Unless you have been living without social media, internet, news, or people then you have heard about the augmented reality app “Pokémon GO” made me Niantic Labs Inc. This app has taken over the world, literally, where the globe is inhabited on Google Maps by Pokémon, Gyms, and Stops to get supplies and the player is meant to walk around and visit these places via GPS and catch the Pokémon that are around them. I’ve been playing it nonstop and it is turning into one of my favorite games. I can fulfill my childhood dream of catchin’ em all while also exercising and going on walks which in all honesty I probably wouldn’t have done regardless. It is also bringing people together, I went to a stop three blocks down from me and found 10-12 players also playing and we all talked and were very friendly with each other despite all being complete strangers, which is another thing that probably wouldn’t happen if this game didn’t exist. It has currently surpassed some of the biggest social media apps in the app store such as Tinder, Snapchat, and even Twitter and it’s still growing. But there are two select groups that need to be addressed involving this game: the nostalgic people acting as if they are more entitled to the game, and the cynical people criticizing the world for having fun.
The first group takes themselves way too seriously and they think because of the fact that they played the original Pokémon Yellow on the first Gameboy then they have more of a right to play the game than a kid who was born in 2002. As if they could control when they could have been born and that since they didn’t choose to play the old games they can’t touch the new ones. It’s a dumb way of being some kind of entitled hipster because you played the games in the 90s and not when it became a “trend.” They blame the server issues on little kids playing and probably kick sand into kids’ eyes when they see them play in public. They aren’t fun people and I’m upset that they are allowed to post their “only 90s kids” things on Facebook like these:
The second group is the cynical people, either young adults, or actual adults completely making Pokemon GO seem like a negative. With posts like this:
These are the kind of people who always talk about how bad our generation is and that we never go outside and talk to people and blahblahblah. But for some reason when an app comes out that defies those things, they say “oh it’s dumb and unproductive,” or they will say that because bad things are happening in the world we aren’t allowed to enjoy ourselves for a change, even though those things aren’t even close to correlating to each other. I’m allowed to be socially aware of what current events are happening while also walking to a Pokestop and catching a Dratini. The thought that it’s impossible to do that is ignorant.
I think the moral here to let people who want to play Pokemon Go play Pokemon Go without your dumb commentary. Young kids are allowed to play it, 20 year olds are allowed to play it. It’s a fun game and everyone is allowed to have fun.
