by Beth Cronk, Litchfield head librarian
 |
| Thomas J. Harrison Pryor Public Library in Oklahoma. |
Have you seen the groups of people standing around
Litchfield looking at their phones lately?
Chances are they’re playing Pokemon GO.
This new augmented reality game has caught on like wildfire, bringing
people out to public places to catch and battle Pokemon, gather virtual
supplies, and put on miles of walking.
In case you haven’t heard about Pokemon from kids who were
into it sometime during the past twenty years, Pokemon are “pocket monsters”
from a Japanese card game, series of video games, and an animated TV show. It was created by a man who enjoyed
collecting insects as a child, hence the collecting aspect of the game. Pokemon GO is a brand new game for smart
phones that incorporates a phone’s camera and maps in brand new ways.
I’ve learned about Pokemon GO because two of my teenagers
are enthusiastically playing it. Most of
the groups I’ve seen around Litchfield, Dassel, and Hutchinson that appear to
be playing it together are teenage boys and young men, but people of all ages
are joining in. My elementary-age niece
and nephew are playing it, a cousin who is older than me is, too, and I hear
that it’s popular among a wide range of ages in the cast of the musical my kids
are in.
Because of my kids, I found out during Watercade that the
Litchfield Library is a PokeStop. This
means it’s a place where players can stock up on useful virtual items for
playing the game. Many public and
commercial buildings are PokeStops. It
sounds like some stops are especially good, and from what my kids found during
two visits to the library, our location seems to be one of those.
The clock outside in front of the library is a gym, which is
a place for Pokemon to battle. Those are
a bit more rare than PokeStops, and they’re usually landmarks of some
kind. I find it very surprising that the
game creators had any way to find out the library’s clock existed, but
apparently these locations were marked by players of an earlier, unrelated
game.
So if you see people gathered near the clock in front of the
library, looking at their phones, don’t be alarmed; they’re probably playing
Pokemon. We are seeing kids coming into
the library looking for Pokemon to catch, too, although I don’t know if they’ve
found any inside.
Do be aware that there are privacy concerns with the
game. The game currently gives Niantic,
the company that owns it, access to all of their Google account data. The company has stated this is an error they
are working to correct. Some of the
people I know are using a secondary Google account that isn’t connected to
their Google Docs or regularly-used email to try to minimize the risk. I’m not sure if this helps.
It is very important to be aware of your surroundings when
playing the game and to be as careful as always when going out in the world. The news has reported accidents involving
people crossing roads and falling down a cliff, as well as a couple of
robberies. And, of course, don’t play Pokemon GO and
drive!
The game does have benefits.
One of the tasks it requires is walking multiple kilometers to hatch
virtual eggs. It’s like having a FitBit
or other fitness tracker that gives you in-game rewards for meeting goals. And it’s nice to see young people outside in
parks and other places in the community, making the game a social occasion. You can’t sit on the couch if you want to get
very far with this game.
Life works best when you have a balance of activities, so
keep reading even though catching Pokemon is so much fun. When you’re stopping by to play Pokemon GO,
come inside to pick up some real-world items, too: check out some books!
