Pokemon Go: The Force of a new Social Culture
I wanted to do a quick write up of the amazing experience I was a part of today, before the magic faded away and the excitement had drifted. This is a feeling I never want to forget.
By now, it’s the second full day in the United States of the Pokemon Go official release. I had opened the app here and there (and at work, shh!), but hadn’t gotten a huge opportunity to really go out and play. After I finished work, I convinced my husband eating at the local mall was a good idea (and a good place to walk for Pokemon in the heat, in my opinion).
The first thing I noticed at the mall was the sheer amount of people with their eyes glued to their phones. I had never seen anything like it. When I glimpsed at the screen and saw the familiar map, I was in awe. I would elbow my husband in the ribs and hiss, “LOOK, they’re playing it, too!” At one point, I entered a particular store, and then spat, without thinking, “Oh man, servers are down again.”
“What?!” said one of the employees, rushing to the drawer by the cash register.
“Don’t worry,” said my husband, “she means Pokemon Go servers.”
“DUH!” the employee exclaimed, holding up her phone, flashing the Gyarados loading screen. “What else would you be talking about?”
We came home, I sat at my desk to do something else productive… and couldn’t get Pokemon Go out of my head. “Honey,” I said, “I’m going out to play.”
“Oh, have fun,” he said (as he loaded up the game and picked Squirtle).
I went to a particular historic shopping area I had frequented during the field test, and had the most amazing experience of my life.
Well over fifty, maybe even a hundred (I was there four hours, it’s hard to know exactly), people were walking and playing Pokemon Go, eyes glued to the screen, spinning PokeStops, and battling at the gyms there. The most awe-inspiring thing was when, eventually, everyone else realized everyone was there for Pokemon Go.
I don’t think I’ve talked to so many strangers, struck up so many conversations, and felt so at ease with groups of people. Ever. Suddenly, from a block away, you’d hear someone scream, “SCYTHER OVER HERE!” and a crowd of people would cheer and run in that direction. When one group would hunt out a rarer Pokemon in the area, people immediately started communicating with everyone else, until the collective en masse had captured it. At one point, a Blastoise showed up, right in the middle of the district, and the utter cheers and cries of happiness when he was caught was just inspiring.
“YES, YES, OH GOD YES!” screamed one 40-year-old gentleman.
“DID YOU GET BLASTOISE?!” a 16-year-old girl yelled.
“YES, YES I DID!” he sobbed.
I saw mothers with their children, entire families, groups of twentysomethings and more, all coming together over this. Over Pokemon Go.
Our area appears to largely be Team Valor, and when a Team Mystic gym suddenly showed up in the area, about ten of us locked eyes, realizing we were all proudly Red, and ran over there, only to reclaim it. It didn’t matter what team you were on – everyone was laughing. I haven’t felt like this since I was a child.
And Pokemon Go gave me this experience.
I’m pretty sure I’m hooked, and I hope you get a chance to experience just a sliver of what I did.
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