Pokemon GO, Eleven Days Later

[lydy]

It is not a game without flaws. So many flaws! The fact that it crashes frequently is amazingly annoying, and it is not improved by the fact that I have to reboot my phone in order to get a good, clean start. My phone has been badly behaved, lately, so it doesn't always reboot cleanly. This may or may not be the fault of Pokemon GO. There are all sorts of issues with the game mechanics, I suppose. I am not a gamer, and cannot evaluate this.

The thing about it, though, is that for eleven days in a row, it has gotten me to take at least one ten-minute walk. I am walking a kilometer or two more per day than I ever did, before. Now, a kilometer is about 1300 steps, so vastly short of that 10,000 steps that everybody was all het up about some years ago. But that's still 1500 to 2000 more steps than I would have taken without it. This can't be a bad thing. (Ok, the tripping over curbs, that is a bad thing. But I'm getting better at avoiding that.)

I've seen several think pieces on Pokemon GO which hold forth in alarm about various aspects of the game. It's possible they get more sensible several paragraphs in, but I tend to bounce out after the first paragraph or two sound the alarm about how there are fewer Pokestops in poor neighborhoods because poor neighborhoods have less public art and fewer institutions. I think that there is an interesting article to be written, here, but the ones I've bounced out of all seem to think that the problem is Pokemon GO, rather than the fact that too many of our people live in poor neighborhoods with few amenities. Pokemon GO could provide an interesting lens into what is where and why, but it is not the problem, guys. You know what other neighborhoods are vastly impoverished when it comes to Pokestops? Rich, white suburbs. There was a fascinating article I saw a link to a while back (on Making Light, maybe) about mapping the elevators in New York City. And a map showing the presence of elevators does, indeed, provide an fascinating look into population density and wealth distribution in the city. But no one was suggesting that the presence or absence of elevators was, in fact, the problem.

The other thing I've seen in my Twitter stream is a friend concerned about the ableist aspects of Pokemon GO. I'm not really sure how to think about this. My friend is a very smart person, who has done a lot of really useful and creative thought about inclusivity and ableist assumptions. But for me, Pokemon GO is largely a very inaccurate pedometer with a stellar reward system. For me, it's not really a competitive game. I've fought a couple of gym battles, and man, that's boring. I like collecting the pretty little monsters, and I like evolving them. I like walking to the Pokestops and spinning the disks to get prizes. I like being encouraged to go to places I don't normally go to get rarer Pokemons. I like the fact that I'm becoming more sedentary and less sessile. For me, an older, very out of shape person, it doesn't feel coercive or alienating. I'm very aware that a lot of players are way ahead of me, because they have more time and more energy and can walk a fuck-ton farther than I can, but I don't find that upsetting. However, I may be missing something important. I do very much think that inclusivity is how we build humane, resilient systems. But I'm not sure how to design a walking app that doesn't, in the end, privilege people able to walk.

Comments

[riverrocks.livejournal.com]

A lot of the access problems in the game are rooted in the same kinds of issues you touched on around playing in poorer neighborhoods -- just as impoverished areas often lack the kinds landmarks used as pokestops (there's lots to untangle in the why, but not here), our actual physical infrastructure still lacks access (and for this conversation, specifically wheelchair and walker access) in fundamental ways, so when the pokestop or Pokemon is down a flight of stairs or in the middle of a field or cemetery without paved paths, or just far enough off the path that the phone can't reach it, even folks who are playing casually like you and me but need mobility aids to do so can find it frustrating and alienating. I think these feelings are amplified by the fact that a lot of us with disabilities have found community on the Internet and in online gaming circles, and as this game is being embraced and discussed in these places, encountering barriers to joining in can feel a little like being left out of a really great party just for navigating the world in a different way.

[lydy.livejournal.com]

Thank you. That clarifies the issues enormously.

[lydy.livejournal.com]

So, people with mobility issues have been using on-line gaming as a social form of activity that they can fully participate in. This on-line game does not let them fully participate, and because of their perceptions of on-line gaming as a space where they can be fully functional, Pokemon GO feels like it's taking something away from them. If I am correctly understanding this, then that actually makes a lot of sense, to me. Further, if someone was very fond of previous iterations of Pokemon, and along comes an iteration which has much of the iconography of a beloved game, but which they cannot fully access, that's gotta hurt in a way that, say, Ingress just doesn't. All of which is vastly exacerbated by the fact that everyone on the planet is talking about and playing Pokemon GO.

I have no idea what an appropriate response is. But I think I understand the issue much better. Thank you again for talking about the issue.

Interesting Links for 27-07-2016

[livejournal.livejournal.com]

User nwhyte referenced to your post from Interesting Links for 27-07-2016 (http://nwhyte.livejournal.com/2695257.html) saying: [...] ) Pokemon GO, Eleven Days Later [...]

[soon_lee]

"Pokemon GO is largely a very inaccurate pedometer"

Yes! I feel ripped-off because the GPS isn't good enough to register my actual distance walked, which means it doesn't go toward hatching eggs, dammit! But I have been doing much more walking than before I started playing & it's manifesting in a slight weight loss. Plus it's fun, so that's a win. It's gamified physical activity for me.

The downsides of playing that have been much reported are partly unintended consequences, and partly things that having some situational awareness would negate (mainly about paying attention to your surroundings & being appropriate).

[lydy.livejournal.com]

Oh, my poor feet. I walked much too much today, and my left foot, in particular, hurts like the dickens.

I find that my resentment towards the inaccuracy of the pedometer is somewhat off-set by the fact that when I am indoors, the GPS gets very confused, and sometimes runs about trying to figure out where it is, and clocks up a kilometer or so. Which feels a little like cheating, but is so not my fault. And it doesn't count any of the walking around inside the building that I do do.

[mount-oregano.livejournal.com]

Due to my health and ability issues, there are a lot of games I can't play. Basketball. Football. Tennis. Judo (which I used to play).

And I don't feel any rancor for those who can play those games. Sometimes I even watch and cheer.

Not everything has to be inclusive. It's not other people's fault that my body is far from perfect.

[lydy.livejournal.com]

I have asthma. There are a lot of things I can't do. I am old and overweight. There are a lot of things I can't do.

Accessibility isn't about resentment. It's not about people feeling bad. It's about people being able to participate in the social fabric of their lives. And this gets complicated really, really fast, because what is and isn't necessary is a matter of social norms as much as it is anything else. If you are, for instance, a recovering alcoholic, and the job you're in has most of the informal but really vital networking happen at bars with everyone drinking, you will not be able to fully participate in your own work environment. You will miss out on promotions, and even vital information that lets you do your job.

Not every issue of accessibility needs to be addressed. I agree with that. Nothing can be everything to everyone. But I am willing to think about these things. Is Pokemon GO a necessary part of the social fabric of life? I don't think so. Is it useful to think of the ways in which it includes and excludes? Maybe. But as I said in the top post, I don't think the problems are with Pokemon GO, necessarily, although it provides an interesting perspective on other issues.

There are multiple ways to use the word "ableist" and some of those uses make me irritated. Since people do have different abilities, it seems terrible when we use that to try to smooth away variation. There is a way to use the word that seems to try to create a homogenized society, in which everyone is exactly the same. And if that's what you are objecting to, then I completely support your objection. But there is a different way of using it, that asks that we try to think about people more specifically, and not ignore the fact that people come with different abilities. That is the use that interests me. And the two different approaches have a lot of slop-over, which is why the conversation is often charged and difficult.

[lydy.livejournal.com]

Upon reflection (two whole minutes worth), I realize I sound awfully lecture-y. Sorry about that. I am working through a lot of these issues myself, and so the primary audience for my lecture was me. I'm going to leave it there, but I apologize if I sounded really annoying.

[mount-oregano.livejournal.com]

Nothing wrong with lectures. LiveJournal encourages long-form posting. I like the way you're working through the issues, and I think it is true that we all don't have to do everything. But clearly some things need to be available to all, even if that means some adaptation.

I don't mind if I sit out Pokeman GO -- the truth is I'm too busy to play anyway, although I am physically able to do it. Walking is very necessary therapy for me, in fact. But some heavy doors are getting almost too heavy for me to handle, and yet I need to enter that building, and I know there are lots of other kinds of doors available, and there are a lot of people in worse shape than me, and I'm never going to get better, only slowly worse. So fix the damn door.