Pokemon GO In the Parks?

[marciemi]

Actually fad will die down as soon as the weather becomes less conducive for outdoor entertainment - great weather across the US right now in middle of summer, but by fall and winter not so great for many people and locations, just like the beach, parks and golf, once weather changes so will peoples activities including searching for Pokemon Go.

cause they're at the parks, but if they were locals I bet they wouldn't be walking outside just for the game

Eh, I'm local and we're heading back to Epcot for the 4th park this week, mostly just for Pokemon. I was thinking about the weather though and how about probably in most parts of the country this is the best time of year to be doing this but it's just miserable here. Too hot during the day and it seems like it storms every night when it's finally cool enough (or at least not sunny) to go out.

Hope it's okay to share this here - I thought these were really cool (saw them on a FB group I'm on for Disney Pokemon Go players - over 1000 people in the group so there are definitely a lot of folks playing!) - this shirt is for Team Mystic (blue) but just change the last word in link from blue to your team (red or yellow): https://www.booster.com/pokemon-go-in-walt-disney-world-blue

 

[yulilin3]

Eh, I'm local and we're heading back to Epcot for the 4th park this week, mostly just for Pokemon. I was thinking about the weather though and how about probably in most parts of the country this is the best time of year to be doing this but it's just miserable here. Too hot during the day and it seems like it storms every night when it's finally cool enough (or at least not sunny) to go out.

Hope it's okay to share this here - I thought these were really cool (saw them on a FB group I'm on for Disney Pokemon Go players - over 1000 people in the group so there are definitely a lot of folks playing!) - this shirt is for Team Mystic (blue) but just change the last word in link from blue to your team (red or yellow): https://www.booster.com/pokemon-go-in-walt-disney-world-blue

I was saying that locals are not going out, around their neighborhoods, to play. They are going to the parks to play.

 

[marciemi]

I was saying that locals are not going out, around their neighborhoods, to play. They are going to the parks to play.

Well, in my case that because if I walk around my neighborhood for an hour I can get to one Pokestop and may see a total of 3 Pokemon (most likely Pidgeys and Rattatas) during that time. At WDW in an hour I'll see as many Pokemon as I want to stop for, and find a Pokestop about every 100 yards. But there are still definitely people wandering around my neighborhood and seemed like everyone at our community pool was playing when I was there at 9pm last night.

Even though the weather is miserable here, another big factor is just the number of kids who aren't in school right now who may not be able to do this in another month when homework & sports are occupying them each night.

 

[MickeyMinnieMom]

I'm tempted to downloaded it just to see if I should be expecting anyone to try to scale my fence to catch one of these guys!

Watch me do that and then get into it, despite my initial reaction!!!

 

[addiemon]

Well, me too. But they can't survive on hardcore fans alone. Plus, Pokemon Go is only the first "breakthrough" of this type of technology - and the technology will get better and better and more realistic as time goes on.

You might be surprised- the popular terminology for how most free to play games work is called a "whale" business model. Only a small percentage of players will spend money at all; of those, a lot of the money comes from a small subset of players who well spend thousands.

If anyone out there is considering spending money (or whether to allow their kids to spend their own money), here's my stance: if I feel like I am going to get as much enjoyment out of a free game as I would a normal console video game, I will spend that much on the game. A typical Nintendo 3DS game costs $39.99 and a typical PS4 or PC game costs $59.99. I've been playing, er, a LOT, so I went ahead and spent $60...but I'm a grown-up with a full-time salary. Usually with games of an ongoing nature like this, I'll revisit my relationship with it every ~3 months, and if I'm still playing a lot, I'll let myself spend another $10-$20.

A big piece of why I'm willing to do this isn't really because if what it gets me in the game, but because I feel strongly about supporting the media I consume. I'm a member of the video game industry and I used to work for a company that deals in anime (Japanese cartoons-- Dragon Ball Z and the like), both of which can be hit hard by piracy. So I definitely suggest parents sit down with their kids and carefully decide whether to support a project like this (or anything else), and to figure out how to balance that against being fiscally responsible.

 

[Jobie]

Don't take this personally, but people who play this "game" probably did not date much in high school.

Dude, really? Why is it always the "it" thing to hate on something that is popular and/or you are not into it? When people make comments like these, I am always curious if they have self esteem issues, straight up *******s, or a combination of the two.

A game, that really has no built in social features, has been bringing communities together. My wife and I has spent hours downtown playing, meeting people, and having incredible conversations with all kinds of people. My wife, who does not like video games, started playing due to seeing how everyone was interacting with each other. Groups of all ages, backgrounds, and races hanging out with each other, laughing, and celebrating each others' small successes in the game.

You would think that someone who is in a nerd-culture centered web forum (yes being a Walt Disney World super fan would be considered nerd-culture), would not make such generalization statements about another cultural sub-group.

Oh and for the record, I was breaking hearts in high school.

 

[Mom2Stitch]

You might be surprised- the popular terminology for how most free to play games work is called a "whale" business model. Only a small percentage of players will spend money at all; of those, a lot of the money comes from a small subset of players who well spend thousands.

If anyone out there is considering spending money (or whether to allow their kids to spend their own money), here's my stance: if I feel like I am going to get as much enjoyment out of a free game as I would a normal console video game, I will spend that much on the game. A typical Nintendo 3DS game costs $39.99 and a typical PS4 or PC game costs $59.99. I've been playing, er, a LOT, so I went ahead and spent $60...but I'm a grown-up with a full-time salary. Usually with games of an ongoing nature like this, I'll revisit my relationship with it every ~3 months, and if I'm still playing a lot, I'll let myself spend another $10-$20.

A big piece of why I'm willing to do this isn't really because if what it gets me in the game, but because I feel strongly about supporting the media I consume. I'm a member of the video game industry and I used to work for a company that deals in anime (Japanese cartoons-- Dragon Ball Z and the like), both of which can be hit hard by piracy. So I definitely suggest parents sit down with their kids and carefully decide whether to support a project like this (or anything else), and to figure out how to balance that against being fiscally responsible.

I've played Simpsons Tapped Out for almost 2 years now, I love it and it's a source of entertainment and a way for me to be creative by designing my town. I have spent some money(not thousands though, lol) on it and when I do I look at that as what I would spend for any source of entertainment-books, movies, etc. I look at the little bit I spend on this "freemium" game as a way to support it and keep the makers adding additional content and not just shutting it down altogether. DS has several games that he bought on console or PC and will occasionally spend money for additional content. I don't think either of us will be spending money on Pokemon Go, but I guess that depends on how far we want to take the game.

 

[redsbe]

Eh, I'm local and we're heading back to Epcot for the 4th park this week, mostly just for Pokemon. I was thinking about the weather though and how about probably in most parts of the country this is the best time of year to be doing this but it's just miserable here. Too hot during the day and it seems like it storms every night when it's finally cool enough (or at least not sunny) to go out.

Hope it's okay to share this here - I thought these were really cool (saw them on a FB group I'm on for Disney Pokemon Go players - over 1000 people in the group so there are definitely a lot of folks playing!) - this shirt is for Team Mystic (blue) but just change the last word in link from blue to your team (red or yellow): https://www.booster.com/pokemon-go-in-walt-disney-world-blue

Also getting pretty miserable for much of the US this week as well, with central and eastern parts of the country getting into 100F humidex levels.

 

[Pixie Dust ✨]

Dude, really? Why is it always the "it" thing to hate on something that is popular and/or you are not into it? When people make comments like these, I am always curious if they have self esteem issues, straight up *******s, or a combination of the two.

A game, that really has no built in social features, has been bringing communities together. My wife and I has spent hours downtown playing, meeting people, and having incredible conversations with all kinds of people. My wife, who does not like video games, started playing due to seeing how everyone was interacting with each other. Groups of all ages, backgrounds, and races hanging out with each other, laughing, and celebrating each others' small successes in the game.

You would think that someone who is in a nerd-culture centered web forum (yes being a Walt Disney World super fan would be considered nerd-culture), would not make such generalization statements about another cultural sub-group.

Oh and for the record, I was breaking hearts in high school.

It's almost always self-esteem issues. Trying to tear others down to build yourself up is a classic coping mechanism.

 

[marciemi]

You would think that someone who is in a nerd-culture centered web forum (yes being a Walt Disney World super fan would be considered nerd-culture), would not make such generalization statements about another cultural sub-group.

Disney Nerd & Proud of it!!

 

[MickeyMinnieMom]

You would think that someone who is in a nerd-culture centered web forum (yes being a Walt Disney World super fan would be considered nerd-culture), would not make such generalization statements about another cultural sub-group.

This is the part that struck me. As a Star Wars Geek and Disney Nerd, who am I to talk, right?!? Living in a house made substantially of glass on this one...

 

[momimouse27]

My 68 year old mom is playing it, as well as myself and both my adult daughters. Also need to mention my mom is NOT a video game player, and she is having a blast with it. We have been walking our neighborhood in the evenings together. Its just fun, and until I happened on this board, I never thought about catching them in the parks...sounds like fun!

Side note: My mom dated a lot in high school. I did not.

 

[jhaig]

Oh and for the record, I was breaking hearts in high school.

Same here. And I had an Atari 2600. Let your need flag fly my friends.

 

[Accident]

For anyone playing pokemon go, and anyone that is at WDW or walks my coworkers told me about an app that lets you earn money for charity just by walking...

http://www.charitymiles.org/

I have already reached out to GKTW and they have submitted to be one of the charities in the list and looking for other similar opportunities.. There is some nice options in the mean time and all you need to do is run the app, tell it your going on a walk and enjoy the parks, pokemon or whatever your walk/run routine is...

 

[disneysteve]

Only a small percentage of players will spend money at all

I would never spend money to play a FREE game.

There is another game that I play all the time. It's free but there are in-game purchases available. What really amuses/annoys me is all of the players who spend tons of money on the game and then complain endlessly that they still didn't win. Why they think the two things - spending money and winning - are connected is beyond me.

 

[addiemon]

I would never spend money to play a FREE game.

There is another game that I play all the time. It's free but there are in-game purchases available. What really amuses/annoys me is all of the players who spend tons of money on the game and then complain endlessly that they still didn't win. Why they think the two things - spending money and winning - are connected is beyond me.

This depends a LOT on the game in question. Some games have "winning" as a heavy component, and spending money gets you things that make it much easier to "win"- Clash Royale, a spinoff from Clash of Clans, relies heavily on this "pay to win" model. Unfortunately, "pay to win" usually ends up meaning that whoever pays the most wins the most. I'm not fond of this model and don't generally play games that rely on it.

Pokemon GO, fortunately, isn't much that way. You cannot purchase items in the shop that help you in the gym "combat" / training. You can purchase items that make it slightly easier to find and catch Pokemon in general, but none that help you find and catch specific Pokemon. It's certainly easy enough to enjoy without spending money on, as most of my friends do. And, again, I spend money on it to support Niantic (an indie game developer) and to reward The Pokemon Company for working with them to create something enjoyable and innovative. The perks I got for spending didn't really impact my enjoyment either way, except in the positive feeling of supporting something I like.

 

[SureAsLiz]

Just a fun little story from the parks last night

Was at Magic Kingdom with a friend for Pokemon hunting, and we decided to try and claim Cinderella Castle for more than a few minutes. We (blue) were battling with yellow, and flip flopping ownership for a while. We started talking to a guy nearby who was battling for red. All he wanted was to claim the castle long enough to grab a screenshot, but our yellow/blue battle was stopping him. At this point, it was midnight and I was ready to leave, so we decided to join together to take down yellow long enough for him to take control for a few minutes so he could have the bragging rights of having been the leader of Cinderella Castle

It was a nice little spontaneous interaction

 

[Jobie]

Just a fun little story from the parks last night

Was at Magic Kingdom with a friend for Pokemon hunting, and we decided to try and claim Cinderella Castle for more than a few minutes. We (blue) were battling with yellow, and flip flopping ownership for a while. We started talking to a guy nearby who was battling for red. All he wanted was to claim the castle long enough to grab a screenshot, but our yellow/blue battle was stopping him. At this point, it was midnight and I was ready to leave, so we decided to join together to take down yellow long enough for him to take control for a few minutes so he could have the bragging rights of having been the leader of Cinderella Castle

It was a nice little spontaneous interaction

The spontaneous social interactions that I have been having with the game are my favorite aspects of this game. In my neighborhood we have a Pokespot at a small playground. Anytime someone drops a lure there, neighbors come out. I have met more neighbors than ever before through this. Sure, I might have seen them before, or said hi to them before. But now we are getting to know each other names, other interests, and more. This game has been really great for introverts to step out of their comfort zone a little bit and interact with people.

I can't wait to play in the parks. I am sure I will find other fun people there as well.

 

[Nezumi Fan]

I'm assuming you are playing with the AR on? If you turn it off, you are able to catch pokemon without handing to hold your phone out directly in front of you.

By turning the AR off (a toggle in the top right corner when you tap a pokemon), the image becomes fixed on the screen rather than fixed to a gps location.

This isn't what OP is talking about, though; many people in the parks, I've found as well, are considerate of other people taking photos, and so will stop or go around you. OP recognizes this, and says that they'll make an effort to face walls, stand off to the side, et cetera, lest others think they're trying to catch that perfect shot, and not that perfect Pokémon.

 

[Nezumi Fan]

Don't take this personally, but people who play this "game" probably did not date much in high school.

Wow.