A weeks ago, I was gleefully making fun of colleagues and friends who were stopped in the middle of hallways and distracted while I was talking to them.
"You're playing Pokemon Go, aren't you?" I would ask, head held high with the righteous superiority of the dignified. Ducking their head, they would sheepishly look away, proclaiming their sins.
Seems silly, I thought to myself of the mass of twenty and thirty year old people playing a game that I vaguely remembered younger kids in high school hiding out in empty classrooms enacting battles that only they understood.
As I age, I have little patience trying to learn new and complex games that force me to talk to other people. That being said, I came home to discover my husband had been curious about the new Pokemon Go game that was getting a huge amount of press and I caught him, mid Poke Ball throw catching a little Caterpie in our living room.
What is a snob to do?Obviously, I teased him for a bit and then watched him play over his shoulder while we both tried to figure out the game.
Then I downloaded it.
Oh, how the mighty have fallen. Pokemon Go is strangely compelling, exceptionally addictive, very silly and fun.Not to brag or anything, but I am in range of a Poke Stop sitting at my desk at work.I could, if I wanted to, sit at my desk and catch Pokemon all day.
I don't though. Really.
Here are a few predictions about my future Pokmon Go journey.I predict that I will never actually go to a Pokemon Gym because I do not have data on my cell phone and I only have access to wifi.I have learned that it is challenging to play Pokemon Go if you are too cheap to pay for a data plan.
For those not in the know, a Gym (in this odd virtual world), from what I understand, is where you go to battle other Pokmon trainers. (I think you get coins if you win.I have heard that this is hard to do and the eight year olds will beat you up fairly quickly.)I also predict that I will lose interest in this game within a few months because if I play the game, my phone battery dies within an hour of loading the app and walking around wifi-friendly places. However, I am also open to the possibility of buying a portable charger.
Overall though, it has been nice to see people in Prince George who are suddenly braving the wilds of downtown and taking their kids to the park.
Putting aside, for now, the fact that graveyards and memorials should not be Pokestops and you really should not drive while playing the game, the game itself seems silly and harmless.To the other slightly embarrassed and reluctant Pokemon trainers out there, I see you trying to pretend you are reading an article from the New Yorker.
Great job catching the Jigglypuff. I got one too.
