Humans like to find things and collect them – it’s why they call us hunter gatherers. It’s in our nature to collect things, whether that’s berries and nuts to eat, trinkets and titbits, cards, art, birds eggs (in times gone by), or Pokemon. In the last case, for me at least, it’s never been enough to become a Pokemon Master, and defeat my rival Assfart. I’ve gotta catch ‘em all. And now I have another way to do that, in real life (sort of) on a real adventure (sort of) outdoors! I am of course referring to Pokemon Go.
The huge popularity of the game in its first week of release has been staggering, and even in the small provincial town of Norwich it’s easy to spot players huddling around landmarks, flicking Pokeballs, and generally seeming to have a good time. One of the nicest things is seeing perfect strangers engaging with one another, bound together by their love of Pokemon, bringing a real community feel to the whole endeavour. The success of Pokemon Go lies in a combination of nostalgia and escapism. I know I’m not alone in remembering waking up early on a Saturday to watch Ant, Dec and Cat Deeley on SMTV Live just to see the latest episode of Pokemon or insisting on having the latest Gameboy because I wanted the latest game. And pestering my parents for the overpriced trading cards, despite never really understanding how to play, and mainly just out for the dopamine rush induced on finding a ‘shiny’. And I remember wishing I could wander round the real world catching Pokemon, having adventures and meeting the cast of characters from Johto. Pokemon Go manages to tap into those memories (especially by featuring exclusively Generation 1 Pokemon), whilst enabling that escapism by bringing Pokemon into the real world. Despite being based on phones, this Pokemon renaissance breaks the mould compared to what else the digital age has to offer.
Humans are, evolutionarily at least, social creatures, but much of our modern paraphernalia seems determined to keep us indoors and isolated – Netflix, smartphones, Facebook, online shopping. The internet is an amazing repository of information, and in many ways a great enabler of communication, but it’s telling that the generation that spend the most time on the internet are also reportedly the loneliest. So the fact that Pokemon Go has managed to draw such large numbers of people outdoors, getting exercise, discovering new places and meeting new people whilst bringing together a community of millions of individuals from every nation, gender and background is quite a feat, and probably one that Mr. Tajiri, the creator of Pokemon, would be proud of.
Satoshi Tajiri’s inspiration for Pokemon came from the Japanese craze for bug hunting. Japanese boys would head out into the countryside and find and collect insects of all shapes and sizes. The fact that some of the first Pokemon you meet are caterpies and weedles is a testament to this, as is Veridian forest where you’re pestered constantly by bug hunters who teach you why you should have picked charmander as your starting Pokemon. Although it may not be immediately obvious, I attribute Pokemon as one of the reasons I’m interested in wildlife and natural history now. The similarities between many Pokemon and real animals taught me that we share this world with other creatures who have personalities, traits and so many amazing strategies of living, and I was inspired to get out into the countryside, learning about them whilst having adventures of my own. Now I hope that Pokemon Go might encourage others to do the same. It’s not a big step to put down the virtual window into the world and actually experience it first hand with your naked eyes. There is wildlife all around us that is amazing and unique and not difficult to see if you know what to look for and spend plenty of time outdoors.
All the greatest naturalists, David Attenborough included, were great collectors of natural curiosities: rocks, skeletons, fossils, feathers, skins, leaves, flowers, insects. So why not trade in your Pokedex for a field guide, start a bird list and hunting for real wildlife. If as many people who loved Pokemon loved the wildlife in their local area, the world would be a much richer place. It is, after all, a world we must defend. That’s one of the things I love so much about this video from ASAPScience, and the associated project – building up your own Pokedex of real life animals.
So Pokemon Go: a nostalgic nicotine patch that liberates people from their sofa and bed-bound troglodytic existence and helps break their addiction to carcinogenic isolation. An escapist app that lets you escape the real world by going out into the real world. And who knows, perhaps a stepping stone for our reconnection with, and appreciation of, the idyll of the natural world, and a return to our roots as social hunter-gatherers, bound together as a community in utopic co-existence – until Team Rocket show up!