Making The Pokémon GO - World Water Day Connection

Image: The Pokémon Company

In January Niantic and The Pokémon Company teamed up with the Global Goals and Project Everyone campaigns to raise awareness of issues through special Pokémon GO locations at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. It was described in the media as more of an encouragement for conscientious, tech-savvy WEF attendees than a concerted attempt to sway influencers - it's helpful, but not game-changing. 

Today, World Water Day, Niantic announced a new promotion, Make a Splash in Pokémon GO, but did not make the connection to the relevance of the day.

Waves of Water-type Pokémon are coming your way in Pokémon GO  

Starting at 1 p.m. PDT on March 22, 2017, more Water types are headed to Pokémon GO! Look for the Water-type Pokémon Magikarp, Squirtle, Totodile, and their Evolutions to appear more frequently all around the world. Additionally, when you're out exploring areas where Water types commonly appear, you'll have a greater chance to encounter several of the Water-type Pokémon originally discovered in the Johto region. If you're fortunate enough, you might even encounter Lapras!

The deluge of Water-type Pokémon will last until 1 p.m. PDT on March 29. Good luck discovering more of these Pokémon around the world in Pokémon GO.

Co-incidence? I’d like to think not. But since Niantic are not making the connection, I will.

I’m celebrating World Water Day by watching Watershed #mywaterstory streaming live from the Vatican. This afternoon I'll head out in search of Totodile.

Making the connection. That’s #mywaterstory today.

PokéNatomy Re-Imagines Pokémon Through The Lens Of Modern Biology

In the four months since its launch Pokémon GO has extended itself into more than just gaming - into the course curricula of at least two Poké-Pioneering universities, and as a transformative educational art project. Entitled "PokéNatomy - An Unofficial Guide to the Science of Pokémon," the book dissects, expands, and explores the original 150 Pokémon in breathtakingly beautiful and detailed illustrations. 

PokéNatomy re-imagines Pokémon through the lens of modern biology. According to the project's Kickstarter page,"Now, for the first time ever, you can get the incredible scientific world of Pokémon in print in a high-quality, fully illustrated, unofficial guidebook, designed to help people of all ages understand the power that's inside!" With one week of the Kickstarter campaign to go, 376 backers have so far pledged $20,117 of the $20,000 goal.

In the exclusive interview below, Christopher (Chris) Stoll, the creator and illustrator of PokéNatomy, talks about about Pokémon GO beyond gaming, and PokéNatomy as a bridge he between pop culture and the life sciences.

Pokémon GO is worth studying

"I believe sincerely that Pokémon GO is worth studying, the free to play augmented-reality game has been downloaded almost half a billion times and become an incredible success for its small studio, Niantic. The game can serve as an example for aspiring game developers, and it certainly made enough money to capture the attention of entrepreneurs," said Chris.

He continued, "It is easy to scoff disdainfully at gaming trends, but I believe we must not avert our eyes from properties that capture the popular imagination, no matter how crude or simplistic they may appear. There is real merit in studying the success of Pokémon GO and aspiring to understand how the application gamifies physical activity, using reward systems to encourage exploration. Pokémon GO may well be the first step into a world where powerful game-like incentive systems integrate into every aspect of our daily lives, encouraging good nutrition, exercise, and intellectual exploration. I believe the game should be studied in academic settings, and its merits, risks, and limitations understood by a new generation of designers and inventors."

Chris concluded with a warning, "I don’t, however, believe that studying the game exclusively involves playing it. I hope that these courses involve serious discussion of the game’s technology, cultural significance, and incentive systems. If the game is merely being participated in, rather than being examined and discussed, I’d consider these courses terrific wastes of fertile young minds, money, and time."

Bridge between pop culture and life sciences

"I believe we are at a point in time where the public wants science to be a part of the entertainment landscape," Chris said, continuing, "More and more, scientists who tackle difficult and unintuitive subjects can use pop culture to communicate with the public, and especially with young people. However, there is a danger here. In a world where astrophysicists are regular consultants on science-fiction movie sets, and anatomical diagrams of Pokémon can amass tens of millions of views online, the boundary between real science and popular entertainment is thinner than ever."

He elaborated, "In the push/pull of science and entertainment it should be science that influences popular culture, and not the other way around. There are already perverse incentives in place for aspiring researchers to capture the public’s attentions and imaginations, and earn funding through popularity. If we are not careful pop culture could come to dominate scientific discussions and direct the attentions of the public towards entertaining, but ultimately unscientific, endeavors."

Basic understanding of Biology required

On the topic of some scientific knowledge required, Chris said, "To me, popular culture needs to be supplementary to a foundation of scientific understanding. My Pokénatomy pieces require a basic understanding of biology to be enjoyed. Each Pokémon is based upon real-world organisms, and only once I have a grasp of each organism’s basic scientific principles do I begin to tease out the more fantastical elements. These illustrations are intended to reward and engage with viewers who have an understanding of basic Biology, and are rooted in real scientific principles." 

Chris continued, "This is not always easy, as some Pokémon possess bodies and abilities that totally defy the laws of physics as we understand them. There’s always a temptation to just invent an organ and label it the “fire sack” or “psychic gland” and leave it at that. I try to resist that unscientific urge wherever possible, and in those cases where hard-science is unavailable I try to present interesting and alternative perspectives on these characters based on the theoretical rather than the outright fantastic."

 Untapped public desire

"I don’t believe that my work strikes the perfect balance between science and popular entertainment, but it seems to me that there is an untapped public desire to see these elements mixed. I hope that in some small way, my Pokémon illustrations contribute positively to this trend," he concluded.

New Update Makes Pokémon GO Training At The Gym Sooo Much Easier!!!

Training Pokémon at the gym just got a whole lot easier! 

One of the problems with the current gym experience has been that you could only bring one Pokémon to battle. Even with a Pokémon with a sky-high HP, like a Snorlax, training at a gym could get to be very heavy going, very quickly. Basically one battle and you were done, making it very difficult to rank up in your own team's gym and, leaving you with the feeling that it wasn't really worth the time or effort.

A new update aims to rectify that! As Niantic Labs have just announced on their website:

"As we continue to make improvements to Pokémon GO, we have made an enhancement to the Gym experience for Trainers of all levels. In an upcoming version of Pokémon GO, when training at a friendly Gym, Trainers will be able to bring six Pokémon to battle instead of one. In addition, the CP of the Pokémon you are training against may be temporarily adjusted lower during your training session to generally match your Pokémon’s battle capabilities."

As Paul Tassi, one of my fave Pokémon contributors, elaborates in his article for Forbes, "The core idea of this is to help make it easier for lower-level players to help friendly gyms. Right now, if you’re level 15 and the lowest rung of your gym is a level 28’s 2400 CP Snorlax, your 1100 Tauros just isn’t going to cut it. By allowing you to bring six Pokémon to battle and have CP downscale to closer match your own team, that should mean that friendly gyms are more of safe havens for new players to do just that…train, as opposed to brick walls that serve no real purpose."

Paul isn't too sure if the new update will make the gym experience better or worse due to the preponderance of that he describes as "7-10 level fortresses full of the same four or five crazily high CP Pokémon" in his area. 

I have those fortresses in my area too, but since I'm in the 'burbs where some kind of travel is required to get to the nearest gym, I can usually find a level 6. I agree with Paul though, limiting levels to a max of 6 would make for a lot more fun!

Time will tell whether the new update will make the experience better or worse for trainers. My first impression is that it will make things better, and I'm looking forward to being able to try for myself. Fingers crossed for a rapid roll out that allows for some weekend play!

Playing Pokémon GO? Five Fixes For The First Frozen Fingers Of Fall!!!

We’re hardly into Fall in the Midwest and already the temperature has dropped to finger aching levels during my morning pre-work forays to catch ‘em all.

Cool gloves - but not for the cold!

Having lived in the Chicago area for more than 10 years I’ve got the gear to be outside – but being outside while interacting with my smartphone? Not so much.

Quora has some good suggestions about playing Pokémon GO in the cold, but for me the major issue is keeping my hands and fingers warm. As this thread on Reddit elaborates, “As someone who's been walking around in an NZ winter I can confirm that the phone does nothing to stop your fingers from freezing. My solution was to buy some touchscreen friendly gloves.”

Truth. Not wearing gloves is already uncomfortable and causing my fingers to ache. It’s going to be impossible in a couple of weeks when the cold really kicks in.

So, below five fixes to keep fingers from freezing and the “GO” in Pokémon GO as the temperatures fall.

1. The most cost conscious fix first. Cutting a small hole in an old pair of gloves just big enough for a fingertip or a part of your forefinger to touch the phone’s screen. My experience on my Samsung phone is that a fingertip is all that is needed to throw balls, and I quickly adjusted from using the pad of my forefinger to just my fingertip. It sometimes requires wiggling to line my fingertip up with the hole – but the price can’t be beat! Start with a very small hole and increase in size until you find the size that will work for you.
2. The Pokémon Plus device would be a great alternative that would allow playing while keeping my gloves on. Unfortunately, these have been sold out almost since day one. They can be purchased on Amazon or eBay – but at three times the price, sometimes running into triple figures. With many coming from Europe it’s a price I’m not willing to pay – especially since many of the “stores” offering them have only been in existence for a week or so.
3. Touchscreen sensitive gloves offer a solution to being able to interact with your phone, or if you are going to go this route, then,
4. Touchscreen sensitive gloves with heating offer the deluxe version of keeping warm while playing. After much research I found a pair that look good – I could also wear them as my “normal” gloves - and that come with single use heating pads. After reading customer reviews about rechargeable units breaking, and the recent Samsung Note experience, rechargeable just did not seem to be the way to go. The heating pads are a pricy $15 for 10 but I thought I’d give them a try. My ideal solution would be a heating pad that I could pop in the microwave and that would keep its heat for the hour that I would likely to be outside. The eight hours of the single use heating pads are overkill – perhaps practical on the slopes, but not for suburban ‘mon hunts.
5. Last but not least – take your fingers out of the cold and walk indoors. Successful walking and ‘mon stalking indoors depends on where you live. If you’re in an urban environment with covered or underground walkways that also include PokéStops – lucky you! I’m in the ‘burbs and while our forest preserves and trails are wonderfully endowed, our closest malls are not. Artwork and PokéStops seem to go together, so an indoor alternative could be a building that’s open to the public and that is also well endowed with both artwork and PokéStops...until someone opens the first indoor PokéTrails... 

I’d love to hear suggestions about good indoor PokéPlaces to walk – and if you’re in the MidWest, how you’re planning to keep your creature catching going when the regularly scheduled blizzards return to the Prairie!