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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

#61

Post by avree »

ben_jones wrote: post #59
MBCook wrote: post #12

The amazing thing to me is that, at least on iOS, the game is pretty objectively bad. Of course that hasn't stopped me from sinking a lot of time into it this weekend. I've spent $10 on it, which is easily a record for free to play game for me. The server issues are one thing, but the game doesn't even get lots of basic things right. If the server goes away, or sometimes if I'm just out of the app too long, I have to…

If you look at Imgur for example you'll see two observations by users: 1) It's amazing and 2) They have server issues. Notice that #2 is incredibly vague and almost hand-waved as a joke. We as developers see the minor flaws but most people just seem to see the good of it. EDIT: I'm not talking about Imgur. I'm talking about Imgur's posts about Pokemon Go. My bad for the ambiguity.

When I think of Imgur, I think of 1) first 'decent' image host in a dark time, 2) terrible policies/management.

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

#62

Post by spike021 »

MBCook wrote: post #12

The amazing thing to me is that, at least on iOS, the game is pretty objectively bad. Of course that hasn't stopped me from sinking a lot of time into it this weekend. I've spent $10 on it, which is easily a record for free to play game for me. The server issues are one thing, but the game doesn't even get lots of basic things right. If the server goes away, or sometimes if I'm just out of the app too long, I have to…

I've had issues where I definitely successfully capture a pokemon, but either lose connection due to being underground on transit or the servers 'crashing', so I wind up not having the pokemon saved to my record. Makes me think they aren't doing much, or any, local caching.

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

#63

Post by fphhotchips »

ro_sharp wrote: post #2

I'm in Australia, and I've never seen an irl viral phenomenon on the streets like this. In the inner city of Brisbane, every second person I see is staring at their phone, swiping up to catch Pokemon. Mobs of 100+ people chasing 'lures' are being moved on from parks in the middle of the night. And there was a pub crawl: https://www.facebook.com/events/267390546965461/

I live in Docklands in Melbourne. For those unfamiliar, it's basically an ex-port that was transformed into an extension of the city 10 or so years ago. It's known for being basically dead after-hours and on weekends, as there's not much to do and not a lot of culture (and the weather tends to be rubbish, since it's exposed).

This weekend was... different. Even though the weather was miserable, the area was buzzing. I've never seen so many people with a common purpose in the area, or being so friendly and connected. The connection? Magikarp spawn near the water.

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

#65

Post by fencepost »

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…

I've never played Pokemon anything in my life and I thought it sounded interesting and possibly worth a look based on the geocaching-like functionality of it. So they have the get-out-and-go-find-something of geocaching, the branding of Pokemon, the nifty factor of augmented reality, and multiple social aspects ranging from whatever online trading, etc. exists to people meeting trying to hit the same location.

I'm not surprised it's taking off.

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

#66

Post by Trundle »

cdevs wrote: post #41

The terrifying thing is how the games location of items can manipulate foot traffic and could show bias of one business over the other across the street in turn manipulating be economy by moving us and our eventual spending around like lemmings....but it's just Pokemon right?

Why is that terrifying? It's not like our spending isn't moved around by the whims of companies at the moment.

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

#67

Post by shostack »

The crazy thing for me is the sheer explosive growth this has seen. I was walking around downtown Redwood City last night near the theater. Easily 50% of the people on the sidewalk walking or standing around were playing as verified by glancing at their screens as I passed them.

And these weren't just kids. Adults, men, women, all ethnicities, etc. were all playing. I've never seen anything like it. They've really stuck to their goal of getting people outside as summed up by this hilarious Reddit post [1].

[1] https://www.reddit.com/r/pokemongo/comments/4rwf24/pokemon_t...

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

#69

Post by astrange »

jomamaxx wrote: post #56
andyjdavis wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Tindr is the poster boy for lowest common denominator Why yes, it does have very broad appeal.

So do porn, gambling, and films like 'Transformers' that literally have no plot.

That's pretty harsh for an app that just shows you people's European vacation photos and lets you talk to them.

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

#70

Post by stormbrew »

prawn wrote: post #68

Can someone explain how it works? I understand that it's AR- and location-based. How/where/why do you acquire the virtual creatures? Do you have to look for them aimlessly or are there clues?

Various landmarks are 'pokestops', where you can get pokeballs and other items. Some of those places are gyms, where you can pit your pokemon against others.

The pokemon themselves are spawned from random spots on the map and wander around, if you're in the area and have the app open you'll see it and can capture it by throwing pokeballs at it. There's a kind of wonky proximity indicator for nearby pokemon, and they're shown on the map by the random appearance of rustling grass.

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