Since early July, when you see a group of people \u2014 young, old or middle-aged \u2014 with heads bent, all of them looking at their phones, it\u2019s nearly a sure thing that they are playing \u201cPokemon Go.\u201d The game is likely to stay around for a long while because the players are discovering all kinds of positives about it, right in our own neighborhoods.<\/p>\n
Based on the old \u201cPokemon\u201d game from 20 years ago, this newest augmented reality version is free to play, and is location-based using users\u2019 Androids or iPhones.<\/p>\n To understand what the craze is all about, it is first important to know the basics about the game. The concept is simple. Look for the Pokemon creatures, catch them, train them and then do battle with them on teams chosen by the players.<\/p>\n The biggest difference from other games is that the real world is used to inform the game player\u2019s experience. \u201cPokemon Go\u201d uses the phone\u2019s GPS sensors to track where the player is, using a Pokemon-style map as the primary game board. Each player has his or her own character which moves in the game as the player moves and walks around in real life. Events and objects \u2014 known as PokeStops \u2014 are associated with specific locations in the physical world. In order to interact with them, the player needs to actually walk to a particular place in the real world.<\/p>\n The necessary walking around yields one of the first and most important benefits of playing \u201cPokemon Go\u201d: exercise.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s the most exercise we\u2019ve got as a family in a long time,\u201d said Andrew Pitcher of San Carlos.<\/p>\n Deb Metzer lauds the game along with Pitcher. \u201cMy entire family is playing, getting to the lake more, the dogs are getting out more. It has been nothing but fun,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Another San Carlos resident, Micah Douglass, echoed similar sentiments. \u201cMy wife plays, my stepson and his girlfriend plays, my sisters play, my brothers. It\u2019s something fun that we do that keeps us in contact,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cPokemon Go\u201d has no instruction manual, so players have to rely on their own intuition or use the internet, to figure out how to catch the creatures. The more Pokemon caught, the more points scored up as a trainer.<\/p>\n Del Cerro resident Jill Palhegyi said she has reached level 14 in the game. At first, Palhegyi stayed close to home, as an \u201carmchair player,\u201d as she called it.<\/p>\n \u201cYou have to have patience for the Pokemon to come to you,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Once Palhegyi gained enough experience points to reach level five in the game, she began to play all over San Diego whenever she went out. Even Del Cerro Baptist Church, where Palhegyi is a member, is classified as a \u201cgym,\u201d the term used for a local landmark to catch Pokemons and train them.<\/p>\n Train them?<\/p>\n \u201cAt the gym, you train your creatures for power and the right for your team,\u201d explained Palhegyui, who is on Team Valor.<\/p>\n \u201cIt can be a rush looking for that special Pokemon\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Another reason the game is sure to remain popular for a long while has to do with its sociability. In their race to find the online creatures, \u201cPokemon Go\u201d players have also made new friends.<\/p>\n Micah Douglass, a San Carlos resident, believes that the game makes people more neighborly.<\/p>\n \u201cIt provides a common ground and lowers these interpersonal walls that everyone has built up. I have talked to several strangers while playing as if we were in a circle of friends,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Douglass has found that the mutual camaraderie exists not only between players, but with people who are watching and talking with them. \u201cThe instant community engendered in a time of ambivalence and insular type attitude is why I continue to play,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Some of the most popular places to play locally include Allied Gardens Community Park and Recreation Center, Lake Murray, and even Mission Trails Regional Park. Wherever bunches of people are hanging around looking at their phones is a sure sign that a Pokemon is near.<\/p>\n As for any negative consequences of playing \u201cPokemon Go,\u201d the general consensus is that most people use common sense.<\/p>\n Sometimes something on the humorous side happens, such as people walking into poles as they have their heads bent looking for the creatures, Palhegyi said.<\/p>\n Douglass said that he thought the company has done a good job with updates where players are allowed to play and reminding them of the maximum speed at which they can be moving to catch the Pokemon. He also said that he has never ended up wandering onto private property while playing the game.<\/p>\n Even people who don\u2019t play the game give it thumbs-up for the community it creates and the good vibes. Carol Shear, an Allied Garden resident, sees a lot of people playing at Allied Gardens Recreation center.<\/p>\n![\"COVER](\"https:\/\/missiontimescourier.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/COVER-PHOTO-Left-to-right2c-Chris-Isip2c-Jill-Palhegyi-and-Gelaine-Isip-play-Pokemon-Go-together-at-Allied-Gardens-Community-Parkwebtop.jpg\")
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