KAMLOOPS — The Pokémon GO craze has taken over the city of Kamloops, even before the location-based game has been officially released in Canada.
The game is based on the popular Pokémon media franchise of the 1990s, placing the fictitious creatures into real life locations with the help of a mobile device.
Kamloops Pokémon fans who have managed to get around geographical restrictions to download the app say the game fosters community while promoting an active lifestyle.
On a sunny Thursday afternoon at Riverside Park, dozens of people had gathered to hunt Pokémon in an attempt to “catch ’em all.”
“I want to say I’ve logged maybe eight or nine hours a day,” Ryan Robinson said during a lunch break at the park. “Even if I’m not playing it, I usually have it on in my pocket so that as I’m walking around it’s hatching eggs and doing that kind of thing. But there’s been a couple days that I’ve been down here.”
Robinson downloaded a version of the increasingly popular Pokémon GO app approximately five days ago. He now serves as a moderator for two Facebook pages relating to the Kamloops Pokémon GO community.
For Robinson, and many others, the game is a realization of a childhood dream.
“A huge part of the demographic around here is people who are in their 20-30 range and, you know, we grew up watching Pokémon, having that dream as a kid, wanting to go out and catch Pokémon and it’s closer to reality now,” Robinson said.
The people playing the game are not a reclusive bunch as the app requires them to walk to different locations in to find Pokémon, and they’ll often meet people along the way.
“Anyone around here who’s playing Pokémon GO – typically they’re going to bond with each other,” Robinson said. “It’s not awkward to go up to somebody and say, ‘hey, are you playing Pokémon GO?’ and just strike up a conversation. Members from rival teams they’ll talk and they’ll walk together, they’ll hang out, they’ll catch Pokémon.”
Pokémon GO has video game enthusiasts walking more than ever, but while the app seems relatively harmless, players do run the risk of injury if they’re not looking where they’re going.
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Reports of Pokémon GO related car accidents and injuries have local RCMP keeping a close eye on the situation.
“A priority for us is distracted driving anyway,” Cpl. Jodi Shelkie said. “So we’ll be pulling over people who are using their cell phone no matter what it’s for, but in regards to people walking around playing Pokémon GO – we do have a concern, there haven’t been any incidences yet, but we do have a concern that people might be looking at their cell phone, not paying attention to where they’re walking, walking across streets or something like that.”
Despite these concerns, Ryan Robinson and the Kamloops gaming community see the Pokémon GO app as a mostly positive thing.
“Honestly, the community’s amazing,” Robinson said. “It’s a great way to meet people who are interested in the same thing. It’s a great way to have fun, relax and get active.”
