The Impacts of Covid-19 on Players of Pokémon GO

Abstract

Since its creation, the Location-Based Game (LBG), Pokémon GO , has been embraced by a community of fans across the world. Due to its recency, the impact of COVID-19 on the community of Pokémon GO players is underexplored. We address how COVID-19 has impacted the players of Pokémon GO by building upon existing work focusing on player gratifications and impacts in Pokémon GO . Through semi-structured interviews, we provide a snapshot of the state of LBG play during unprecedented times. These player interviews demonstrate (1) the importance of in-person socialization to LBG, (2) additional ways players use the game as a coping mechanism, and (3) how intentionality mediates player perceptions of people-place relationships. Furthermore, we explore how Niantic influenced these behaviors through changes to how players interact with points of interest and engage with elder game mechanics such as raiding.

Augmented future: tracing the trajectory of location-based augmented reality gaming for the next ten years

“…During the COVID-19 pandemic when government measures led LBG designers to alter their game design, we saw a practical example of how the developers aimed to adopt the design of their game in a way that corresponds with players’ lives. 64 To accommodate the changes in e.g., recommendations to self-isolate, games such as Harry Potter: Wizards Unite and Pokémon GO were changed to include more opportunities for remote and solo play. 64 When we look at evidence from studies on locative crowdsourcing, we also see that participants contribute mostly after work when commuting, 65 suggesting that LBGs have become a genre of games specifically serving a purpose of offering “something to do” while carrying out daily locative tasks such as walking the dog, commuting to work or walking to a nearby store for grocery shopping.…”

“… 64 To accommodate the changes in e.g., recommendations to self-isolate, games such as Harry Potter: Wizards Unite and Pokémon GO were changed to include more opportunities for remote and solo play. 64 When we look at evidence from studies on locative crowdsourcing, we also see that participants contribute mostly after work when commuting, 65 suggesting that LBGs have become a genre of games specifically serving a purpose of offering “something to do” while carrying out daily locative tasks such as walking the dog, commuting to work or walking to a nearby store for grocery shopping. It makes sense from a financial perspective for LBG developers to draw from this unique position of their games and to increasingly make the games more in-line with players’ daily lives.…”

Dimensions of Interactive Pervasive Game Design: Systematic Review

“…Pervasive games rose to popularity with the release of Niantic's Pokémon GO in 2016. Two games now dominate the pervasive games market: Pokémon GO and Ingress [9]. Ingress has a rather simple core loop and low polish, but its dynamics seem to be tailored to enforce team socializing and collaboration [10].…”