It's a kind of crappy piece of software that has a lot of really neat ideas in it. I'd probably say it makes me feel "hopeful" that Niantic improves the shallow battle system. Improving the server stability would go a long way too.

It's made me super frustrated. About a month before it came out I decided I wanted to get back into running shape get my 5/10k times back to near what they were when I was racing in high school. At this point on long runs I'm moving at about a constant 7.5 miles an hour. Apparently that's faster than the speed limit in the game, meaning I don't get any distance on eggs when I run. I was really hoping I could use this as the best distance tracking app ever but no dice.

I love that it's popular, but I really do not like the game itself. I wish it was the same concept but had completely different mechanics. I don't like holding the phone in front of me when I walk around, I wish the battle system was better, and I wish the catching system required a pokemon battle like in the games.

It's insanity made flesh. Not like this.

I wonder if it's the idea of people socializing outside via a game that's getting under people's skin. The downtown area in my city is crawling with people of all ages. You mostly see groups of people in their late 20's or early 30's, but you also see entire families getting excited as they catch Pokemon. I'm not a parent, but I imagine that parents are extremely happy to be able to spend so much time with the kids out of the house having fun. At the very least it's a lot healthier than just sitting at home online or watching Netflix.

im super into it so far, aside from server issues of course

I feel indifferent about it.

It's not by any means a "good" game, but people seem to be enjoying it, so that's fine. It's not for me, though.

All the pseudo-news stories around it are getting somewhat annoying, but again, I don't really care.

What fascinates me is how many people are into this that have very clearly never played a Pokemon game let alone could name one besides Pikachu. Are they playing it because it's the "it" new app? Are they latching on to the fun and nostalgia of their friends? Do they just think it's cool to see creatures in the real world through their phones and it wouldn't even matter if it was a Pokemon related game? I personally know multiple people that would never in a million years touch a real Pokemon game yet have the time of their lives walking around flicking up on their phones.

Maybe I do know why. This was obviously the perfect time to release something like this. This is exactly what happened when Pokemon first came out. Except now instead of only kids having Game Boys, literally everyone has a smart phone. It's the reason Pokemon became so popular in the first place. It's fun to explore and find new Pokemon and share with your friends where you found them, and now you can walk around the real goddamn world and do the same thing. You can socialize with your friends and ignore the shitty real world and just talk about that cool fire dog you found by the liquor store. And it's barely a video game so people that have no interest in games don't even have to think when they play. That's at least my theory as to why so many people, long time fans and people that never played, have latched onto it.

As to why some people hate it? Well it's the new popular thing. That's a given. But imagine if something you had absolutely no interest in was just about everywhere. Take for example, I have zero interest in Overwatch, not a competitive shooter guy. I get slightly annoyed for no good reason when there are extended segments on the Bomb/Beastcast about Overwatch and then there's even more the next week. I just skip past them or listen to something else, whatever. Now imagine if that something else also talked about Overwatch, and my entire Twitter feed is people talking about Overwatch, and every Youtuber and streamer is playing Overwatch, and I turn on the fucking local news and they're talking about Overwatch. I might start to hate Overwatch a little bit. Now @golguin, you seem to be confused as to how someone could hate Pokemon Go, but imagine for a second not giving a single shit about Pokemon Go. I don't think people hate people getting exercise and fresh air and socializing, they don't need Pokemon Go for that, but it's the constant barrage of media attention combined with zero interest of the product (or active loathing because they think Pokemon is for loser kids and they're still like, 12 year old bullies) that might get under someone's skin.

And also because it's barely a game and the servers suck and every time I try to access a Pokestop to get some goddamn Pokeballs I lose the GPS signal and then it tells me to try again later without giving me stuff. This game is bad.

I'm more flabbergasted than anything. I guess I'm glad people are having fun, but couldn't they have picked a better game for that? I just don't get the appeal at all.

The popularity is grating. I don't hate the game really, it's your standard Not Good But Popular Anyway™ thing - there's a place for that and I'm okay with it in principle.

But being constantly barraged by it, reminded of it, and basically immersed in it is pretty awful.

Undertale was less pervasive, but arguably worse on the internet because people went out of their way to proselytize that thing. Any of that kind of conduct/attitude is frustrating.

"diehards" are still getting their normal pokemon games, so unless that changes i wouldn't worry, and i think it's awesome the effect this is having on people regardless of how simplistic the game itself is.

i'm a curmudgeon and don't really care for it personally but i think it's a really cool phenomenon. and when/if i change my mind the zeitgeist will of course have passed and i'll be the sad last guy wandering aimlessly in search of pokemen. :'(

If you get frustrated at a couple weeks of a fad having the spotlight then I don't know what to tell some of you. It's the way society works. You can look back on history and pick out fads one by one. Let people have their fun. Your social media will go back to its regularly scheduled programming soon until the next thing you possibly won't like comes along.

I haven't found a single dead body yet. I'm so disappointed.

I get angry because I see an average of 30 Pokémon GO players a day but none of them is carrying a 3DS for streetpassing. I just want more puzzle pieces but this is a great opportunity for face to face Pokemon battles or trades.

I actually have no interest in playing Overwatch. A good number of people at work play it and I obviously hear about it on the Bombcast and Beastcast, but it doesn't bother me. I actually enjoy seeing the Overwatch cosplay at anime conventions and I've taken many D. VA photos.

I don't go into Overwatch threads/comments and say things like "How many weeks until this Overwatch fad thing dies so we can talk/play real competitive shooters?" I believe it was just this past Beastcast where Vinny was asking the crew when people would stop playing the game. Isn't it a little disheartening to hear people root for a game's decline? When No Man's Sky comes out is the Giant Bomb crew going to start predicting it's decline before it's even released in every territory?

I like playing it, but the bugginess of the app really frustrates me whenever I play. It seems anytime I try to catch a new pokemon. Then I have to completely shut down the app, start it up again, wait to log in, then hope the pokemon's still there to try again. And that usually just leads to a cycle of retrying over and over and over... Between that and the server problems, I have a hard time actually enjoying playing the game at times.

Hardly looks like a game from what I've seen of it. It looks aimed at kids, so when I see a bunch of adults running around playing it, without kids, then I just assume it's some silly fad with an obvious mix of genuine pokefreaks and people who simply want into the social happening. Then I go about my day being neither. I think this is the first I've posted online about it to.

novels could be written about the dark future where this leads. People playing pokemon go in the holocaust museum is a good example of real life relations breaking down into people simply following; possessed by a need to increase their virtual standing to do things in the real world, regardless of the moral implications after all "the game told me to do it". Virtual currencies replace money as people are directed to do jobs to gear up and catch em all as real life property becomes tied to the ever encompassing game economy. Maybe a bit hyperbolic but one could envision a future where gamification of social/economic life only increases.

I'm mildly frustrated that this gives gaming a bit of a bad name. The concept is fine, and Ingress was a cool idea. Now that this thing is getting huge, a bunch of people ambling around chasing air is simply not a good look. It kinda bugs me when "fad" phone games like this, Candy Crush, Angry Birds, et al. catch on with the casual crowd, while playing actually good video games is still looked down upon in some circles. The fervor with which some people regard this (positively or negatively) is a bit grating to me as well. Then again, maybe this helps bridge some gaps. I hope I see the day when gaming is as socially acceptable as watching TV, and maybe success of crappy phone games helps open some eyes. I also think it's pretty cool that some parents have been able to connect more with their kids through this (and get some exercise while doing so).

I guess I'm both annoyed and pleased with this whole Pokemon Go thing at the same time.

Pokemon Go makes me confused. On one hand I completely get the appeal of the game, but on the other I don't at all get why anyone would play it. I'm a sucker for collectibles in video games, but if there's no core gameplay there that I find enjoyable I'm gonna burn out very quickly.

It's interesting the opposite perspectives on the physical act of play in this case. Those that see the act of walking around in the real world searching for pokemon as dumb and embarrassing versus those that see it as a interesting and novel way to play a game.

What's a bit sad however are reactions that go along the lines of "I can't believe this is popular when better games are still looked down upon." as it implies a feeling that Pokemon Go is somehow threatening the social acceptability of traditional games, a concept that is wholly absurd to me.

ernest cline is that you

What annoys me is that I'm associating actual tragedy with weird Pokemon Go scenarios. A German headcase tried to axe 20 people on a train a couple of hours ago and I can't help wondering, "How many never saw him coming because they were trying to catch a Weedle?"

I remember when phones were just phones, man.

Worried. Worried that whatever game comes after Sun and Moon looks at the popularity and money it's brought in and takes its design cues from Go, and ends up as a gameplay light, social heavy experience. Pokémon Go is fine as it's own thing, meanwhile the main series games should continue to build on the subtle, smart changes of X and Y.

I'm fine with it, its a 'game' that is of no interest to me. I just wish people would shut up about it. My 'normal' friends that know I play games are asking me advice and want to have conversations about it and about how it is the biggest thing ever to come out of anything ever forever. I do hope this fades into oblivion just to get everyone to stop talking about it

@slyspider: Are you angry that people are talking about a game they play, or are you angry at the amount of media coverage it's receiving? One is understandable, the other is...silly, to put it lightly.

Angry is too strong a word I think. I'm sick of the same conversation happening where everyone blows this app to be something akin to God in mobile app form and how this will fundamentally change society in ways we have never seen. Its a cool toy and I'm glad its making people play something they consider a video game after years of not playing them. I hope they move on to play more developed games. I just am going to tune all the overblown praise for this the same way I did for angry birds

I think the UI is pretty poorly explained. Like, looking at the map, you'll see leaves getting kicked up as if something is happening over there, but I guess that's just meaningless bullshit because when I get those areas within my circle absolutely nothing happens. The swipe to zoom in and out seems to be really inconsistent with when it registers and when it doesn't, plus the game at no point tells you you can even do that until I randomly found it by accident.

Also, is there any way to delete the zillions of duplicate Pokemon you get? They're really cluttering up the screen.

The game is just so poor at explaining itself other than the pokestop and gym part of it, which is especially sad when the game has so few mechanics compared to an actual Pokemon game.

@bisonhero: You can delete the duplicate pokemen by pressing the Transfer button on the bottom of the info page about it. You'll have to scroll down on the page to see the button though.

But, yeah, the game is really bad at explaining just about anything.

@fisk0: Literally did not know you could scroll down the page when looking at individual Pokemon. Thanks, Pokemon GO!

hey but with what a garbage year it's been I'd be totally fine if this is what brings society to its knees

also just caught a dope ass charizard so hell yeah

It's frustrating to me in the same way Castlevania and Metal Gear pachinko machines frustrate Konami fans. It's not want I want from the franchise, and its success de-emphasizes mainline games and instead tells them that they can make all their money on simple but crazy lucrative spin-offs. For Pokemon specifically, I'd like to see a return of console games (and hopefully with good production values), the third version (last seen with Platinum), and maybe see some more experimentation with the main series battle mechanics (like more than four moves, or doing something about HM load). What they definitely don't need is more friggen mons. =/ I've often wondered why they don't do what they did with Black & White 2 more often, and have sequels set in the same region but have an in-game amount of time pass. A 20 years later game set in Kanto would be way more interesting than just another Red/Blue remake.

I love the social aspect of the game although game itself could use some depth.

One thing that bothers me is all the negative news stories they are trying to push. Most of them are just things that happen regardless of Pokemon. Think of it this way...how many people are playing the game? Like so many people are playing that nearly everyone is playing.

If you take that amount of people and work out percentages of how many get robbed/ find a dead body/ walk off a cliff/ get in a car crash every day regardless of Pokemon or not wouldn't they be about the same? Has the game changed anything really? So you can almost take any normal occurrence and tack on "also plays Pokemon Go".

I wish it had a better PvE element, since it's kinda bullshit that all of the leveling up of Pokemon is just in the service of these lackluster gym battles against whichever person in your area has been playing the game since the instant it came out and/or has spent the most money on the game.

Also kinda BS that your Pokemon don't get fully healed at a Pokestop, like it's a Pokemon Center. Having to manually heal all of your Pokemon with items goes so 100% against the spirit of the Pokemon games. But I guess that's Michael Transactions for you.

As of 3 years, I've been a big pokemon fan of the anime, the ds games and the card game. But pokemon go does not interest me, it doesn't have that pokemon game feel. My friend who got me into Pokemon agrees.