The game launched on August 3rd in Brazil and it’s already a fever around the country. Between funny stories and awkward ones, Pokemon Go is the topic of the moment. However, not everybody enjoys the game; some people hate it as much as other’s love it.
For Giovanna Bronze, Allan Correia and Carolina Moraes, journalism students who expected the launching so badly, the game is very addictive and fun. Giovanna was even playing during the interview! “I used to watch Pokémon when I was young, so when I found out about the game, I needed to download it immediately”, she told me. Waiting for it to launch in Brazil was a torture for those three players.
Allan was so excited that he tried some links to download it before everybody – but he didn’t succeed. “Cellphone games are always the same. When Pokémon Go appeared, it was different from everything else. That made me like it so much and want to try so badly”, tells him.
Carolina was another fan “I used to watch it until late at night with my older brothers”, she asserted. “To be able to capture pokémons is like a dream coming true to those who watched the cartoon and it feels so real!” She even did some crazy stuff to play the game: one day, at midnight, she and one of her brother’s saw a pokémon near their house and went out to catch it, even though it was late.
On the other side, Luiza Bortolatto and Lucas Menezes, sophomores in advertising, and Livia Figueiredo, sophomore in journalism, didn’t download it and don’t have any intention of doing so. For them, people are already using too much their cellphones and the game is helping to create even more boundaries. “It is usual for people to go out and use the cellphone all the time. Now with the game that is more intense. It takes away space for real conversation and real company for a virtual one”, says Luiza. “People are spending valuable time with this, when they could be helping people for example or just doing something useful for them”, said Livia. “And besides, it’s a very dangerous game. We’ve heard about a lot of robberies and car accidents that had been caused by Pokémon Go”.
Lucas has the same idea: “I didn’t like the idea of the game from the beginning. It’s one of those things that makes people stare to their cellphones screens and stop paying attention to the rest of the world. That’s called alienation”. He even said that it remembers him the show “Blackmirror”, that, according to him, criticize the abuse of technology in human life.
You can love it or hate it, but one fact is: Pokémon Go is helping to write a lot of funny stories in people’s lifes. Camila Junqueira, sophomore in journalism, caused a little trouble in her family because of the game – as they share the cellphone internet and Camila was playing too much, she ended with the package of her whole family, which means that, for the rest of the month, no one could access the internet from their cellphones… Gabriela Canal, who is really addicted to the game had an awkward moment with it too. The senior advertising student was in front of a building near her work when, out of a sudden, a woman in her 50’s, wearing high heels and fancy clothes grabbed her arm and asked “is there any good pokémon in here?”. Gabriela, chocked, said “actually I’m not playing… I was just waiting for my Uber to come”, and showed her phone to the stranger, who was left disappointed.
Between love, hate and fun stories, only one thing is clear to everyone: although the opinion about it, Pokémon Go is a worldwide fever, and we have no clue when it’s going to stop. Dangerous thing can happen to those who don’t pay attention where they’re going and the people around them, as nostalgic moments can come from the cellphone screen as well. Even funny moments can happen for people to tell their children someday! So, are you going to catch them all or just wait for them to leave?