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Pokémon GO: The Data Behind America’s Latest Obsession

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Re: Pokémon GO: The Data Behind America’s Latest Obsession

#111

Post by peteretep »

MichaelGG wrote: post #105
kdamken wrote: post #6

I think people will look back on this game as important, as something special. I've been playing video games for over twenty years, and I can't remember the last time something felt quite as exciting as this. Each time I've gone out, I've seen other people walking around playing, and everyone gets the same goofy smile when you ask them if they're playing Pokemon too. It shows the potential for AR games, and I think i…

And all I could think was "just another way for companies to get real-time imagery of whatever they want, whenever they want it". Is pervasive tracking just unnoticeable now?

This is a great insight, but a shame you wrapped it in to so much cynicism.

Re: Pokémon GO: The Data Behind America’s Latest Obsession

#112

Post by skilled »

NamTaf wrote: post #88

If Google had any sense, they would be throwing a tonne more at this. It may be Ingress with less features and a Pokemon skin but that latter part is exactly the mainstream appeal they need to make AR big. This is their big chance to create a new market. If they sort out the bugginess and roll out decent features in the next couple of months to keep retention, they're onto something big. At near-on midnight on Saturd…

I think that's a very short-sighted judgement to say that the game is nearing anywhere close to the level of games like Wow and CoD, and sadly -- it will never get there.

There isn't very much flexibility that the game offers, and even it if will offer it in the future, the initial moon phase will be over by then.

It's a nice example of launching a product and getting people to use it, but within a few weeks Pokemon Go will be history, unless of course, people find more dead bodies or other surreal stuff while playing the game, though I wonder if that's the reputation that the developers are going for.

Re: Pokémon GO: The Data Behind America’s Latest Obsession

#113

Post by TorKlingberg »

ocdtrekkie wrote: post #7
kdamken wrote: post #6

I think people will look back on this game as important, as something special. I've been playing video games for over twenty years, and I can't remember the last time something felt quite as exciting as this. Each time I've gone out, I've seen other people walking around playing, and everyone gets the same goofy smile when you ask them if they're playing Pokemon too. It shows the potential for AR games, and I think i…

Ingress was as exciting as this. And it was a lot of fun running into other players (friendly and enemy) and spotting them from a few dozen yards away. I still regularly talk to people I met on the Ingress scene, including one enemy player who was, at the time, my "archnemesis" of sorts. I did meetups with other local players to takeover large areas as a group and stuff as well. But yeah, version 2 is cool too, I gue…

I have played Ingress and it's definitely fun. I could never bring myself to care about the story though. I'd even meet people who have played it daily for years, but had no interest in shapers, Jarvis and all that. Sure, a game with fun mechanics doesn’t really need an engaging story, but I think a solid Pokemon theme is more than just branding.

Re: Pokémon GO: The Data Behind America’s Latest Obsession

#114

Post by abstractbeliefs »

jmadsen wrote: post #107

Currently discussing with friends best way to crack it and make it seem like there's a rare pokemon just up ahead - for all those people who slowly clog up the sidewalks and stations staring at their phones. Ideas welcome! (For the official record, since you have to say this these days - I'm only joking)

It's already been noted that the application itself doesn't verify the validity of TLS certs, so it's trivial to MITM the connection and there are currently people working to learn the ins and outs of the API.

Re: Pokémon GO: The Data Behind America’s Latest Obsession

#115

Post by guidopallemans »

karimdag wrote: post #108

It seems to me that almost every other app is about to or has surpassed Twitter in Daily/Monthly active users. Twitter seems to have some pretty big problems keeping its users engaged.

Instagram and Snapchat are not just every other app. I think Twitter is used as a reference in these kind of statements because their number of active users is pretty stagnant.

Re: Pokémon GO: The Data Behind America’s Latest Obsession

#116

Post by sangnoir »

skilled wrote: post #112
NamTaf wrote: post #88

If Google had any sense, they would be throwing a tonne more at this. It may be Ingress with less features and a Pokemon skin but that latter part is exactly the mainstream appeal they need to make AR big. This is their big chance to create a new market. If they sort out the bugginess and roll out decent features in the next couple of months to keep retention, they're onto something big. At near-on midnight on Saturd…

I think that's a very short-sighted judgement to say that the game is nearing anywhere close to the level of games like Wow and CoD, and sadly -- it will never get there. There isn't very much flexibility that the game offers, and even it if will offer it in the future, the initial moon phase will be over by then. It's a nice example of launching a product and getting people to use it, but within a few weeks Pokemon…

> the initial moon phase will be over by then

FYI: The statement should be the honeymoon phase, derived from the nothing-but-bliss albeit short-lived marital phase, rather than the lunar one.

Re: Pokémon GO: The Data Behind America’s Latest Obsession

#118

Post by efaref »

flatline wrote: post #45
MaxLeiter wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ingress ultimately hard more complicated gameplay and less brand appeal

It's too bad in a way, Pokemon Go is a way better idea, Ingress always felt like some cool ideas thrown together in search of a unifying theme. It is the only AR game with any real lasting appeal that I'm aware of, until perhaps Pokemon Go, but a lot of the choices made in building Ingress are less than ideal for Pokemon, and yet they form its foundation. I was never really clear what kept Niantic afloat, I always fi…

I thought the purpose of Ingress was to crowdsource location data and photographs of points of interest for Google Maps.

Re: Pokémon GO: The Data Behind America’s Latest Obsession

#119

Post by Dylan16807 »

abstractbeliefs wrote: post #114
jmadsen wrote: post #107

Currently discussing with friends best way to crack it and make it seem like there's a rare pokemon just up ahead - for all those people who slowly clog up the sidewalks and stations staring at their phones. Ideas welcome! (For the official record, since you have to say this these days - I'm only joking)

It's already been noted that the application itself doesn't verify the validity of TLS certs, so it's trivial to MITM the connection and there are currently people working to learn the ins and outs of the API.

It verifies certs, it just doesn't pin them. So if you can hack your phone, you can hack it, shocker. Not a security flaw.

Re: Pokémon GO: The Data Behind America’s Latest Obsession

#120

Post by pja »

All I know is that I mentioned Pokemon GO to my kids (it’s not out in the UK yet, so no advertising push to make them aware of it already) and they were instantly telling me that they had to have it.

I can’t imagine any other brand having that kind of impact - Talk about an unmet need in the marketplace waiting to be filled!

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