Pokemon Go helps players forge new social connections
SOCIAL CONNECTIONS: Game helps forge new relationships and strengthen existing ones
“Winnie from the SeaBus” is not a Pokemon, but for a Pokemon hunter name Murray, she tops his most-wanted list.
After a pleasant Pokemon-hunting encounter, Winnie and Murray went their separate ways. Now Murray is hoping to lure Winnie back with a plea on Vancouver Craigslist’s missed connections.
Pokemon Go is getting all kinds of people together, making apps such as Plenty of Fish seem positively quaint. And it’s not just love connections that Pokemon Go is sparking. Amori Mikami, an associate professor in psychology at the University of B.C., believes the casual social connections we make while playing the game could have real benefits for mood and mental health.
“People sometimes have the mistaken assumption that the only positive social interactions are deep interactions, but there is evidence that there are benefits for mood from light interactions as well.”
Not only is Pokemon Go getting people off their couches, it’s creating community and erasing divisions between generations. On Sunday afternoon, Carl Johnson, 54, was hanging out at a PokeStop in front of the Vancouver Art Gallery with his young stepsons Joshua, 13, and Jacob, 11.
For Johnson, the game has also bridged another relationship. “My stepdaughter is 17. The generation gap between us is kind of distant. I’m into ’80s rock and she’s into techno. Since we’ve been playing in the last couple of weeks we’ve been talking much more, we’ve even gone out for walks. It’s non-discriminatory.”
Alongside Johnson’s family, Ryan Singh and Vincent and Michael Johal from Surrey swapped information about lures, legendaries and nearby teams and gyms.
Next to Singh, 13-year-old Elise Lau and her sister Sydney, 20, of Richmond, quietly enjoyed the impromptu gathering.
Sydney, who grew up with Pokemon, says the game is pleasantly nostalgic.
Elise says she enjoys the opportunity to spend time with her big sister, and to educate her parents on how to play.
“Because the game is based on co-operation, it encourages collaboration as opposed to competition,” Mikami says. “When there’s a Pokemon in the area, anyone who is in the area can catch it.”
There is already an emerging Pokemon Go etiquette, with friendliness, co-operation and respect as guiding principles.
“If you interact and end up in a conversation with someone, that’s fantastic, but don’t be aggressive. Stay off of private property and outof-bound areas,” Johnson advises before turning back to his screen where a blizzard of pink petals whirls.
The petals mean a lure has been dropped at this PokeStop, and although Johnson and his stepsons, Singh, the Johal brothers and the Lau sisters watch on their own screen, they are all in this together.