Jul 27 - Pokémon, Gotta Catch 'Em All!
By Stefano Blanca Sciacaluga
Pokémon, gotta catch 'em all! (Or try your best to catch 'em all but don't be disappointed when it's difficult)
There are certain things I don’t tamper with because I have an addictive personality. Within these things - and overlooking all those that one should definitely not tamper with if you are one hundred per cent certain getting hooked is a very real possibility - are food and drink, TV shows and internet videos, films, books and magazines, records, sounds, lights and images, and video games.
I’m a low-key gamer. I’ve never really been big on gaming but I’ve always played them, if that makes sense. I couldn’t sit in front of a television for hours, days and weeks at a time; I lose concentration and move on to something else. But it’s there, I’ve always played a game or two here and there but never ended up fully hooked. That is until Facebook came along. First it was the really dumb Mafia Wars, then Candy Crush, then I got an iPhone and had Candy Crush on that, then the App Store really ruined me and I got Doodle Jump, Dots, Score!, First Touch Soccer, Scrabble, Temple Run, Ski Safari: Adventure Time, Doodle Fit, Deer Hunter, Flappy Bird, Smash Hit, ten versions of 2048, Monument Valley, SimCity, Ball King and a bunch of others either too embarrassing or too bad to mention, all of these last few which I feel I should mention were probably not on my phone for long. But the truth is I played all those games for some time; at one point or another I was wasting the battery on my phone and time in my day playing some stupid game that really wasn’t giving me anything.
I didn’t hear about Pokémon Go until just before mid-July, 2016. I used to watch Pokémon, had a Game Boy and Nintendo 64 games, and even shared a pretty big collection of cards with my cousin. It was a pretty big deal back in the day for people my age. But as it so happens people have still been playing Pokémon, it’s still a thing. When I first heard of the game - a couple of weeks ago - I was intrigued, I’m not going to lie, but the fact that (at the time) it still wasn’t out in the UK App Store and I’d have to make a new account, and all these things that I am too lazy to figure out and too dumb to not mess up, really put me off the whole thing. Well, of course I was also scared I’d get really addicted. So I decided I wasn’t going to do it. But then I saw this video
and a day or two went by and more people started talking about it, even some close friends, and then I found myself in a weird place between really wanting it (read: needing it) and trying to shut everybody and everything off. But call it fate or I don’t know, I was talking to my colleagues here and they suggested I should write about it and a couple of hours later it was available in the UK App Store. Now I HAD TO have it.
I downloaded it on a Thursday afternoon, after work. The idea was that I’d put some data on my phone (for the first time ever, I am ignorant and WI-FI dependant) and go for a walk that evening to try and see what it was all about. It turns out I wasn’t the only one who had figured out it was in the UK App Store (I had already seen people that morning playing it who probably got it the illegal way), and I wasn’t the only one trying to get data on their phones. I mean, that might not be the reason, but the Gibtelecom Reload site wasn’t working right on the day that everybody wanted to get on the Pokéhype. So I tried to figure out the game at home, caught a Bulbasaur in my living room and sulked all evening that I couldn’t go outside to play. I got to work on the Friday hopeful that I’d be able to catch some Pokémon in the office (because apparently everybody was, in their offices), put some data on and spend the rest of the weekend having some uninterrupted Pokéfun.
After only managing to catch two between seven in the morning and four in the afternoon I decided to use my time wisely and go for a walk during my four free hours until soundcheck at half eight for a concert I was playing that evening. By half eight I was all kinds of disappointed. I hadn’t managed to catch any during my walk and I was really close to giving up after seeing that everybody was catching ‘em all; and then the craziest thing happened. In my walks to and from soundcheck and my concert I caught, without exaggeration, almost fifteen Pokémon. I was in the game. I was hooked. And I didn’t really realise how hooked I was until I noticed on the Saturday that my plan of spending all afternoon walking around trying to find them was shattered because the servers were down. I couldn’t log on, none of the tricks I was reading on the internet were working to log on, I was torturing myself with videos of people catching them on YouTube, of tricks people had learnt, of ways to progress faster… By this time I wasn’t feelin’ so good.
But life goes on, and like I mentioned I’ve never really become majorly obsessed with a game to the point where I haven’t left the house, so I went out for dinner and drinks with some friends. I think sometime on our way to the restaurant the game was back up and online, but I really didn’t pay any attention until I was alone on the way home. Do you know how many you can catch down Main Street at night? I was going crazy! There were a lot of them coming up on the radar thing that I didn’t have and even the ones I already had I was having fun catching again. Now I live by the Leisure Centre, next to Commonwealth Park, which I had already noticed on the Friday was pretty big for Pokémon players, and was happy to find out seeing as I walk through it at least once a day. So on my way home that night, at just before two in the morning I found myself at Commonwealth Park, trying to look like I wasn’t hunting for Pokémon like the other twenty or more kids there. But then the sprinklers came on, the kids ran towards where I was and I felt I needed to try and look less creepy (as a bearded man in a park at two in the morning) and asked this group of three guys if they were playing Pokémon. Long story short I was on my way home half an hour later with a bunch of new Pokémon, a bunch of new tips and tricks and general knowledge on the game and feeling absolutely ridiculous for being almost twenty seven and doing this. Thanks guys!
But of course the crappy feeling quickly passed as more and more people both my age and older, and some of my close friends started playing, and fast-forward a couple of days and I was back in Commonwealth Park at eleven at night, putting up with crazy and uncomfortable wind and a guy who was definitely in his thirties telling my friend Pat and I not to move because there was a Squirtle next to us. That’s when I realised how crazy the whole thing is, how out of hand it had become.
So anyway, enough about me and let's move on to the important information, the pros and cons of the game. Of course, I'm lying, this is also about me; who the hell would have time to go ask people what the think are the pros and cons of the game when there are so many Pokémon to catch and eggs to hatch? Let's start with the negative aspects:
CONS
- It makes you have to walk around all the time
If you're of the kind that prefer to be horizontal during all your time of leisure, and would spend your time of work horizontal too if given the opportunity, then I have bad news: this game is just not for you. You have to walk around all the time and climb trees to find Manky's and dig in the grass in Commonwealth Park to find Diglet's. This last bit isn't true, but if physical activity really isn't your thing, or you can't leave your house because you're under house arrest or "house arrest" (an extremely jealous and paranoid partner) or any other reason, then this game really isn't for you, as the whole point is to walk.
- It's still kind of buggy, crashes and drains your phone's life
Which means that it freezes often and some things really don't work like they should or don't work at all, like the radar function - much to the frustration of one member of the Gibraltar Pokémon Go Facebook Group. What this really means for gameplay is that sometimes a Pokémon will pop up atcha and you'll realise the game is frozen and have to restart it, and maybe it's the Nicki Minaj one, y'know. Another problem I've found is that sometimes it freezes up when you're walking around using the battery saver function. A solution to this, or how I deal with it is to constantly keep an eye on it and when I pick it up after a while of inactivity I restart the app, just to be sure. There's also the added problem that the servers crash altogether, and predictively and obviously it seems to happen on weekends and in the evenings. Sometimes I wish kids had something better to do so they could let the real Pokémon fans, the ones from the beginning, play. I guess it's what happens when EVERYBODY wants to give it a go. Oh, and in addition to all of this it goes through your battery faster than Snapchat, and trust me, I know how fast the battery goes on Snapchat (I can't get enough).
- It makes you look and feel like a real idiot and disrupts the flow of traffic in town
You can tell when somebody's playing Pokémon. Even before I had it, the second day after hearing about it I already saw people in town hunched over their phones, and not in the way that they usually do when they're on Facebook. This is a lot more obvious. It also makes people stop in the middle of town to concentrate on getting that curve ball in. Myself personally I've never felt so vulnerable in my life, like I'm embarrassed that people know I'm playing Pokémon and they definitely know when I stop in the middle of he street looking nervously as my phone. Just today I spotted a Charmander (which I already have but this one was better) by Number 6 and walked towards the Law Courts trying to catch it. So I tried and failed and ran out of Pokéballs, and ended up going back to Number 6 to try and get more...it was pathetic and I didn't get it. I've also found myself (thankfully only on one occasion) circling my estate looking for a stupid Pikachu in my radar. Still haven't caught the thing. So just imagine how stupid you look to other people when you're circling buildings, stopping in the street and doing a complete turn and going back where you came from, or missing steps and tripping...
PROS
- It makes you have to walk around all the time
I'm a walker. I walk to work, walk to all sorts of places and even go on walks just because, on weekends or evenings; so Pokehunting is a great excuse to go for a walk and get out of the house. Just the other day I went to that new small boats marina and sat there looking out at the sea for a while, trying to see all the Pokémon I couldn't catch. What I'm trying to say is that for me it's not that big of a deal, I'm used to going for walks for no reason, but for a lot of people this means they get to go outside, even if it's with their phones. Have you seen all the kids that hang around in Commonwealth Park now? That's right, walk passed them and you'll see they're on that Pokémon hype. Better than being indoors looking up funny business on the Internet and trying all sorts of science experiments or whatever kids do. It's free exercise and you get to be part of something, the Pokémon trainer life. Well done you!
- It's still kind of buggy, crashes and drains your phone's life
I'm a firm believer in that everything negative has a positive something to take from it. Think how negative sending people to the moon was. Well, guess what, we now know not to trust the Americans because they made that up and liars are not to be trusted. Bam, there's your positive, learn to be more cautious with your trust. Anyway, about Pokémon. So yeah, all this game downtime can only mean you get a chance to do two things: look up and understand the game better, or if it's also drained your battery completely you can give your eyes a break from the screen and socialise, or go find other players and go and look at real life Pokémon. Below is a guide of where to find real-life Pokémon in Gibraltar.
- It makes you look and feel like a real idiot and disrupts the flow of traffic in town
Just like you'll look silly everybody else looks hilarious! I love people watching so now it's extra fun when you see they're struggling to catch something, or they're angry at the servers or they're just walking around. And the best thing, and we all do it, is when people pretend they're not actually out looking for Pokémon. The other day I was so embarrassed to be in Commonwealth Park so late at night that I pretended to be texting as I passed some other adults. Funny thing is the three kids I met in the park said "we weren't sure if you were playing or not because it looked like you were texting". I'm a good actor it seems. You'll also get to see people trip over, like the other day when I tripped walking up stairs and this one guy was trying so hard not to laugh, but he kept staring... Strange.
So having said all of this do I recommend the game? Yeah, why not. It looks like there already is a lot to do and they are definitely going to be adding things to it. Does it feel like it's one of those games that won't be around, or that popular, for long? Yeah, certainly. I might be wrong but the feeling I'm getting from playing this game is that I'm in this huge pressure to, like the song says, be the best and catch 'em all, really quickly, which is frustrating because I feel like I spend more time disappointed with the game and with my performance on it than actually enjoying playing the game. But I guess once you look beyond the downsides, beyond this feeling of 'I need to complete this now before it's gone', and you feel confident enough to tell anybody that you are indeed a Pokémon Trainer Master Person and are proud of it, then your experience will be a lot better.
And now to...
Stefano's guide to finding real-life Pokémon in Gibraltar for when your phone is out of Pokéjuice
Rattata - I once saw a rat under the cars on Chatham Counterguard
Pidgey and Spearow - These are literally everywhere, a lot in Casemates.
Manky - Upper Rock Nature Reserve
Magikarp - Fish Market Lane or get on a boat
Weedle and Caterpie - Definitely Alameda Gardens
Ekans - Possibly Alameda Gardens, definitely Upper Rock Nature Reserve
Zubat - I've seen them everywhere, but Upper Rock Nature Reserve and its caves are a safe bet
Growlithe - There are plenty of doggies that need homes at the RSPCA
Machop - Best bet are the beaches, by the shore or alternatively in and around any gym
Shelder and Krabby - Definitely by the sea, check piers at beaches
Meowth - There are also plenty of stray cats looking for homes
Feel free to message me about anything Pokémon related, let's be friends, or enemies, or frenemies!
Stefano Blanca Sciacaluga is a Level 13 Pokemon Trainer without a Pikachu, a writer, artist, photographer and bassist of the bands Manatee and Bob and the Boys.
@stefanoblanca
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