So I don’t have an iPhone, and I was never into Pokemon as a kid, but here I am, watching the Pokemon Go craze from the sidelines, and I have to say it’s the coolest thing.
Like, by my understanding, Nintendo has literally created an alternate plane of existence, populated by lots of creatures of great magical power, which can only be seen through a magic device–a smartphone. The last time anything remotely like this happened, people believed in fairies and were going around peering through holes in stones.
There could be a Pokemon in the room with me. I don’t know, I can’t see it. But it’s there. And I think that’s really cool.
Everyone is saying that the professor is grinding the Pokémon into candy, but consider the following:
• The professor frantically running around with assistants, inspecting hundreds of thousands of pidgeys a day, getting bitten and screeched at while they try to figure out if this pidgey has been tagged yet so they release them back to track their migration
• Panicked interns trying to scoop the ekanses back into their tank because theyre freaking out the rattatas
• Three caterpies climbed into a vent and evolved into metapods that are too far in to reach so six underpaid college students are trying to dismantle ductwork
• Theres a big door marked “KEEP OUT” because a dozen oddish evolved into a squad of Vileplumes and until they stop releasing stun spores the entire room is just off limits
• Hundreds of researchers running on red bull and determination trying to tag and examine all the Pokemon but having to turn off the machine every once in a while to the discontent of trainers who are all getting a “Sorry, the servers are currently down” message at LEAST twice a day
• “GPS not found” flashes while returning a big group and suddenly Florida has been gifted 6,000 mankeys right in the middle of Epcot
• Someone in the back room up to their waist in stale dog treats with a bunch of little stamps. They sigh deeply at how gullible Pokemon trainers are that they think these things actually do anything other than excite the Pokemon so much they evolve
• Actual science professor surrounded by chaos and interns and a budget just too small
So you know how everyone is saying how Professor Willow kind of just gave us a starter Pokemon and kinda told us to just fuck off with no explanation or reasoning?
Well, is that so different from the other Pokemon professors?
Think about it. How much info did Oak really give us? “Here’s a Charmander, have fun being rivals with Asshat, also don’t ride your fucking bikes indoors you goddamn animal, bye”. That’s about it.
He didn’t tell us the mechanics of the game, he just sent us on our way. Same as Willow.
So how did we learn the mechanics of the game?
NPCs, of course. Talking to the people in the world. They shared information. Really oddly specific HELPFUL information, at that.
Every other person who I’ve met who’s been playing Pokemon Go has been eager to share tips and tricks they’ve learned, information they’ve learned from other players. And I’ve done the same! If I meet a player, I tell them any information I think will be helpful.
Just like a goddamn NPC.
Professor Willow did his job. He gave us a Pokemon and sent us off, and here we are. Now who’s going to help us?
Why, we are.
It’s our job to be the NPCs and help each other learn how this world works. If you see a struggling player, you can talk to them and tell them about a cool trick to get more pokeballs. Show them how a gym works. YOU TOO, CAN BE THAT GYM GUY.
We may not be stationary and repeat the same phrases over and over, but we have a similar (and similarly *important*) role to those little NPCs. And we should be happy about that. Because we’re helping each other as well as ourselves.
I was expecting the tags on this post to be really mean but they’re all so pure
They just go around picking up items for you they’re precious little bandits
Zigzagoon looks like someone’s first attempt at making a homemade plushie out of felt and it’s just so full of love you can’t help but hug it and smile
