You may have heard about hundreds of people who gathered at the edge of the Central Park, USA, creating a huge stampede. When at 11 something p.m a rare Vaporeon showed up, people went crazy trying to catch it. Videos trending on YouTube reveal how the people sprinted into the park like a herd of wild beasts to claim the ‘Grand Prize’. News reports have confirmed people falling off cliffs trying to catch pokemons and sustaining injuries.
What is the GO rush all about?
Just in case you are wondering what the craziness is all about, it had to do with Pokemon Go; a GPS based game released by Nintendo on July 6, 2016. In this game, a person has to physically move around in order to catch a pokemon. The game has been such a hit that the shares of Nintendo have leaped 10% in just a few days. It is now the No. 1 free app in iTunes store (US). With a 7.5 million downloads and continuous coverage from media, it is bound to expand even more.
Safety concerns over Pokemon Go
So when Pokemon Go gets you moving , all you look at is the animated monster.
However what you don’t look at are your surroundings, and street signs like ‘Do Not Cross’ or ‘No Trespassing'. Authorities worldwide are concerned as no amount of signs is being of any avail to deter the players.
Is the GO craziness real?
Yes. If the stampede and people falling off is not enough to make you believe, then may be this will. A person from New Zealand, reportedly, has quit his job to fully devote himself to hunting the Pokemons down. At other placed armed robbers have used the game to target their victims while house owners have fire-gunned some players down, not knowing what they were doing outside their homes.
Although the game has not yet been launched in South Korea, the fans are already on their way to the northeast border of the country, which is by the way near North Korea.
What tops the list is the video of a man on internet, who left his car engine running, and ran to catch the Pokemon at Central Park.
Is Pokemon Go here to stay?
Dan Porter of WME-IMG calls the whole thing a bubble that is bound to burst in coming days. He relates that the success of the game depends on the psychological compulsion factors like match-3 games (candy crush) but Pokemon has just one compulsion factor that is collection. But as the game will advance and it will get more difficult to find Pokemons, people will switch to gyms instead and the game stats will come down. Before the game falls it will have amassed a good number of players as well as revenue for its makers, believes Dan.
The makers of the game will have to continuously monitor the game and come up with new generation series if they want to keep the figures up.
Also with the coming winter it may be difficult to maintain the huge ratings.
The sunny side of Pokemon Go
If you are wondering if it has done any good, this is to let you know that people have actually lost weight using the app. Some claimed that it is the only thing that motivates them to go out while others have claimed to lose upto 4 pounds a week. Well! That is quite obvious when you walk a good 10 kms per day.
So for now if you are looking forward to lose some weight (of course with your phone in your face) and re-live some childhood action of collecting Pokemons, you are welcome to join the bandwagon.
Hey! Watch out for that sign. Happy gaming.