July 7, 2016, I started playing Pokémon Go. To be honest,
I did it mainly to connect with Emery. I joined his team, Team Insight (the
yellow one), and let him name my character (Stayoxiclean, in case you’re
curious). We would walk daily across the street to take over our neighborhood
gym (from Team Blue-Team Mystic). We would dash out of the house to catch a
rare Pokémon wondering out in our neighborhood, and we took long walks to hatch
eggs. He would tell me how to play more strategically and the college campus
where I worked was a treasure trove of gyms, Pokestops, and Pokémon. Our trip
to New Orleans that summer was especially fun as we had fun battling people on
street corners for a neighborhood gym.
Six months later, I had to force Emery to go on walks with
me or fight gyms. I would even get a gym to the level where he had to just
leave a Pokémon to get him to spend time with me. I couldn’t convince him to
join me during events and recently he confessed he removed the app a long time
ago to make room on his phone for other things.
And yet, I still play. And, I think I know why. I had a
fitbit a long time ago, now uncharged and sitting in a drawer. For a while, it
was exciting to count steps, but it just became too cumbersome to sync and to
wear what is not the most flattering wrist band. With Pokémon Go, I can still
track the distance I walk—and I get to hatch an egg at the end. And, there’s
something about the competitive nature; I enjoy walking for a bit, fighting a
gym or capturing a rare Pokémon, that is so satisfying when I’m having a tough
day.
I haven’t figured out the recent changes to the game—for
example, the battles and how to get coins, but spinning gyms and catching a
Pokémon each day has just become part of my routine. Unlike Emery, I have the
luxury to take out my phone a couple of times a day and that consistent action
has just become a habit, maybe even a healthy one.
Emery's Response
As humans, we
all feel the need to keep moving, whether its progressing in life, changing
things up a little or making the next move in a board game. To not move on is
like having it be your turn in chess, but you just do nothing. Not making any
moves, not forfeiting. It gets boring fast, and you feel like you’re losing
purpose. This is why I stopped playing pokemon go.
Pokemon
go is a good game. They defiantly changed some things that needed improvments
and it was fun. But like all good things, for me it had to come to an end. Eventually,
I stopped finding much enjoyment in it. It was very repetitive. My mother
however, enjoyed this kind of simple gameplay, and encouraged me to keep up
with it daily. I went willingly on walks, because while I enjoy taking a walk, I
did not play much pokemon go while on them. It took up a lot of space on my
phone, so about two weeks ago I just deleted it. I had to move on.
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