Pokemon in the Park

Nice shot. I'm in two minds about this craze. True it gets the kids out and about but what is the point if they don't LOOK when they are there? I was at the totem pole at Virginia Water yesterday (I won't bomb Dale's thread with a shot) and there were kids there catching Pokemon who never gave it a second glance.

I was also in London on Saturday and the frequency of being barged by screen-gawkers has increased three- or fourfold.

Finally, businesses are learning how to monetise the game by using the lures to attract Pokemon - and thus players with buying power - to their shop and cafés. They can even pay for the "service".

Is it any different to munro-bagging, or train-spotting? Time will tell, but this will not end well, mark my words...
 
Nice shot. I'm in two minds about this craze. True it gets the kids out and about but what is the point if they don't LOOK when they are there? I was at the totem pole at Virginia Water yesterday (I won't bomb Dale's thread with a shot) and there were kids there catching Pokemon who never gave it a second glance.

I was also in London on Saturday and the frequency of being barged by screen-gawkers has increased three- or fourfold.

Finally, businesses are learning how to monetise the game by using the lures to attract Pokemon - and thus players with buying power - to their shop and cafés. They can even pay for the "service".

Is it any different to munro-bagging, or train-spotting? Time will tell, but this will not end well, mark my words...

It's not too late to add a photo or two here - please do. And I won't say anything other than google pokemon and oliver stone (and don't panic).

Edit: This was the unusual case BTW. Most of the time they are up walking around like characters in a zombie film.
 
I'm not of two minds about this stuff. I guess it's a sort of imaginative way to use the technology, but I think it's an insane waste of time. And an insane waste of a LOT of time from what I've seen. Even in my little town, it's overwhelming. Hopefully it'll burn out as quickly as it started. But no doubt there will be many others trying to cash in on the tech in similar ways. Oh joy...

-Ray
 
I wish there were a way for people to see into the future and see the eventual news story about how in it's first year, virtual reality based games was responsible for the deaths of over 100 people. On the news the other day here there was a story of a kid who rear-ended a police car..... he was playing while driving. Another story of a group of 3 kids who walked into traffic without looking while they were playing.
 
I'm not of two minds about this stuff. I guess it's a sort of imaginative way to use the technology, but I think it's an insane waste of time. And an insane waste of a LOT of time from what I've seen. Even in my little town, it's overwhelming. Hopefully it'll burn out as quickly as it started. But no doubt there will be many others trying to cash in on the tech in similar ways. Oh joy...
-Ray

It is most interesting.
 
I wish there were a way for people to see into the future and see the eventual news story about how in it's first year, virtual reality based games was responsible for the deaths of over 100 people. On the news the other day here there was a story of a kid who rear-ended a police car..... he was playing while driving. Another story of a group of 3 kids who walked into traffic without looking while they were playing.
Or people creating attractions in the game to lure people to areas where they can be easily ripped off or worse. Or businesses using it to bring people into their place of business to sell them stuff. It's insidious. The downsides are getting more and more evident, but what's the upside?

-Ray
 
Or people creating attractions in the game to lure people to areas where they can be easily ripped off or worse. Or businesses using it to bring people into their place of business to sell them stuff. It's insidious. The downsides are getting more and more evident, but what's the upside?
-Ray

Some of these thoughts raise the issue of criminal use to lure unsuspecting users into traps, so it's not just unethical use for dubious business practices. One source, Silicon Beat I think, noted that more than 200 fake or cloned Pokemon apps were available in 21 app stores at one time. I wouldn't bet that all fake apps will be removed, and I wouldn't bet against a lot of users downloading fake apps even though they already have a Pokemon app installed. People who use apps on cellphones will often get several versions of types of apps - photo capture, photo process, photo storage - and I'd guess having more than one Pokemon app installed would be common.
 
It's a typical Generation Snowflake reaction to having to do something that would require commitment - in this case time - to achieve something they want. The sense of entitlement is beyond belief. With the recent EU referendum in the UK there was a big hoo-hah because the deadline for registering to vote was extended by 48 hours. Statistics showed that those who were complaining that they hadn't been able to register by the original deadline were 18-25. Equally, when the vote actually happened the 18-25 year olds were the age group who got out and voted least, then complained most about the consequences to them of "Brexit".

It is those same 18-25 year olds who have now gone quiet because they are absorbed and wandering the streets with their noses a few inches from their 'phones trying to catch Pokemon... Two of my three kids are in this age band; the third is slightly older but still behaves the same. It's hard to explain, or understand, for an old fart like me but there is an attitude of certainty that the party will not start until they arrive. If it does, they are unreasonably upset. The concept of being somewhere by a particular time or filling in an application form by a deadline is alien to them. I sincerely wonder to what extent it is a consequence of playing computer games where you can always be resurrected or start a level again. Life in those games is consequence-free - the exact opposite of life in the real world.

Sorry, droning on.
 
It's a typical Generation Snowflake reaction to having to do something that would require commitment - in this case time - to achieve something they want. The sense of entitlement is beyond belief. With the recent EU referendum in the UK there was a big hoo-hah because the deadline for registering to vote was extended by 48 hours. Statistics showed that those who were complaining that they hadn't been able to register by the original deadline were 18-25. Equally, when the vote actually happened the 18-25 year olds were the age group who got out and voted least, then complained most about the consequences to them of "Brexit".

It is those same 18-25 year olds who have now gone quiet because they are absorbed and wandering the streets with their noses a few inches from their 'phones trying to catch Pokemon... Two of my three kids are in this age band; the third is slightly older but still behaves the same. It's hard to explain, or understand, for an old fart like me but there is an attitude of certainty that the party will not start until they arrive. If it does, they are unreasonably upset. The concept of being somewhere by a particular time or filling in an application form by a deadline is alien to them. I sincerely wonder to what extent it is a consequence of playing computer games where you can always be resurrected or start a level again. Life in those games is consequence-free - the exact opposite of life in the real world.

Sorry, droning on.
Bill, you sound like the angry old grandpa yelling at the neighborhood kids to "stay off of my lawn"!!!! And I feel exactly the same way... :eek-54: :eek-54: :eek-54: My two daughters are a little older than that demographic slice, and somehow seem to have escaped the worst of it. My older was never like that and my younger was briefly, but saw what a twit she was being and grew out of it pretty quickly. Not to venture too far into politics, but I think a similar phenomenon is part of what's at work in the US Democratic Party as seen in their convention last night. There are those who seem to feel that if they don't get everything they want, they haven't gotten anything... But like I said, these days I'm feeling a lot like the grumpy old guy I'm accusing you of sounding like so take everything I say with several grains of salt! :D

-Ray
 
It's a typical Generation Snowflake reaction to having to do something that would require commitment - in this case time - to achieve something they want. The sense of entitlement is beyond belief. With the recent EU referendum in the UK there was a big hoo-hah because the deadline for registering to vote was extended by 48 hours. Statistics showed that those who were complaining that they hadn't been able to register by the original deadline were 18-25. Equally, when the vote actually happened the 18-25 year olds were the age group who got out and voted least, then complained most about the consequences to them of "Brexit".
It is those same 18-25 year olds who have now gone quiet because they are absorbed and wandering the streets with their noses a few inches from their 'phones trying to catch Pokemon... Two of my three kids are in this age band; the third is slightly older but still behaves the same. It's hard to explain, or understand, for an old fart like me but there is an attitude of certainty that the party will not start until they arrive. If it does, they are unreasonably upset. The concept of being somewhere by a particular time or filling in an application form by a deadline is alien to them. I sincerely wonder to what extent it is a consequence of playing computer games where you can always be resurrected or start a level again. Life in those games is consequence-free - the exact opposite of life in the real world.
Sorry, droning on.

A famous author once said that it's difficult to understand a culture without knowing its language. I wonder that older people may be more separated from youth today than ever before, because technology has accelerated the differences.
 
Bill, you sound like the angry old grandpa yelling at the neighborhood kids to "stay off of my lawn"!!!! And I feel exactly the same way... :eek-54: :eek-54: :eek-54: My two daughters are a little older than that demographic slice, and somehow seem to have escaped the worst of it. My older was never like that and my younger was briefly, but saw what a twit she was being and grew out of it pretty quickly. Not to venture too far into politics, but I think a similar phenomenon is part of what's at work in the US Democratic Party as seen in their convention last night. There are those who seem to feel that if they don't get everything they want, they haven't gotten anything... But like I said, these days I'm feeling a lot like the grumpy old guy I'm accusing you of sounding like so take everything I say with several grains of salt! :D
-Ray

I tried to watch. The Bernie speech was passionate - for Bernie's people's issues that the party as a whole seems not to embrace. Ted at the Republican convention made a similarly passionate speech which did fit his party's platform, but he was rebuked for failing to bow to the anointed leader. These two - Bernie and Ted - would (in my humble view) make excellent debate opponents, but reality leaves us with something very different, and just a little bizarre. A good friend of mine predicted in 1970 the movement of U.S. culture toward the Roman Circus model. I wonder if we're not well on the way.
 
Dale, I've documented similar in my local area.
I posted about it at my news blog over at VisualOhio.com
If anyone would care to look at the images, feel free.

That's interesting. It's like being in Pokemon world. And probably a lot cheaper than taking the family to Disneyland for a full day of rides and food.
 
Back
Top