Thrill of the chase
THE ALLURE OF POKEMON GO HASN’T EASED IN LETHBRIDGE
In July 2016, the world was taken by storm by a new interactive game that allowed people to leave their house, wander through their communities, and interact with the area and people in it using their smartphones. Pokemon Go, created by Niantic, quickly became the number one overall mobile app on both iOS and Android, and became the most downloaded App Store app ever in its first week.
In Lethbridge, the game was widely accepted within the community, and years later the phenomenon Pokemon Go is still being used throughout the city, creating collaborative communities and mingling generations together.
Pokemon Go has over 20 million daily users around the world. In Lethbridge, hundreds of people take to the streets every day to collect them. Samantha Berard is one of the Pokemon Trainers in
Lethbridge and helps organize a group of people to raid together to collect a challenging Pokemon. Berard says the game continues to be a big thing around the city.
“We have a huge community. In the first raid chat that I am in, there is over 200 people in that, and the 2.0 chat there is about 150. The official chat ... there is more people out of that, and then you meet people who are playing who just show up,” says Berard.
“It’s growing mainly because Niantic makes the game have more things to it, making people more interested in the game. There is always updates to the game, and certain things get released determined by the weather.”
For the daily grind of capturing all the Pokemon — from easy targets to the specialty items that take many players to unlock — people flock to the streets multiple times a day or week to get out and battle on the street. Although video games are typically for younger generations, there are numerous older individuals who have found Pokemon Go to be a good after-work activity, or something they can share with their children.
“There is some of us that never knew anything about Pokemon, but there are kids in my life who were playing and said that I should play, too, and I got really hooked,” says Erin Phillips.
“It is actually very multigenerational. There are a lot of people who do it that their kids aren't interested, or their spouses aren't interested, but it’s what they do at lunch time at work or before work or just after, and I have quite a few friends that took it up because of their grandkids, because it was something that they could share together and was something the parents wouldn't do but grandma was willing to.”
With most games, after a few months the hype of the game seems to die, but for Pokemon Go, they found by releasing items slowly, and revealing new generations of Pokemon, that they would be able to continue to feed the addiction of the interactive game.
“If they continue to keep changing that game and keep you hooked, I can see this game lasting a long time,” says Phillips. “A lot of people said that when they hit level 40, which is the maximum level, they started getting bored with it and they were looking for things to keep them interested, then Niantic started changing things and all of a sudden they are interested again because there is some new stuff.”
Businesses around town have been taking advantage of the gaming foot traffic, such as the Nikka Yuko Japanese Gardens who released Pokemon in their grounds. For people to collect them, they had to pay the entrance fee to the park.
Recently, Lethbridge Tourism brought people who were raiding in the streets to their building and provided them with refreshments, while Shannon Phillips’ MLA office, during the Word on the Street Festival, took Pokemon Trainers in the area out from the cold, provided them with hot chocolate and allowed them to recharge their phone.
During early mornings, lunchbreaks at work, or later in the evenings, groups of people can be found clustered together in parks and other areas around the city. At first glance, the group of people may seem suspicious, but once the smartphones are noticed, the “catch ’em all” gangs are harmless and are just enjoying the outdoor, interactive and community building game. With continuous updates to the game, it’s unknown if businesses around town will take advantage of the steady stream of foot traffic around their buildings.
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