I’ve been going on a minimum of two walks a day, jumping at the chance to run errands, and driving back and forth around town with my sister navigating in the front seat, all in the name of catching them all. On my adventures with Pokemon Go, I’ve run into more than a few concerned parents wondering how it all works.
The nightly news has been quick to report on the overwhelming success of Pokemon Go in terms of popularity, but they haven’t exactly shed the most positive light on the gameplay. Articles like this and this are quick to scare parents. While there are some genuine safety concerns, those incidents shouldn't be a deterrent from playing entirely. To give parents a better idea of what to expect from the game, I've compiled a list of the most commonly asked questions I've had about Pokemon Go.
What is Pokemon Go?
You might remember Pokemon from the 90s. It was popular for everyone with a Gameboy. If you have a kid my age, you might even remember them watching the Pokemon tv show, following Ash Ketchum as he travelled far and wide attempting to catch every Pokemon and become a Pokemon Master.
So what is Pokemon Go? Well, Nintendo capitalized on the popularity and nostalgia of Pokemon and created an augmented reality game. In other words, Pokemon has been brought to life and your kids can fulfill a childhood dream of becoming a Pokemon trainer. The app is an initiative focused not only on being a popular game, but getting kids outside, exploring, and exercising.
Besides collecting Pokemon, you can train them and battle them (non-lethally) at Pokemon gyms. I’ll go more into some of the details of the gameplay with the next few questions.
How do you play Pokemon Go?
If you want a full tutorial for the gameplay, you can find it here. If you don’t want all the details, stick with me and I’ll cover the basics. Pokemon go tracks your location using GPS navigation. When you open the screen you will see your avatar at your current location. It doesn’t show street names, and you can’t look up other locations, but you can see out to about a half mile radius around you. Your avatar is surrounded by a glowing, pulsing circle. If at any point you cross paths with a Pokemon and it’s within that circle, it will appear on your screen and you will have the opportunity to catch it.
To catch your Pokemon, you click on it when it appears on your screen. This will open your camera, making the Pokemon appear as if it's right in front of you. You then use your finger to fling Pokeballs at it until you are able to catch it.
Who hides the Pokemon?
People who haven't played the game before often have the misconception that there is only one of each Pokemon and that they are all hidden. That’s not exactly how it works. Pokemon are sort of like wild animals. Some are more common than others, and while you can expect them to be in certain areas, you can’t always expect them to be in the exact same spot. So it’s tricky to find them.
How do you know if a Pokemon is nearby?
You do get to know what Pokemon are nearby. On the bottom right of your screen, you have a list of nearby Pokemon. If you’ve seen them before, you get a picture of them. If not, you only get an outline. There are footprints next to each nearby Pokemon indicating how far away they are. There can be anywhere between one and three footprints. The closer they are, the less footprints that are shown.
Why does my child want to spend so much time at churches?
Landmarks around your neighborhood have been turned into Pokestops and Pokemon gyms. In my neighborhood these are mostly churches, public parks, and the occasional statue. At a Pokestop, you can pick up items to help you in the game. Each time you visit a Pokestop it gives you about three to five random items. You have to wait about five minutes to be able to visit the Pokestop again. Pokemon gyms are used to battle your Pokemon against other real players. For more information on how Pokemon gyms work, I recommend this resource.
Why is Pokemon Go so successful?
The game is very successfully immersive. It appeals to a big demographic, I’ve seen kids much younger than me playing and adults much older. It doesn’t pigeonhole it’s target audience, it’s completely free to play, and it has consumers that have been familiar with Pokemon for 20 years. It’s hard to resist your childhood dreams coming to life.
Will this distract my kids from school and other more important things?
I don’t think this came out in the summer by accident. With kids being out of school and summer weather it’s the perfect time for people to be out and about catching Pokemon. Additionally, to be able to catch Pokemon you really do have to get out of your house. It’s not something you can waste away hours doing from your couch because it’s very unlikely there will be many Pokemon nearby. By the time school starts up it is likely a lot of the hype will have died down anyway, and that it will be more of an occasional activity than an all consuming distraction.
Did my child say they wanted to hatch an egg?
Yep! You can collect eggs from Pokestops, and if you place them in an incubator, you can hatch those eggs for new Pokemon. To hatch the egg, you need to walk a certain amount, either two, five or ten kilometers depending on the egg. You can’t use shortcuts like driving around in your car to hatch them either unless you have a place you can drive very slowly.
Is this safe for my kids to play?
A negativity bias is plaguing Pokemon Go players, as is the tendency with the news. That being said there are some real safety concerns, but they are likely not as pressing as your local news will make you think.
One of the biggest issues with Pokemon Go was an armed robbery. This is definitely a scary issue, but hasn’t been an epidemic, just an isolated incident. The robbery was accomplished by placing a lure on a Pokestop. A lure is an item you can receive in the game that you can place on Pokestop. The lure will last for a half hour, and attracts Pokemon specifically to that location. Other players can see when a lure has been placed at a nearby Pokestop, so just as you attract Pokemon, you also attract other players. This is what the robbers did to attract victims.
To keep your kids safe, suggest that they play Pokemon in groups, go to places they are familiar with, and make sure that they are playing in a well populated area.
The other big concern with safety is kids staring at their phones and not paying attention to their environments. I can’t believe how big of an issue this is, but people have gotten injured simply because their eyes were glued to their screen. You definitely don’t need to stare at your screen all the time to catch pokemon. The occasional glance is enough to let you know what’s nearby. I also recommend turning on the vibrations for the game. My phone buzzes every time a Pokemon is available to catch on my screen when my phone is open. That way I can pay attention to what’s around me when I play. I suggest you tell your kids to do the same and stay alert.
How can I help my kids play?
Get out and get active with your kids! Go for walks, bike rides, drive them to the park or just drive and take the long way home. My mom has spent the past two weeks not only taking the long way home, but driving me and my sister far out of the way to local parks, back streets, and new Pokestops. It’s been a family bonding experience unlike any we’ve had before.
How can I capitalize on this?
Okay, that’s not actually a question parents ask me, but I’ve seen so many kids getting entrepreneurial with this and I feel like it’s worth sharing. This kid for example, made fluorescent Pokeballs you can pin on yourself for when you’re playing Pokemon once the sun has gone down. This helps you stay safe and visible in the dark. I also think I should start a dog-walking business. With the number of walks I've been taking every day I think I could start making some serious cash.
