Facing Reality: Pokémon Go’s Transcendence from Simulation to the Real

In what seemed like a matter of a night, the outside world transformed. Suddenly it felt like more people were wandering around outdoors, staring at their phones, and hanging out with friends. But with the release of Pokémon Go (Pokémon’s new augmented reality game) on July 6th for Australia, New Zealand, and the United States, traveling around in the “real world” has become more crowded and even dangerous. In Australia, warnings have even been released by the police to motorists to look out for crossing Pokémon players. This is because Pokémon Go has become the number one downloaded app on both the Apple Store and the Google Play Store.

Pokémon Go uses your phone’s GPS and real world maps in order to play.

The use of augmented reality has ultimately led to Pokémon Go’s success. Since 1996, Nintendo’s Pokémon Company has been releasing video games related to its beloved pocket creatures. With 279 million game copies in total sold from all of their games combined (as of their 20th anniversary), it is no surprise that Pokémon is the second bestselling game of all time. However, the games they produced have always been in a fictional alternate world only accessible through a gaming device. On the other hand, in an augmented reality game such as Pokémon Go, technology is used to create the “illusion of virtual objects in the real world.” According to Eric Klopfer and Josh Sheldon, “‘Augmented Reality’ simulations superimpose a virtual overlay of data and interactions onto a real-world context.” With this idea in mind, Pokémon Go uses a smartphone’s camera and GPS capabilities to create the illusion of Pokémon in the real world. Yet the label of augmented reality limits the game to a falsehood where the game cannot ever be fully “real.” But in actuality, it appears that Pokémon Go has transcended the fictional world and become an actual ‘reality.’

A Pokémon spotted through a smartphone camera on a mountain.

If the argument is that Pokémon Go is simply ‘reality without the augmentation,’ it’s important to know what reality is. One definition, by science fiction author Philip K. Dick, explains that, “Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn’t go away.” On the other hand, the dictionary provides definitions such as “something that constitutes a real or actual thing, as distinguished from something that is merely apparent” and “resemblance to what is real.” However, Pokémon Go seems to satisfy all of these definitions.

First off, Pokémon Go continues to be played and occur regardless of if a person believes in it. Pokémon Go has become such a phenomenon that streets have been shut down due to player traffic and Australia has had 2000+ people public Pokémon parties. Businesses that have found out that they were ‘pokestops’ have noticed increased traffic. One homeowner in Massachusetts discovered his house was a Pokémon gym and has been tweeting about his experience. He finds it difficult to leave his driveway with the amount of cars frequently blocking it. He also states that he has been forced to accept the fact that his house can be owned by others in the “multiple realities,” posing for pictures with gamers who own his “gym.” The game has even led to deaths, players finding bodies, and armed robberies. To top it off, Pokémon Go has surpassed Tinder in active users and has become almost as popular as Twitter. Whether a person chooses to believe it exists or not, Pokémon Go has become a part of everyday reality and changed the day to day experiences of those who don’t even play it.

A Pokémon spotted at night in the city.

Additionally, for those who do play Pokémon Go, it has not only changed daily activities, but led to real-life human interactions. Despite not being released in the United Kingdom as of July 11th, players can be found throughout Scotland, whether by changing their phone’s residential location to a country where it is released or by obtaining an illegal copy. For instance, it seems that the amount of people at the top of King Arthur’s Seat has almost doubled since the peak of the extinct volcano has become a “gym.” This is interesting to note, as gyms and special locations continue to exist in places where the game isn’t released. Nevertheless, while it is a laugh-worthy experience for players to sit around the peak and talk to other players that they may have never met before, this experience of increased interaction with strangers is not unique to Scottish players. Only two days after the game’s release, one Reddit user named Bableg posted a photo of a group of twenty “people who would’ve never met” if it wasn’t for a lure set by one player to attract Pokémon. Another user named LostCause_TV replied to that post with a similar experience, stating, “I met a bunch of yellow team players, we exchanged numbers and we’re all gonna get together tomorrow to go around a few towns capping gyms and collecting Pokémon! As a very shy, introverted person it’s amazing that this game can bring together people.” Still, another Redditor named KTY_ stated, “I was eating breakfast peacefully in an A&W this morning checking to see if there were any Pokémon around and some random dude came up to me to start talking about the game. He and his girlfriend just sat down at my table and that’s how I made 2 new friends.” Clearly, the game is leading to “real life” relationships and friendships with in-person human interactions, making it part of “reality.”

Undoubtedly, Pokémon Go has seemed to transcend from an augmented reality to simply reality. Its omnipresence has altered the daily lives of both its players and those who might not even be aware of its existence. With the countless news articles, it’s domination of the app market, and the prevalence of players everywhere on the streets of countries it has been released in, Pokémon Go has become a large part of popular culture. It will be interesting to see how its popularity shifts in the coming months after its release and how it continues to alter “reality” as we know it.