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If you haven’t already, you might look out of your window one day soon and see hordes of people stumbling around, dragging their feet, aimlessly meandering toward a vast emptiness; an abyss of reality. This is not the zombie apocalypse; this is Pokémania 2.0. If attempting to engage a member of the mob while they are playing, keep in mind that the rules of social engagement and appropriate vocabulary surrounding this phenomenon have changed dramatically.
Pokémon Go is no joke. It’s an inescapable, earth-shattering, world-rocking force of nature. The app was only released in the US on the 5th of July, and by the 6th of July it had firmly implanted itself atop of the app revenue charts (a feat achieved in just 14 hours; 4x faster than any other mobile app in history). In a mere 7 days Pokémon Go became the biggest mobile game in history, and has been downloaded more times than Tinder has in its four years of existence. At its current growth rate, Pokémon Go will soon surpass the popularity of Twitter. Users already spend more time accessing Pokémon Go than Facebook.
The frenzy sparked by these cute but evasive Poké-creatures has seen Nintendo shares rise markedly since its release. It has also sent download counts soaring to dizzying heights with over 26 million daily users in the US alone. This will surely rise though. According to 2013 Census data there are around 175 million adult smartphone users in the US. It should also be kept in mind that Pokémon Go has thus far only been released in the US, Australia, and New Zealand.
But let’s rewind a bit, what exactly is this Pokémon Go?
Basically, users download the Pokémon Go app onto their smartphone, and then walk around trying to ‘catch’ Pokémon. Pokémon Go is an augmented reality (AR) game made by Niantic, the same people who created Ingress (another AR game) in 2012. The success of Ingress laid the groundwork for a collaboration between Niantic, Nintendo, GameFreak, and Creatures. Pokémon Go is the cataclysmically popular fruit of their labor.
Pokémon Go uses your phone’s GPS to transform your real geographic location into a Pokémon world. Everyday landmarks that you once walked past without giving a second thought to (blissfully unaware of their virtual significance), are now important destinations in the fantastic Poké-world.
The game is essentially just traveling around and ‘catching’ Pokémon, which are theoretically everywhere. Of course, there is far more to it than that. Although the basic game is free, you can use real money to buy cool stuff that helps you in the Poké-world. This proven freemium platform is why the game is generating close to $2 million in revenue each day.
At its very core though, Pokémon Go is fairly straightforward. The game makes only one clear and benign request: Gotta catch ‘em all.
The dark side of the moon
Not everyone is on board the Pokémon juggernaut. Police have cautioned players about the dangers of playing while walking or driving since it involves staring down at the phone. Motorists have reportedly wiped out sidewalk land marks (accidentally) mid-game. Additionally, there have been concerns that when players sign in to the game through Google, they are giving Pokémon’s developers access to private information (Gmail, files/photos/videos on Google drive). Players real-life movements are essentially being recorded wherever they go. It has been suggested that if it got into the wrong hands, this data could be put to questionable use. However, much of this fear probably stems from a chronic misunderstanding of how mobile apps work.
The game has been referred to as ‘Pokémon Go f*** yourself’ by some parents, who are suggesting that they spend enough time chasing around cute but evasive ‘monsters’ already.
For all of the legitimate concerns and scaremongering (be it rooted in fact or hyperbole), Pokémon Go has inarguably captured the attention of a significant portion of the world.
The magic
There are several reasons why Pokémon Go has quickly become one of the most popular mobile games on the planet (momentarily at least). For one, it benefits from millennial nostalgia. Many of these now-adults are probably still recovering from the bout of Poké-fever they caught in the late 90’s. Sales of handheld Pokémon games have been steadily declining since the megalithicly popular 1996 release of Pokémon Red and Blue, indicating that the virus has lain dormant for nearly 20 years. Some of these 20/30-somethings have been waiting the best part of their lives to catch a ‘real’ Pokémon.
The fact that Pokémon Go promotes physical activity (you have to go outside and walk around to catch the digital monsters), is a big part of the game’s success. This is one reason it has been heralded by all kinds of health experts and psychologists, and drawn critical acclaim from plenty of others. Zillions of studies have demonstrated that increased physical activity promotes physical and mental health. But it’s not just that people are physically active, the fact that they are leaving the house and interacting socially is a HUGE plus.
In the past week Twitter has been inundated with stories from players talking about their own experiences with depression and anxiety. The overwhelming majority are praising the game for its socialization features. They are motivated to leave the house and interact with all kinds of people; many of whom they would never have a chance to meet. We may well see a flurry of scientific evidence further describing the benefits of the Poké-phenomenon in the next 6-12 months.
The psychology
At a fundamental level, Pokémon Go scratches some really important human itches such as the need for competence, mastery, and achievement. The game also piggyback’s on some of our basic social desires such as connectedness and interaction. The human obsession with achieving while walking/navigating one’s environment (bird watching, bug catching, golf – normal and frisbee) is surely responsible for a considerable portion of Pokémon Go’s momentum, but the game also involves some very basic conditioning.
You probably all know about Pavlov and his salivating dogs. Well, in general, this kind of conditioning is super-effective. Pokémon Go uses the idea that if you reward someone for doing something they feel good about it and are more likely to do it again in the future. When, in the game, you walk near a Poké Stop (essentially reservoirs of free items), a noise from your phone alerts you and you are directed to a screen where you collect rewards, which enable you to do things that you couldn’t before.
Escalating achievement is an essential part of any successful computer game franchise. The idea of ‘levelling up’ is a proven technique for tapping into our naturally occurring reward circuitry. A 2015 study appearing in the journal of Computers in Human Behavior found that users were far more likely to engage with an app simply because it had ‘trophies’, than an app that didn’t. In-game achievement is an extremely powerful motivator.
Research shows that we tend to value something more if we pay more for it, or if we put more effort into obtaining it. The ‘IKEA’ effect, derived from the Swedish furniture manufacturer, refers to a cognitive bias whereby consumers place a disproportionately high value on items which they themselves had a hand in making. In Pokémon Go users are required to walk a certain distance in order to ‘hatch’ their Pokémon eggs. More valuable Pokémon require the player to walk further to ‘hatch’ than less valuable Pokémon. This simple principle is not only great for promoting physical activity, but also reinforces the idea that the more effort you put in, the greater your payout will be.
Are we in the middle of an epidemic, or a ‘Poké-demic’? Maybe you have the fever, or maybe you know someone who does? Don’t think wearing tinfoil hats and avoiding eye contact with young adults is going to protect you. Resist or succumb? Gotta catch ‘em all.
