Like most parents, Port Alfred mother of two Debbie Duncan was not too happy when her boys Reece and Josh recently downloaded the Pokemon Go app onto their cellphones.
“I was sceptical at first, but now I am a fan,” she said yesterday.
According to Duncan, sports mad Josh was a typical teenager who preferred to spend his downtime in his room chatting, via What’sApp, with friends on his phone – instead of communicating with his parents or having any real face time with other teenagers.
But that all changed when the 16-year-old downloaded the Pokemon Go app.
“He never used to want to go anywhere with us... getting dressed and leaving the house was a schlepp – he was going through a phase where mom and dad were uncool.
“Since he downloaded Pokemon that has all changed.
“We have spent more time together talking, giggling and laughing than we have done in a long time.”
Duncan said he had changed from someone who had to be blackmailed to go to the shopping mall into someone “totally different”.
“We have had a lot of fun times since he downloaded the app, he used to argue with his little brother Reece now they both go off hunting Pokemon.”
“I like the fact that the game gets people out exploring and exercising.”
A mix of make believe played in the real world, both boys have started visiting landmarks like museums that they never knew existed.
“I think it is a good thing as long as it is done in moderation.”
According to Duncan, benefits included exercise, getting out of the house, exploring the neighbourhood and meeting new friends.
“Another bonus is that I now have the pleasure of having them shop with me – and carry the shopping bags.”
Released in stages across the world earlier this month – starting with Australia and North America on July 6, followed by the European Union and Japan – it quickly became the most downloaded app in history with more than 75 million users in just over three weeks.
Expected to be officially released in South Africa anytime soon, the fact that it was not yet available locally has not stopped people from getting their hands on it through illegal downloads.
Opinion over the merits of the game are however divided according to a snap Facebook survey this week by Saturday Dispatch.
While East London mother of two Annabel Wynn Jones said: “if it gets the groms off the couch and outdoors interacting with people in a good way then I am all for it”, others are not so sure.
Billed by fans as “the best game ever” Cape Town gaming veteran Jerri Mperdempes – who has 35 years experience as a professional gamer – says it is rubbish.
According to Bert Brummer, who lives in Bathurst but has been in Europe since the craze hit, “the problem is kids are glued to their phones, focused on the hunt, totally oblivious to the real world around them.”
Former Port Elizabeth resident Nathan Bernstein, who now lives in Ethiopia, told Saturday Dispatch he knew of a few people who had issues with players “trespassing or knocking on doors wanting to come into their gardens so they could catch a Pickachu.”
Fears that the game was a covert “Big Brother” type plot to track movements of people and invaded their right to privacy were downplayed by Cape Town computer geek Chris Macgregor as well as Bernstein during a Facebook chat with the Dispatch on the Pokemon phenomenon.
“Your phone tracks you with Pokemon or not,” Macgregor explained.
“A lot of these stories have been fabricated... I think it is great to get people out and about,” he said.
According to Bernstein, who is not a Pokemon player, tracking
occurred every time a person logged onto Facebook or used a mobile phone.
“It’s not like we are living off the grid anyway, so what if you’re being tracked.”
Although this reporter was sceptical when his 19-year-old son Cuan, who used to spend hours watching the popular Pokemon cartoon show growing up, said he had downloaded the game, that all changed when he saw how much extra exercise he was getting playing it.
“He has swopped chilling on the sofa for real life missions and is clocking up 10km a day looking for Pokemon.”
Designed to get people out of the house and exploring where they live, the amount of kilometres covered by players is astounding.
Very popular in Grahamstown, one Rhodes University student who normally spent hours in his room everyday playing games on his computer, said he had covered 100km in just three days looking for Pokemon.
Others told the
Dispatch they had met many new friends playing the game.
What appeared to be a possible student protest outside the main administration building earlier this week turned out to be something completely different.
“We got no time to protest,” a long-haired student explained.
“We too busy playing Pokemon.” – davidm@dispatch.co.za