Which is what makes Pokemon: Go so revolutionary. Pokemon was a game that caught fire in the late 1990's (after "Warhead candies" and "Crazy Bones" if I remember correctly as a fad that grew organically, without the aid of social media (which makes it all the more amazing given what we know nowadays) and shows how high quality it was: a great concept of allowing gamers to catch pet-like creatures called Pokemon in a fictional world, raise them as pets, and battle against other trainers, constantly reinforcing the gamer by "leveling up" the Pokemon as well as encouraging catching new Pokemon to add the collection, a perfect token economy designed to make the gamer play again and again. I remember being so excited to get the game on GAME BOY COLOR (it was sold out for a while at the local Target) and playing for 4 hours in a setting the first time I got my hands on it. Very euphoric time as a 12 year old, I blocked out everything else including my Mom's call for dinner, friends who wanted to play outside, etc. It was truly a social phenomenon: there was the TV series, the trading card game, it stayed within the stream of conscious of my friend circle for a long time, and had staying power: my sister became the next generation to get addicted to the game, constantly asking me questions about the game It definitely faded a bit as the online game got a little old, but on Thursday, it came back in FULL FORCE as an Iphone app, and then the whole world changed: it coincided with one of the worst strings of violence against African Americans causing outcries by the entire American population for more police control over racism, almost as bad as the OJ Simpson and Rodney King days from what I understand, but as the weekend drew near the Pokemon app gained momentum, and by today even I got sucked into it (the last bastion of defense, I consider myself immune to social trends but for the most prevalent ones, so if I'm doing it EVERYONE's doing it. People at work are doing it. My whole dodgeball team's on Pokemon Go and were trying to catch Pokemon during the dodgeball game. Walking down the street I can see people walking with their head down with the app on their scrren. It's incredible.
Pokemon Go is what every kid who played Pokemon as a kid fantasized about when they were playing at age 10 or 13: walking around catching Pokemon in the real world, where the Pokemon can be caught and not harm people, only each other (sounds really ideal, doesn't it?) I remember that exact daydream actually walking home from school back in junior high and just fantazing about what has pretty much been achieved today: catching Pokemon in our real world. It's got a little something for everybody: the nurturing petlover who wants to raise pets can get the cat-like Meowth or the dog-like Growlithe, the competitive beat-everyone types can enjoy fighting pokemon like Machamp or Hitmonchan, the people who just like cute things can grab Pikachu and Charmander, the stylish people can just dress up their Pokemon trainer and get different color accessories, etc. Not only do kids like it, but adults my age like it due to bringing back memories and let's face it, it's just a great game.
I can't believe I'm saying this because over the weekend I thought it was just a phase for people and that it'd fizzle out soon, but Pokemon Go might have some staying power due to setting up gyms and getting people to walk outside in the real world more: Go out there and catch them all!
Fantasize on,
Robert Yan
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