Today was Pokemon Go’s third year anniversary, so my father and I went to an obscure temple in Toa Payoh to join the local Pokemon Go community.
When we arrived, a few people were already gathered around the temple patiently waiting for others to go and raid together. One of them happened to be my father’s old JC friend. I seized the opportunity to ask him and his friends politely if we could interview them. Fortunately, they agreed.
I quickly asked them about “Why do they play Pokemon Go” and “How has Pokemon Go benefited them?” I received many interesting answers. Many felt Pokemon Go helped them socialise and make friends with the people in the neighborhood. Others said that the game was a form of exercise. Running around the neighborhood catching Pokemon in three years helped one of them lose up to 12 kilograms! Shocking right? I interviewed men and women. Some people spoke in English, others in Mandarin. It was interesting to see people of different ages, races and genders coming together to play Pokemon Go.
When the raid started, everyone stopped whatever they were doing and focused on the raid. I also joined in, so as to know how it felt to be part of a Pokemon Go raid. Suddenly I heard a scream, followed by everyone cheering in unison. They were delighted that one of them caught the special shiny Pokemon. Everyone was so happy and celebrated together. I felt that the whole neighborhood's bond got stronger. If only all communities could be like this too... *sigh*
After a while, Dad and I had to leave while they continued catching Pokemon. Through this experience, I learnt that playing mobile games is not so bad after all! If a game is well designed, it can help the player to socialise, keep fit, stay mentally alert, have a hobby while having fun at the same time! It brings the community together, encourages people to walk about more, discovering new places they otherwise overlooked (e.g. the United 5 temples at Toa Payoh), make social connection, introduce new friends.
When my grandparents asked me, "Does Pokemon-GO make money?" I answer them emphatically, "Yes! 2 billion dollars!"
"Does Pokemon-GO make money?"
Pokemon Go is such an awesome app, I think I will use it as an example in my SST INC application...
<!-- Updated: 01 Aug 2019: https://www.cnet.com/news/pokemon-go-has-crossed-1-billion-in-downloads/ -->
<!-- Updated: 19 July 2019: I got into SST Inc! -->
<!-- Updated: 12 July 2019: Saw this on CNA website and felt that it belonged here :) -->
Howie Chia
29 June 2019
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