Pokemon Go

[spesh]

Got approached to input into a piece about it in relation to physical activity

http://www.techinsider.io/pokmon-go-may-fight-childhood-obesity-better-than-the-white-house-2016-7

I think it's a good thing, but they didn't include any of my concerns. I was asked...

Could Pokemon Go have any lessons for public policy makers? In what ways?

It should be said, Pokemon Go has not been subject to rigorous evaluation. It may be that any effects it has are short lived; that there are unintended consequences (my son skipped a taekwondo class to play Pokemon Go); the effects may only be there for specific subpopulations that are already well served, and thereby increase health inequality; there may be spatial patterning in effects which moderate the health benefits (through air pollution, etc). As such, I think policy makers should draw on high quality systematic reviews and meta-analyses of randomised controlled trials, rather than change policy based on widely hyped games. That said, I think the approach of making physical activity extrinsically rewarding in the short term may promote initiation of behaviour change, and review evidence (Amireault et al, 2012) suggests that motivation and goals are relatively strongly associated with physical activity maintenance. As such, scaffolding the initiation and maintenance of health behaviours until the intrinsic rewards emerge would appear a sensible approach. The relative failure of the developers game that came before Pokemon Go (Ingress) suggests that the fact game leverages a franchise that is held dear by such a wide age span could be responsible for the reported reach of the app. As such, public policy makers may need to learn from Niantic (the developers) and find a loved game world that the public value sufficiently to care about leveling up in that world enough to change their real world behaviour.

Jeez, my bullshit-ometer just went off scale. 

The words make sense - individually.

Together, well...

[Mr Larrington]

The "insane management-speak phrases" thred is over there¹ ===>

1: E&OE.

[caerau]

That's not insane management speak - it's deliberate pseudoscientific jargon-ification. 

[Kim]

http://road.cc/content/news/196901-could-pok%C3%A9mon-go-pose-safety-threat-cyclists

[Jakob W]

I don't think it's bullshit-speaky; it reads to me like field-specific jargon, which is always used with insiders in mind. I can't think of a way to precisely restate that sentence in non-technical language that wouldn't be significantly longer, which is where jargon is useful.

[Kim]

Indeed.  Though you could argue that some^[1] fields' jargon are indistinguishable from advanced bullshit.

The problem with jargon is that if you put too much effort into avoiding it you either end up writing a dictionary or it all goes a bit Thing Explainer.


_{[1] Not implying this one.}

[BrianI]

Gotta catch them all!
Although preferably by not getting lost down a cave 100ft underground:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-wiltshire-36805615

I hope we don't see a Pokemon Go related death, with someone walking into the path of a car / train / off a cliff trying to catch a pokemon....

[Bledlow]

Forbury Gardens in Reading (see below) was full of vaguely geeky & mostly male young people staring at phones at 5.30 pm today. I paused briefly as I walked through to ask one what it was all about, & he said "I don't know if you've heard of it, but there's an app called Pokemon Go . . .  ".

I assured him I had, & now understood what was happening, & thanked him.

[Kim]

Forbury Gardens in Reading (see below) was full of vaguely geeky & mostly male young people staring at phones at 5.30 pm today.

I've noticed that my geek-dar has been out of calibration since all the boys started getting vaguely 70s haircuts.  In my day that was a pretty good signifier of geekishness, but not so much any more.

I suppose this is the same process by which Old People couldn't tell the difference between harmless nerds and random thugs when I was firmly in the former category...

[Redlight]

Gotta catch them all!
Although preferably by not getting lost down a cave 100ft underground:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-wiltshire-36805615

I hope we don't see a Pokemon Go related death, with someone walking into the path of a car / train / off a cliff trying to catch a pokemon....

I am sure we will - I don't think the Darwin Awards will be short of contenders next year 

[Wowbagger]

What's Ingress? Not heard of that.

Ingres, otoh, was a rather advanced relational database system in the 1980s.

[Wobbly John]

Noticably fewer motons using their phones today - has the novelty worn off already, or was it just because Mionday (I don't normally commute on Mondays, but both work (a independant school) and Mrs W are holiday mode).

[LEE]

Gotta catch them all!
Although preferably by not getting lost down a cave 100ft underground:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-wiltshire-36805615

I hope we don't see a Pokemon Go related death, with someone walking into the path of a car / train / off a cliff trying to catch a pokemon....

I am sure we will - I don't think the Darwin Awards will be short of contenders next year 

Reminds me of the film "Videodrome".

Religious fundamentalists (or "mentalists" for short) broadcast ultra-violent/porn videos along with a signal that eventually killed the viewer.

Pokemon Go has the potential to kill anyone who plays it, so we shouldn't idly dismiss it.

However, in the grand scheme of things, and before grown-ups get all Daily Mail on your asses, it's basically the same premise as "letterboxing" and "geocaching". 

No more or less useful but it gets people* walking I suppose.

* By "people" I am of course referring to those fucking nerds getting in my way as I try to make my way along the High Street.


Edit. May be worth checking that "Letterboxing" hasn't changed it's meaning since my childhood.  It does sound a bit seedy now I come to mention it.

[Kim]

Edit. May be worth checking that "Letterboxing" hasn't changed it's meaning since my childhood.  It does sound a bit seedy now I come to mention it.

Urban Dictionary never lets us down:

nsfw://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=letterboxing&defid=6170743

[mrcharly-YHT]

Pushing a pushchair slowly round a park for a couple of hours doesn't add up to many kilometres. I've only hatched a few 2km eggs and one 5km egg since sun (Dez will understand this).

[Jakob W]

Edit. May be worth checking that "Letterboxing" hasn't changed it's meaning since my childhood.  It does sound a bit seedy now I come to mention it.

Urban Dictionary never lets us down:

nsfw://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=letterboxing&defid=6170743

That seems like a practice prone to - how shall I put it? - catastrophic miscalculation. Is there a term for the Dunning-Kruegeresque overconfidence that would lead someone to shove their parts through a stranger's letterbox*?

*Not in this case a euphemism.

[spesh]

Edit. May be worth checking that "Letterboxing" hasn't changed it's meaning since my childhood.  It does sound a bit seedy now I come to mention it.

Urban Dictionary never lets us down:

nsfw://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=letterboxing&defid=6170743

That seems like a practice prone to - how shall I put it? - catastrophic miscalculation. Is there a term for the Dunning-Kruegeresque overconfidence that would lead someone to shove their parts through a stranger's letterbox*?

*Not in this case a euphemism.

Depending on the letterbox or the presence of pets who will maul anything - animal, vegetable or mineral - inserted through one, Potential Darwin Award Honourable Mention springs to mind.   

[Cudzoziemiec]

Gotta catch them all!
Although preferably by not getting lost down a cave 100ft underground:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-wiltshire-36805615

I hope we don't see a Pokemon Go related death, with someone walking into the path of a car / train / off a cliff trying to catch a pokemon....

How, except by examining the deceased's phone (or their killer's), will we know it was a Pokemon Go-related death not a simple case of death by Facebook, Twitter or simple old fashioned text?

I am sure we will - I don't think the Darwin Awards will be short of contenders next year 

[Jaded]

Edit. May be worth checking that "Letterboxing" hasn't changed it's meaning since my childhood.  It does sound a bit seedy now I come to mention it.

Urban Dictionary never lets us down:

nsfw://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=letterboxing&defid=6170743

That seems like a practice prone to - how shall I put it? - catastrophic miscalculation. Is there a term for the Dunning-Kruegeresque overconfidence that would lead someone to shove their parts through a stranger's letterbox*?

*Not in this case a euphemism.

Depending on the letterbox or the presence of pets who will maul anything - animal, vegetable or mineral - inserted through one, Potential Darwin Award Honourable Mention springs to mind.   

When delivering leaflets I use a wooden spoon to push them through and to take the canine teeth, feline claws and letterbox gnashers. I guess using wood is another way.

[HeltorChasca]

I noticed more morons checking their phone while at the wheel on yesterday's commute home (and that's in the Fens!) I thought it was just a random, bad day.

...but if they were Poking their mons (or whatever the terminology is ), that's a worrying development. 

There ought to be a law against it or summut...

A close left hook for me and youngest daughter on the school run yesterday evening. It took me a few minutes to work out why both yoofs were holding their phones up whilst turn g left and pulling a sharp u turn. Idiots.

Probably won't be outlawed until they kill me and their Pokemon prey. And my six year old. Added points perhaps.

[Cudzoziemiec]

As for the health benefits of this (putting accidents to the side), I reckon it has something in common with eg vaping and electric bikes, in that it depends how people use it and what it replaces. If it gets people out under the sky when they'd otherwise be playing in a chair and keyboard, it's obviously good; but if it gets people walking round slowly and distractedly when they'd otherwise be playing football, skateboarding or climbing trees, it's not good.

[red marley]

A quick look at those who are currently out and about Pokemon Going, I can be fairly confident there aren't too many footballers and tree climbers who've shifted hobby.

I thought I'd download it onto my phone over the weekend. Rather fun and very addictive. It's like a gamified (sorry language traditionalists) version of geocaching.

[Bledlow]

A quick look at those who are currently out and about Pokemon Going, I can be fairly confident there aren't too many footballers and tree climbers who've shifted hobby.

Indeed. Those I've seen do not in general look athletic, or if they usually spend much time outdoors.

[mrcharly-YHT]

On Sun morning in playground with MrsC, Eldest sprog and grandsproglet. Two kids come up to us: "Are you playing pokemon go? Cool!" They wander off and one saying to the other "Only 1.4 kilometers until I hatch this egg, lets get walking!".

They were about 9-10. I think that it is possibly a good thing, health wise. They were definitely kids who would be hammering the xbox on most days as their preferred choice of activity.

[pcolbeck]

Master Pcolbeck (20) and his girlfriend are both uni students and spend all their time indoors and on lineI was beginning to fear they would develop rickets they get so little exposure to sunlight.
Pokemon go has had them volunteering to walk the dog and marching all round the village and nearby lanes and fields hunting for new Pokemon.