That time when GO first came out..

It was July of last year when you least expect it. Pokemon GO was becoming a huge success and it was a highly anticipated app. It made you want to leave the house, it brought you new friends, even unexpected ones. Crowds everywhere were helping one another to find the Pokemon they want. You discovered new places and new areas you never thought you would see. You even had an itch to travel...at least, that's what happened to me!!

Don't you miss that?

Do you think we will rekindle that moment once Summer comes around and when Pokemon GO hits their first year anniversary?

I don't miss the feeling of being left out.

I left the U.S. a couple months before it was released due to lack of funds as I was coming to the end of my travel period after a study abroad year. Where I am, once I did download the game I couldn't actually do anything beyond capture my starter, the population density is so low there's no Pokéstops, no Pokémon, no nothing. Whereas if only it had been released earlier (ideally a year earlier) I would've no doubt encountered other people my age getting really into it (although I would've had to briefly cancel my iTunes Match account to get access to the US app store because Apple hates its users, it would've been worth it).

Then once it did come to the UK, as I outlined above, I could barely do anything with it until I returned to the city for university in September. I guess I'm a rare case, but I'm getting more enjoyment out of the game right now just wandering to and from my university library trying to get as many pokéstops in that short distance as possible than I did in the last 6 months of 2016.

I went all out with a few friends and completed the Kanto Dex within a month after the game was released.

It certainly was fun, but I don't mind solo play either, which is how I finished the Johto Dex.

I walk really, really fast (6+ mph/10 kph) and can walk 10-15 miles (16+ km) in a single play session. Not a lot of my friends who play or played in the past can keep that up, so when I have the free time, I go out on my own.

The bulk of my play time would be in the latter half of 2016. Had I kept the pace up to the present day, I'd easily be level 40 already. Instead, I'm about 25% into level 37 right now.

I am surprised to see there's still some players in my small town. I was sure it wouldn't last. I mean, we don't have that many fans... but I still see some players!
I can't say how it's gonna be as I know the fact that summer will be there, the sun, the good time, the vacations... it will influence maybe some players to play again.
I know I'll start to walk again and hatch eggs.

I do miss it. It was so fun to see what Pokémon came up and I was brought back to my childhood. It was also funny whenever I was playing when I was with my mom somewhere she'd keep telling me to put that stupid "Pokeman" game away.

It's been a while since I actually saw anybody playing, but I can tell there is still activity around here because there was a Tyranataur at one of the gyms at the college where I recently started working for. I'm not sure the game will get back to phenomenon status even when it starts getting nice out, but if they keep adding things people have asked for like trading and battles outside gyms it could get popular again.

The first few weeks were excellent, I hung out with so many new people.

The first week was amazing, then everyone just stopped playing and I carried on :(

Last summer was crazily amazing in this regard. Absolutely EVERYBODY played, and wherever you walked outdoors, there would be people with their phones, calling out when they had beaten a gym or found a rare pokémon. If you had trouble with anything, you could call out and find somebody from your team to help you, or just have kind strangers explain things in the game to you.

And the lure lands haha. We had some spots, a specific one near the river, with three pokestops so close to each other and a lawn in between, so people put lures up and just camped there, chilling out with food and bringing blankets or chairs and just generally hung out. Every day in the summer, for weeks, it was always full there after the workday had ended.

Pokémon GO was a phenomenon, but in my cold country it was bound to end as the days grew colder, regardless of actual popularity.

You know, I think climate and the time period is what actually killed the popularity of Pokemon GO. When school started here, it was hard to play the game when you have homework and other obligations to do. And for those of us in the working world, of course you have work. Then you have the fall and winter months that hit us very hard with the colder tempratures. That also probably killed the popularity.

I'm hoping with the game's first anniversary coming up later this year, we can expect a spike in popularity once more.

Time makes things lose popularity and relevancy also. Things that are popular in today's world only stay popular for a short time until the next big thing comes or it just gets old. I remember people tuning out of the game in August, and the Facebook groups for the game I'm in became a lot less active after about a month. Even when Gen 2 Pokémon entered the game there was a spike but nothing like it was when the game began.