The app, which was released in July, lets players catch and train Pokemon using location services on a smartphone. The goal is to make the player feel as if they are immersed in the Pokemon world, becoming a Pokemon master just like the characters in Pokemon video games.
Ball State students are catching onto the trend.
Over the summer, sophomore communications studies major Nick Mooney prepared his team before setting foot on campus.
“I live in Evansville on the Ohio River, so I’ve just been catching
Sophomore geology major Tyler O’Riley became a level 18 Pokemon trainer by catching Pokemon along the canal in downtown Indianapolis.
“I used to play all the time at home, and I usually would go downtown once a week to play because that’s where all the Pokemon were,” O’Riley said.
Sarah Shore-Beck, a personal fitness wellness professor at Ball State, believes there are more benefits to "Pokemon Go" than just leveling up.
“I’d heard of Pokemon when I was younger, but I really hadn’t heard anything about it since,” Shore-Beck said. “My first thought was, ‘That’s great. It gets people going. That’s fantastic.’”
As a health professional, Shore-Beck recognizes there are not only physical health benefits to the game but also social benefits.
“I have clients that use ['Pokemon Go'] with their kids as kind of like a resource to connect with them,” Shore-Beck said. “So like at night they’ll walk around and try to find the Pokemon and capture them.”
Junior sociology major Daphne Scott also uses the app to connect with others.
“I think I’ve replaced some of my physical activity with 'Pokemon Go.' So like, I was already working out on the regular before that,” Scott said. “I want to use it more as like a social,
Gentry Stayton, a junior telecommunications major, would agree.
“When I knew everybody would be coming back here, I was really excited because I’d have people to play with,” Stayton said. “The game for me really had a lot to do with, like, socially. If I wasn’t playing socially, I wouldn’t really play it, and because of summer and work schedules, like, I didn’t play that much.”
Although the game can have physical and social benefits for players, Shore-Beck warns against driving while playing and craning the head down to look at the phone screen. This head tilt can cause neck and spinal problems later in life. According to Shore-Beck, a good way to prevent this is to hold the phone at eye-level while playing.
O’Riley noticed another side effect of looking down while playing the game.
“I saw one kid almost get hit by a car downtown [while playing],” O’Riley said.
Stayton saw the danger facing younger players.
“If young children are playing it, they should definitely be playing with their parents,” Stayton said. “But, I mean, for the general public, it’s really not that bad.”
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