Are you ready to catch ’em all?
You’ve seen them everywhere. Grownups and kids walking around like zombies holding their mobile phones up or down, searching for something and disconnected from their surroundings. Pokémon Go is an augmented reality based game that was released a few months ago and took the world by surprise. It allows the players to play a digital game in a real life environment.
The game is based on the idea of finding Pokémon. The player creates an avatar and is equipped with some items that will help him to catch wild Pokémon. The Pokémon will be found in different places in real life, depending on their type. The player is awarded by candies and stardust which he can later use to evolve Pokémon and raising their combat power. The ultimate goal of the game is to complete a Pokedex by catching and evolving all 151 Pokémon. Pokémon Go was downloaded by more than 100 million users worldwide and at the same time has caused a lot of controversies. The game was criticized for using locations like museums, religious sites, and cemeteries. Some users have trespassed private properties to look for Pokémon. Some even got into serious accidents by looking for Pokémon in dangerous places. You can get into serious trouble if you play Pokémon Go in some countries like Saudi Arabia. Back in 2001, the game itself was banned and said to be promoting Zionism as most of the cards displayed the six-pointed star. Parents were encouraged to forbid their kids from playing the Pokémon game. Banning the game followed the same route. In Egypt, the religious authorities said that it is “un-Islamic” to play this game as it would be to drink alcohol or do drugs, as it wastes the time and energy of gamers. The game was banned from government sites in Kuwait and Indonesia. In Russia, there were concerns that the game can be used by western intelligence to collect information about military sites. In some countries like Australia and Portugal, people were told that collecting Pokémon will not be considered as a legal defense in case of trespassing. They were also advised not to look for Pokémon in police stations, on railway tracks or to drive while Pokémon hunting.
The popularity of Pokémon Go is based on the fact that it has a feel of nostalgia to all those 80s and 90s kids and teenagers who watched the cartoons and played the game. It also allows people from all walks of life to look for Pokémon while moving around. Some businesses like cafes and restaurants have benefited from the nearby presence of PokéStops (or they’re being PokéStops themselves). National parks and museums got more visitors looking for Pokémon.
So before you start on playing Pokémon Go, there are a few things a gamer should take into consideration. The first one would be to get a spare battery as the game is more likely to drain your battery in a few hours. You should get Pikachu as your starting Pokémon. You also have to take into consideration all the different types of Pokémon and to optimize your team by using different types that have different strengths and weaknesses. So what are you waiting for? Catch’em all!
