26 SCIENCE & TECH THE GAME YOU’RE SICK OF HEARING ABOUT (But You Might Want the Facts <strong>First</strong>) Meghan Borges, Contributor Anyone with a plug into social media has no choice but to be well aware of Nintendo’s newly developed undertaking: a phone game app, which has already gained itself a cult-like following. Since its official release in Australia, New Zealand, and the United States on July 6th, Pokémon GO is the most downloaded app in the Apple store. The Internet exploded with news stories initiated by the mass-audience the game already had. Regardless of whether or not you had followed the announcements within the gaming world, Pokémon GO arrived with such a bang that it was only a matter of moments before the media viciously latched on in an obvious effort to be current. But in this attempt, how many of the news stories that you’d scrolled past bore falsified headlines? After all, in the world wide web of clickbait sites and countless blogs desperately trying to be trendy and stand out, you can never believe everything you read on the web. Let’s start with some basic facts. The concept for Pokémon GO was developed two years ago by Nintendo and The Pokémon Company as an April Fool’s joke, meant to see how a game of this nature would fare. To many fans’ dismay, the announcement was in fact fake, and the pleas to create an augmented reality type game for Pokémon ran rampant. Nintendo and The Pokémon Company reached out to Niantic, who provided the developing aspect of the game from their previous augmented reality success, Ingress. Fun fact: Nintendo’s stock market value increased by almost double after the release of Pokémon GO, only to crash down once investors realized the game’s developers were the primary shareholders. Now, we all know the stories: the car that stopped in the middle of the highway and caused a major collision trying to catch a Pikachu; the man who jumped into the tracks on the TTC; the pregnant woman who walked into traffic and needed an emergency C-section; kids getting lured to Poké- Stops only to be mugged; people illegally trespassing on private property, and the girl who found a dead body. There has been news almost every day since the game’s release, but before you bring any of these tales of caution up the next time you’re with a group of friends trying to convince you to play, consider how plausible the source of the information is. To start, the picture that has been plastered everywhere of the young man waltzing through the subway tracks staring at his phone was a shot from a satirical viral video he was making. The video was made in response to how ridiculous some people are behaving as a result of the game. The shot of him walking straight off of the harbour and into the lake is my personal favourite. In Vancouver, police believe two young men were playing Pokémon GO when one jumped into the subway tracks, stayed there for about twenty seconds and then climbed back out. He wasn’t injured, but he set off an alarm for the oncoming train to perform an emergency hard-stop. By now, you are probably wondering, what about the incident where the pregnant woman wandered into traffic? Not quite a fake story, but certainly not a real one either. 18-year-old Kaitlyn Shelton was out playing Pokémon GO with a group of friends when they claim they were intentionally struck by a car. The group was allegedly startled by a speeding car and yelled out against the driver’s near miss when the speedster slammed into reverse over the pregnant woman and then quickly drove off. Luckily, both mother and baby are fine. Another story is about the two young teens who, while playing Pokémon GO, wandered too close to the border and illegally crossed into Montana from southern Alberta. It was surprising that the two made it that far, considering that they were detained near Sweetgrass of the Sweetgrass Coutts border -- the heavily-trafficked and only 24-hour border crossing. They claim to have “lost track of where they were,” and received no punishment. Last but not least, the story about the girl who found a dead body is also true! 19-year-old Shayla Wiggins from Wyoming says she was walking along the shore when she saw the body floating face down beside her. Police expect death of natural causes, due to drowning and no foul play. Ultimately, what’s not to love about Pokémon GO? Players no longer have to choose between playing video games and going outside anymore. For me, the game’s major selling-point is the player-to-player interaction. In the past, I have often gone on walks and explored my city, but never really connected with the people around me. This is why, I have to say that there is something incredibly pleasant about being in front of the CN Tower at 9:30 p.m. and just instinctively knowing that almost everyone else around you is on the same page. You instantly feel an indescribable connection to a throng of strangers. In that moment, you feel as if they are your people, your team, your allies, your neighbours, and your peers. If for whatever reason you find yourself on the outside of the Pokémon GO trend, be forewarned -- it may not last. Although plans to add every generation of Pokémon to the game have been announced, as well as additional features mirroring the original game style, Pokémon GO may not be popular for much longer. “The game is rather fresh and managed to go viral quite quickly, but after two weeks of playing it, it became very repetitive and monotonous,” says George Prozorov, a third-year business student. “With [the] addition of constant crashes and annoying bugs that are still not fixed, Pokémon GO became a thing of the past for me.” Whether you like it or not, Pokémon GO will soon be out of everyone’s way: those who enjoy it thoroughly will continue to do so, and those who’d rather not hear about it ever again may get their wish. Lastly…don’t tap on a Pokéball to pick it up if you miss. IT DOESN’T WORK! The unfortunate thing is that people never expect horrible things to happen to them while playing the game. I have a friend who ran a red light trying to catch Pokémon. Every time you open the game, you are greeted with a scene of a Pokémon trainer crossing a bridge toward a Gyarados, a giant red exclamation point, and the words, “Remember to be alert at all times. Stay aware of your surroundings.” It really all boils down to common sense: if you wouldn’t walk down the street with your nose pressed up against candy crush, why throw all sense out the window now? Especially considering the game vibrates when a Pokémon appears, you have almost no reason to continuously stare at your screen. www. the-underground.ca AUGUST 22 - OCTOBER 5, 2016 VOLUME 36, ISSUE 01
SCIENCE & TECH 27 NOOR AQIL / THE UNDERGROUND www. the-underground.ca AUGUST 22 - OCTOBER 5, 2016 VOLUME 36, ISSUE 01