016 by MadDutchman

[Jeweledleah]

sigh. this is why we cannot have nice things.

 

on a different note.. am I the only one that disables location services 90% of the time? I mean... they drain battery like crazy, plus - yeah, privacy.

 

I turn it on if I'm playing (or if I'm using a driving ap, though I think I may just upgrade to dedicated device like garmin or something) but otherwise, my location services are off by default. (but I also don't keep the game running in a background, unless I know I will have an opportunity to catch something, and by opportunity I mean - I will have a moment to stop and catch without danger to myself or others)

 

I think I might be too casual for this stuff? :/

[DarkLordSato]

Yeah, I can see this being lawsuits waiting to happen. On the bright side, this has probably done more to combat child obesity in the week since its release than anything else has done in the past 5 years.

 

Fun as all heck though. Just started playing today and already addicted. Only problem now is my phone needs charging and I left my portable chargers at home.

[Fireswraith]

I downloaded it. I would play it if their Pokemon Trainer Club system was working and I could create an account, don't feel like signing in with Google. Using PTC seems more...... immersive.

[Codedrago]

I downloaded it. I would play it if their Pokemon Trainer Club system was working and I could create an account, don't feel like signing in with Google. Using PTC seems more...... immersive.

 

I downloaded it, but can't play because it just freezes on the 'Pokemon Company'' screen before shutting down..

[Fireswraith]

I downloaded it, but can't play because it just freezes on the 'Pokemon Company'' screen before shutting down..

 

That sucks. I guess just try removing and downloading again.

[Fireswraith]

So I see that when you reach level 5 and attack a gym you have to pick an in-game faction: red, blue, or yellow. Specifics about them can be found in link below. What faction any of you guys plan on siding with? I think I'll be going red. And I caught a pikachu as of writing this.

 

Should note that there's no way to change faction currently, I believe; yet.

 

http://www.polygon.com/2016/7/11/12148448/which-pokemon-go-team-should-i-pick