What are you feelings on Pokemon Go and how do you think it will influence the upcoming pokemon world championship
Very good questions, as always.
Personally, I think Pokemon GO is a wonderful thing. While it's very limited as a game, it's fun. But the main thing is that it gets people out of the house, exploring and doing things. Often, people interact too when they see each other playing. I've seen posts on internet forums from people who said that they never exercise but since GO came out have started walking 10-20km a day, or people who said that they were terrified of social interaction and never left the house, but are now out and about interacting with people all the time.
They have been covering it a lot in the Guardian, and as you can imagine the comments section is full of snooty older people looking down on people who play it. Lots of "It's a child's game, I pity any adult who would waste their time doing such things" and "This is an indication of the poor state of our society". I think it's fun and frivolous, I think it's wonderful that people spend time doing things that are fundamentally a bit silly. Because when you do have time do things like that, it means that your life and society is in pretty good shape. I also think it's notable when that the three countries who have banned it or seem to be thinking about it are not exactly good models- Russia, Iran and Saudi Arabia.
As far as impact on the World Championships go... they compete in the Trading Card Game, the Video Game (the 3DS RPG) and now in Pokken (the fighting game). So it can't directly impact it, although apparently the organizers were worried about floor space/capacity, thinking that the location might be flooded with Pokemon GO players. Since GO came out there's been a big increase in interest in the Trading Card Game. Tonnes of people had a few of the trading cards as a kid, and so GO has reminded them of that and made them interested in trying to play, and then there are people who stopped playing and now want to start. I would imagine that a lot more people will buy the new RPG when it comes out in November, and it will probably help sales of Pokken- although I believe it's only available on the Wii U and that's a bit of a limitation. But anyway, whatever happens I would imagine that there will be quite a lot more people doing all these things, and that should mean more people at the World Championships next year. That will also probably mean bigger prizes and so on. The most popular Trading Card Game, 'Magic: The Gathering' has professional players- if the game grows enough we may get professional Pokemon players in a few years. Which is obviously the best and most noble career one can have, short of being an actual Pokemon trainer.
