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August 02, 2018

August 2018

It is a wonderful feeling to make new friends in person through a game. You can talk about the game passionately and be besiege with frowning faces, as you would normally receive at work, at home, and among friends who do play games at all.

At present, I adore Pokemon Go (game). I am amazed how hard core fans are still playing the game, despite the masses has loss interest in it by 2017, and with the release of new Pokemon games by Nintendo. many of the players have shifted to offline style of play. But I guess, I am a hard core player. I reached level 40 in February (20), which is the highest player level for now. 

The game still has bugs and quirks. But I enjoy the challenges it bring and I don not mind having to deal with its shortcoming. I do that all the time at work. I am amazed how much of my feedback has been seriously added into the game, from gym features to campaigns. It makes me smile when my feedback bears fruit.

Each time the company Niantic runs a campaign, organise a festival somewhere in the world, and release a new feature it makes millions of dollars. Just WOW! awe, surprise.

There is one aspect that many people have overlooked - communities. There are actually global communities for this game, where players exchange thoughts, screens recordings, and milestones. They even plan non-sponsored events, first there were lure parties in 2016, second there were "wafu" raids in 2017, and 2018 trading pokemon meetups and dinners. The game has built-in social element even though it does not have messaging facilities. Players use other communication platform such as Facebook, Twitter, Discord, and so on. The community globally is sitting in the millions and holding strong. Players now travel to catch exclusive regional pokemon which are spread across the different continents.

How can you frown on this game when it:

  • gets seniors in Hong Kong walking more (pokemon eggs);
  • give players a chance to find their new spouse (raid parties);
  • encourage people to celebrate their 60th birthday with young players (lure parties);
  • stop people from spending money at the pokies machine and hang out with real people (raid parties);
  • help shy people in their 30s find new friends (raid parties and lure parties).


I am having blast.

Oddly, the social growth around this game has been amazing for me. I have made a dozen new friends to date. We had dinners, trivia night, and walk-fetch-quests after work. Winter does not seem all that dreary when you have great company.

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