Unless you've been living under a rock lately, you are sure to know that the world has been taken over by Pokémon Go.
This phone app makes no attempt to hide that it is trying to get people off the couch and send them outside (whilst simultaneously making bazillions of dollars for Nintendo).
One of the features is that players must "incubate" Pokémon eggs in order for them to hatch. There are different incubation periods for various kinds of eggs, but all require the user to walk/hike between 2km and 10km. The GPS in your phone tracks the distance traveled. Driving the distance in a car is cheating and doesn't work. Some have reported that bicycling works, but it's speed-based so you can't ride too fast!
Side Note: US-based Google searches for the miles equivalent to 2km, 5km, and 10km are up tenfold since the app was released. :roll:
I think they should add AEG for quicker incubation. It'll make that trip to the Pokéstop on Camelback much more rewarding.
FWIW, Route Scout operates normally while running Pokémon Go.
Edit: Full disclosure. I'm an adult (according to the calendar) and therefore I have never played this game, nor do I have it on my phone. But I hear all about it from the delinquent children with whom I regularly interact. So there's that.
Last edited by chumley on Jul 13 2016 1:54 pm, edited 1 time in total.
I'm not sure what my spirit animal is, but I'm confident it has rabies.
juliachaos wrote:If they are trying to use it in the car (which again, it doesn't work above a certain speed)
Really?
So the news report (and video) of a driver playing Pokemon Go game crashes into police car must be false and the video was made up? Thankfully the Baltimore police car was parked and no officers were in it and it was captured on video by a body cam.
So much for the game not working while driving... oh but wait, at least it offers something for everyone to enjoy. Well... not quite everyone.
Yep, the game makes it so that above a certain speed, Pokemon are no longer catch-able, and you can't open Pokestops. Among other features that I won't get into. You can still open the game and try, but it's not gonna happen.
No one is forcing you to like the game, but lay off those who do enjoy it and use it responsibly.
People crash their cars doing all sorts of stuff they shouldn't have been doing while driving. I bet every single morning somewhere some old guy crashes his car because he's complaining to his wife about some new fad the young people are into.
CannondaleKid wrote:Oh yeah, I can't say I haven't seen anyone playing this game, because I have... all too much!
... in a car sitting at a green light (X6 and I don't drive much. And yes, I saw their screen, they weren't just texting)
... in the car sitting in front of me at a green light X2
... in the cars weaving lane-to-lane
Dude, you're either a professional driver, a superhero, or both. Given the detailed observations you made of 4" screens in other cars at green lights or while weaving through traffic, while presumably paying attention to the road (since you're a much more responsible driver than these people who fall into these dangerous fads!), I can't come to any other possible conclusions. :wlift:
Also, I totally don't get the Pokemon Go thing either. I also totally don't care.
"Arizona is the land of contrast... You can go from Minnesota to California in a matter of minutes, then have Mexican food that night." -Jack Dykinga
JoelHazelton wrote:Dude, you're either a professional driver, a superhero, or both.
While I'm definitely NOT a superhero, as a matter of fact I AM a former driving instructor and I DO pay a lot more attention to ALL vehicles around me than most people and I always have.
Way back when schools actually offered Driver Education I had a teacher who instilled the need to pay attention to everything around the vehicle and have an avoidance plan for as many potential hazards as possible. Yes, it demands full attention, but this is a case where my ADHD is actually a benefit.
When I was a driving instructor I instilled very much the same thing in all my students, including looking at (and into) every vehicle around them when at a stoplight. If they observe someone on a phone, eating, drinking or even reading a newspaper, then stay away from that vehicle.
So, it's not that I'm looking into cars while moving, but by paying attention when I see a vehicle weaving I file it away and if I end up next to them at a stop light, that's when I can see what their distraction was.
And yes, I agree there are a TON of driving distractions other than Pokemon Go, but do we need to keep adding more distractions?
I'm not usually worried so much about young people crashing into things because they're distracted. I worry most about the old people always crashing into stuff for no apparent reason at all
So, some people enjoy Pokemon Go, while others don't understand it. And some people enjoy dramatically complaining about every little thing even though others don't understand that. So to each their own, I suppose? This topic has become excruciatingly unreadable.
You all know this type of game and technology is most likely not a phase. There'll be many more virtual games and applications like this in the future, so hold your hatred and arguments for the next augmented mobile game.
They showed Bruce Heffener and his sons in the helicopter chasing Pokémon Go characters.. hovering around Fashion Square and couple other places... and some even in the helicopter.
Dawn
--On the loose to climb a mountain, on the loose where I am free. On the loose to live my life the way I think my life should be...For we only have a moment and a whole world yet to see...I'll be looking for tomorrow on the loose. ---unknown--
I played for the first time today - totally work related ... just like geocaches, we need to know what is in our park that people will be wandering around looking for.
I can understand the appeal, but I like geocaching better because at least there is something real to physically find.
We tested Pokemon Go on a quick hike and apparently you have to go off trail to catch the Pokemon? Only got to test it really briefly because of the threat of rain so I'm not sure if there are more Pokemon on the trail. The first time I heard about the app I wondered if i would ever see a Pokemon on top of a 14er.
"The censorship method ... is that of handing the job over to some frail and erring mortal man, and making him omnipotent on the assumption that his official status will make him infallible and omniscient."
George Bernard Shaw
Just fyi...I'm not jobless, nor am I 20-something and I certainly don't lack in the exercise/outdoors/nature loving department...but I play Pokemon Go.
Rarely, but I do. In fact my place of work (the North Rim visitor center here at GCNP) is a Gym and Brighty the Burro statue in the lodge is a "pokestop"
I think it's a silly, fun game that I, and two others here on the NRim, play after work a few times a week. We get together at the lodge for drinks and wings (omg it's like words with friends at Boulders.... CHUMLEY haha)
I don't run the app when I hike though. Mostly because that's silly, I don't hike to play games on my phone, I only use my phone to take pictures when hiking. I hike to hike. To explore. To learn.
Maybe if "city folk" who play Pokemon Go DO get out more, even if they're playing the game... MAYBE just maybe someday they'll notice something and say...wow...what's that?! Then they learn then they explore and then maybe they'll learn to explore and hike just to hike.
I don't think it's a bad thing. Let them have fun, it's better than candycrush or turning your face into a taco on Snapchat...(this is not the world I was told about when I was a kid...)
P.s. that NRim visitor center gym...i defend it, bring it on. XD
Route Editor
Route Scout
:wlift: 
