bobandbill
7.8/10 too much water
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Bump. It's the birthday today. =(
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Article Collaboration - GO turns 1!
- Thread starter bobandbill
- Start date
Ho-Oh
used Sacred Fire!
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So excited about PGO being a year old! I still play and it is still pretty competitive (not as huge though) in our area. Read below for the story!
I remember at the time... I screenshotted every piece of major media talking about Pokemon Go. I even took a photo of it being discussed on TV - Pokemon hasn't been this big since I was a kid!
My first Pokemon was Bulbasaur, because I'm click happy lol then... Rattata spawned in my home. I didn't understand how the map worked so I thought walking in the house would take me places! The jetty would literally have hundreds and thousands of people there playing the game. Spawns like Growlithe and Ponyta were RARE and cool. Even our local lake was constantly lured up! I remember seeing kids go straight from school to play the game, adults playing... everyone played. Nobody could avoid trying it.
Then finally people started reaching level 5. Some of our local Valor people became regulars in gyms - it was usually Valor vs Mystic, and the gym next to the local school was always Instinct. We Mystic players tried but they mostly died out. We were left with Valor permanently claiming our area. That's ok though. My boyfriend got a good phone a month later - and he started playing. Eventually we would lead the cause in our suburb - reclaiming it for Mystic, but with only two active players... It was hard.
We somewhat stopped over Christmas - everything felt hard and we couldn't keep going and couldn't keep playing every day. We did go to the jetty during the Halloween event. It was awesome!
Once we heard about Generation 2 coming we were HYPED. We started playing again. We went out once a week, sometimes all day. We chased Lapras, Snorlax and Dratini. We finally got see more of our area (with me moving here only two years before).
When the pink Pokemon event dropped we went to the jetty. I didn't realise how rare Chansey was (or how good Blissey would be...) A kid yelled "100% Chansey!!!!" We didn't feel like walking all that way so we were like "nahhh not going to bother!" I regret that now.
About two months later someone posted in a Mystic group I joined - my boyfriend wanted to get fully into the gym scene and wanted to know people. Anyway they asked if people wanted to go on a raid nearby to take down the spoofers. We decided "Ok why not???" and went to meet them. They taught us about bubbling and everything. We stayed with them until 12am and went on a few more raids with them since then. We've also now met up with just a few members of the group too at random times when we've needed help.
Every Saturday (or maybe even every night.. they're there when we get our fish and chips lol) there's always high level Pokemon Go players at the jetty.
The tracker cuts off here and only covers the other areas. Oh yeah I forgot to mention. Our suburb spawns a million Snorlax but we can't ever find them.
Over the last few months everyone here has hated Instinct. Yellow everywhere - three (at least?) notable spoofers were literally taking over the area (at least close to the city - the jetty and peninsula was blue territory thankfully). So everyone sorta waged war with them - Valor teamed up with Mystic and went for it to do one big takeover. Valor then kinda double crossed us - we brought out our full force and they barely brought any. That was the end of our short union.
The day before the Ice event was announced my boyfriend and I were hunting and went down at the jetty. Lapras. I opened the tracker. I saw Lapras. LAPRAS. The one Pokemon that NEVER spawned when we were there. We ran to the car and drove like crazy (safely) and arrived at the spot Lapras was in. It was in the richest part of the peninsula - house and land starts at 900k roughly. Another car drove up, too. A little red car. We got ours (after being terrified of missing) and I don't know how they did but they followed us... all the way to get a 50 CP 100% Squirtle. Just then, Roar came on the radio. We felt on top of the world.
About a month ago we saw Unown on the tracker. The peninsula is half an hour away so we jumped in the car and drove like crazy. One of the group members got there before us... did you know that this Unown spawned in a place where you had to jump over a small waterway, jump a fence and walk through a random forest? Yeah. We did all that. We got Unown and I finally completed my Dex! I was so out of energy... One of the other members of the group nearly walked into a snake (as she tried to go through the golf course). Dedication.
I remember I was at work once. At the time... Snorlax had always evaded me. There was one that once spawned right near me. My boyfriend said nah not worth it let's go home. I could have had a Snorlax then. He had already hatched one. But this day at work - Snorlax spawned!! At the park! So I ran like CRAZY and boom. I was shaking but I got my first Snorlax. The same park also spawned a Mareep and Larvitar. It is truly amazing lol
We've gone into the city to just go on the loop bus. Just go on loops around the city and stock up on items. It was pretty cool.
I remember I got my first Dragonite by getting my last Dratini candy in the middle of a dodgy park late at night. Felt so good. My first and only Ampharos. It was awful IVs but found right near the beach. We once ran in two different directions for a 200 CP Venusaur. We braved spiders for Charmander candy so I could get a Charizard (Ok it was a park in the city but massive spiders were there and I FREAKED). Hitmonlee... I spent ages trying to get the right Tyrogue. One week later I got one on the Go Plus. I was annoyed.
I once ran at least 800m for a Sudowoodo. It ran, too...
This game has been so much fun and if it wasn't for the people, the atmosphere none of this would be as amazing. I'm so glad that this game exists - it has brought not only my boyfriend and I closer (you're bound to get closer when you're yelling to run to the car for a Pokemon!) but has just made things so much fun.
Happy anniversary Pokemon Go. :)!
I remember at the time... I screenshotted every piece of major media talking about Pokemon Go. I even took a photo of it being discussed on TV - Pokemon hasn't been this big since I was a kid!
My first Pokemon was Bulbasaur, because I'm click happy lol then... Rattata spawned in my home. I didn't understand how the map worked so I thought walking in the house would take me places! The jetty would literally have hundreds and thousands of people there playing the game. Spawns like Growlithe and Ponyta were RARE and cool. Even our local lake was constantly lured up! I remember seeing kids go straight from school to play the game, adults playing... everyone played. Nobody could avoid trying it.
Then finally people started reaching level 5. Some of our local Valor people became regulars in gyms - it was usually Valor vs Mystic, and the gym next to the local school was always Instinct. We Mystic players tried but they mostly died out. We were left with Valor permanently claiming our area. That's ok though. My boyfriend got a good phone a month later - and he started playing. Eventually we would lead the cause in our suburb - reclaiming it for Mystic, but with only two active players... It was hard.
We somewhat stopped over Christmas - everything felt hard and we couldn't keep going and couldn't keep playing every day. We did go to the jetty during the Halloween event. It was awesome!
Once we heard about Generation 2 coming we were HYPED. We started playing again. We went out once a week, sometimes all day. We chased Lapras, Snorlax and Dratini. We finally got see more of our area (with me moving here only two years before).
When the pink Pokemon event dropped we went to the jetty. I didn't realise how rare Chansey was (or how good Blissey would be...) A kid yelled "100% Chansey!!!!" We didn't feel like walking all that way so we were like "nahhh not going to bother!" I regret that now.
About two months later someone posted in a Mystic group I joined - my boyfriend wanted to get fully into the gym scene and wanted to know people. Anyway they asked if people wanted to go on a raid nearby to take down the spoofers. We decided "Ok why not???" and went to meet them. They taught us about bubbling and everything. We stayed with them until 12am and went on a few more raids with them since then. We've also now met up with just a few members of the group too at random times when we've needed help.
Every Saturday (or maybe even every night.. they're there when we get our fish and chips lol) there's always high level Pokemon Go players at the jetty.
The tracker cuts off here and only covers the other areas. Oh yeah I forgot to mention. Our suburb spawns a million Snorlax but we can't ever find them.
Over the last few months everyone here has hated Instinct. Yellow everywhere - three (at least?) notable spoofers were literally taking over the area (at least close to the city - the jetty and peninsula was blue territory thankfully). So everyone sorta waged war with them - Valor teamed up with Mystic and went for it to do one big takeover. Valor then kinda double crossed us - we brought out our full force and they barely brought any. That was the end of our short union.
The day before the Ice event was announced my boyfriend and I were hunting and went down at the jetty. Lapras. I opened the tracker. I saw Lapras. LAPRAS. The one Pokemon that NEVER spawned when we were there. We ran to the car and drove like crazy (safely) and arrived at the spot Lapras was in. It was in the richest part of the peninsula - house and land starts at 900k roughly. Another car drove up, too. A little red car. We got ours (after being terrified of missing) and I don't know how they did but they followed us... all the way to get a 50 CP 100% Squirtle. Just then, Roar came on the radio. We felt on top of the world.
About a month ago we saw Unown on the tracker. The peninsula is half an hour away so we jumped in the car and drove like crazy. One of the group members got there before us... did you know that this Unown spawned in a place where you had to jump over a small waterway, jump a fence and walk through a random forest? Yeah. We did all that. We got Unown and I finally completed my Dex! I was so out of energy... One of the other members of the group nearly walked into a snake (as she tried to go through the golf course). Dedication.
I remember I was at work once. At the time... Snorlax had always evaded me. There was one that once spawned right near me. My boyfriend said nah not worth it let's go home. I could have had a Snorlax then. He had already hatched one. But this day at work - Snorlax spawned!! At the park! So I ran like CRAZY and boom. I was shaking but I got my first Snorlax. The same park also spawned a Mareep and Larvitar. It is truly amazing lol
We've gone into the city to just go on the loop bus. Just go on loops around the city and stock up on items. It was pretty cool.
I remember I got my first Dragonite by getting my last Dratini candy in the middle of a dodgy park late at night. Felt so good. My first and only Ampharos. It was awful IVs but found right near the beach. We once ran in two different directions for a 200 CP Venusaur. We braved spiders for Charmander candy so I could get a Charizard (Ok it was a park in the city but massive spiders were there and I FREAKED). Hitmonlee... I spent ages trying to get the right Tyrogue. One week later I got one on the Go Plus. I was annoyed.
I once ran at least 800m for a Sudowoodo. It ran, too...
This game has been so much fun and if it wasn't for the people, the atmosphere none of this would be as amazing. I'm so glad that this game exists - it has brought not only my boyfriend and I closer (you're bound to get closer when you're yelling to run to the car for a Pokemon!) but has just made things so much fun.
Happy anniversary Pokemon Go. :)!
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I remember being pretty excited the first several weeks when Pokemon Go first launched. I would often play it downtown where I work before going home, and then whenever a few folks noticed me playing it they would give me a thumbs up haha.
Sometime later my dad wanted to try it and we went to one of the parks together where several folks were playing. We would often overhear someone mention their egg just hatched or what Pokemon they just caught. We also noticed how a couple of the gyms keep changing teams lol.
We actually have a Pokestop next to our backyard (our house is behind a church), so we were able to visit the Pokestop very often. At one point every weekend someone would put a lure and my dad and I would stay outside for a while.
Months passed and while my dad and I still play on occasion, we kinda did it on and off. Then the new raids feature came and my dad's like, hey this sounds really cool. A couple weeks ago my family and I went out of town, like an hour from where we lived, and my dad and I noticed so many raids starting. We ended up trying one out, a level one Bayleef, and succeeded hah.
Sometime later my dad wanted to try it and we went to one of the parks together where several folks were playing. We would often overhear someone mention their egg just hatched or what Pokemon they just caught. We also noticed how a couple of the gyms keep changing teams lol.
We actually have a Pokestop next to our backyard (our house is behind a church), so we were able to visit the Pokestop very often. At one point every weekend someone would put a lure and my dad and I would stay outside for a while.
Months passed and while my dad and I still play on occasion, we kinda did it on and off. Then the new raids feature came and my dad's like, hey this sounds really cool. A couple weeks ago my family and I went out of town, like an hour from where we lived, and my dad and I noticed so many raids starting. We ended up trying one out, a level one Bayleef, and succeeded hah.
BlazingCobaltX
big mood. bye
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- Seen Jun 19, 2019
There was something so surreal about being able to talk about Pok?mon openly without being mocked or called a child. For me and all of my Pok?mon-playing friends it was so weird to see our game featured everywhere, because we were used to being a niche in some way. In a way, it felt like a present to me, that I never stopped playing Pok?mon and now got this thing that was basically my childhood dream.
I wished to RL Pok?mon every time I blew the birthday candles - with passion the first few years, later to just keep up this mini tradition for myself. My eighteenth birthday is the last time I did so, because my wish has come true, in a way.
My best memories are from going out at day (or even better, at night) and seeing my area crowded with masses looking for AR Pok?mon. I would go to the park with my friends and we'd see hordes and hordes of people running around from one place to the other with their phones in their hands as if it's some kind of dowsing rod (technically it was). There was a certain kind of solidarity between the players of the game, knowing you're doing the exact same weird thing that literally has no value other than being hella fun. Even now I can spot the Pok?mon GO players from afar, but that's not a hard thing to do; people have never looked as excited at their phone when using any other app.
Hour-long walks through the dark corners of the city, running around the park for a specific Pok?mon, picking a team and loyally sticking to it even outside of the game; there was something so surreal about the time Pok?mon GO just got released. It was as if every person allowed their inner child to come out for a bit. But I wish that wasn't necessary; I wish we could always openly enjoy "childish" stuff like games and celebrate our interests as much as we did during the Pok?mon GO craze. But alas, it was only cool for 'a while' here and most people stopped playing. However, I don't perceive any judgement towards people playing GO like there is towards people playing the handheld Pok?mon games, or any game for that matter. Maybe GO opened up some kind of acceptance for these things... It would be nice to always celebrate my passion for these games like I did during the high days of the game.
Playing the game abruptly ended for me when Niantic banned rooted devices as to ban hackers, not aware that GPS spoofing can be done without root, and that a lot of root users don't even cheat. But it is what it is, and I haven't played the game since past October. If I could, I knew I'd be playing up until today. Among the people I know, I'd be an exception, because the hype has long died down. But I will cherish the Pok?mon GO craze of past summer forever, and I am glad to have been part of it.
Happy anniversary!!
I wished to RL Pok?mon every time I blew the birthday candles - with passion the first few years, later to just keep up this mini tradition for myself. My eighteenth birthday is the last time I did so, because my wish has come true, in a way.
My best memories are from going out at day (or even better, at night) and seeing my area crowded with masses looking for AR Pok?mon. I would go to the park with my friends and we'd see hordes and hordes of people running around from one place to the other with their phones in their hands as if it's some kind of dowsing rod (technically it was). There was a certain kind of solidarity between the players of the game, knowing you're doing the exact same weird thing that literally has no value other than being hella fun. Even now I can spot the Pok?mon GO players from afar, but that's not a hard thing to do; people have never looked as excited at their phone when using any other app.
Hour-long walks through the dark corners of the city, running around the park for a specific Pok?mon, picking a team and loyally sticking to it even outside of the game; there was something so surreal about the time Pok?mon GO just got released. It was as if every person allowed their inner child to come out for a bit. But I wish that wasn't necessary; I wish we could always openly enjoy "childish" stuff like games and celebrate our interests as much as we did during the Pok?mon GO craze. But alas, it was only cool for 'a while' here and most people stopped playing. However, I don't perceive any judgement towards people playing GO like there is towards people playing the handheld Pok?mon games, or any game for that matter. Maybe GO opened up some kind of acceptance for these things... It would be nice to always celebrate my passion for these games like I did during the high days of the game.
Playing the game abruptly ended for me when Niantic banned rooted devices as to ban hackers, not aware that GPS spoofing can be done without root, and that a lot of root users don't even cheat. But it is what it is, and I haven't played the game since past October. If I could, I knew I'd be playing up until today. Among the people I know, I'd be an exception, because the hype has long died down. But I will cherish the Pok?mon GO craze of past summer forever, and I am glad to have been part of it.
Happy anniversary!!
Spyro
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I remember getting out of the office and eating lunch at the park next to it, with my boyfriend and colleagues. We did that everyday, to hunt Pok?mon. It was an awesome spot (still is). The park was full of life and everyone was playing Pok?mon GO. People had Pok?mon shirts and gear and accessories, I constantly felt like I was in a dream. Me and my boyfriend went to the park one weekend, and a Dragonair and Golem were there! We were so excited. I'm sad he doesn't play anymore, but yesterday I made a Slack channel at work to sync with other colleagues about nearby Raids. It's pretty amazing, my Project Manager comes to my desk to talk about Pok?mon all the time. A lot of people in the company love Pok?mon, we'll get that Charizard raid one day!
My dad used to play Pok?mon with me when I was a kid, and when Pok?mon GO came out, I showed it to him (AR) on, and a Eevee spawned! He was sooooo excited, we caught it then he kept telling my mom how we caught an Eevee in the garden <3
I started playing on an illegal app when it wasn't out in Canada yet, luckily I lost nothing when the real app came by. It's helping me go outside, I normally dread taking walks or going somewhere by foot, but for Pok?mon GO sometimes I went out exclusively to play. I still do, now that the raids are out.
My dad used to play Pok?mon with me when I was a kid, and when Pok?mon GO came out, I showed it to him (AR) on, and a Eevee spawned! He was sooooo excited, we caught it then he kept telling my mom how we caught an Eevee in the garden <3
I started playing on an illegal app when it wasn't out in Canada yet, luckily I lost nothing when the real app came by. It's helping me go outside, I normally dread taking walks or going somewhere by foot, but for Pok?mon GO sometimes I went out exclusively to play. I still do, now that the raids are out.
Last edited:
bobandbill
7.8/10 too much water
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Thanks, everyone! Article is up and linked to this thread. I might edit in a while with my own experience too. :B https://daily.pokecommunity.com/2017/07/06/pokemon-go-turns-one-year-old/
Thanks to Meganium for writing most of this!
Thanks to Meganium for writing most of this!
Last edited:
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I was pretty surprised how popular the game became because Pok?mon hadn't been relevant for a while before 2016 and I didn't think the games and series had a big following anymore. When I first heard it was about to come out I remember thinking "Pokemon? What is this 1999?," but you can never underestimate the power of nostalgia. The articles about what people were experiencing and things being seen/happening while playing definitely helped feed the popularity with people playing probably just to see what it was and what they could do/find. Prior to Go I hadn't watched the show or played the games since I was 13 and I didn't even know the series was still producing new episodes. Go triggered my nostalgia for Pok?mon and not only did I play actively but I also started rewatching the series from the beginning and watched what I had missed after I stopped watching and I played the original Gameboy games for a little while on an emulator website. I would see people of varying ages walking outside playing, and whenever I went to a park or a big public space I would see a bunch of people playing and we would talk about what we were seeing and catching. It also got me to reach out to my friend from elementary/middle school that got me into Pok?mon because playing Go made me think of him.
There were some silly things that came up like what people were doing to cheat and people walking into things and falling because they were playing, or things like Koffing appearing at the Holocaust Museum, but it was amazing how much it was motivating kids and young adults to walk around their towns, get out to public places like parks, and explore what was in their area in order to play. It definitely helped landmarks and public places get more traffic and brought more people into local businesses. The buzz and phenomenon status went away with time, but it's still going strong obviously and things only stay huge for so long. There's only a few apps that can say they've reached mega status, and Pok?mon Go is the only one truly interactive (Foursquare is somewhat similar with checking in and becoming mayor of places, but it doesn't have the same game element and it wasn't as fun).
Most of the updates have been beneficial, and it seems like the raid updates are getting people into it a little bit more by adding a more interactive group play element. I would still love to see individual battling against friends/people nearby you and battling that is more than just pushing and swiping. Ninantic has definitely given us a lot already though, and they clearly know what they're doing. Happy 1 year anniversary Pok?mon Go!
There were some silly things that came up like what people were doing to cheat and people walking into things and falling because they were playing, or things like Koffing appearing at the Holocaust Museum, but it was amazing how much it was motivating kids and young adults to walk around their towns, get out to public places like parks, and explore what was in their area in order to play. It definitely helped landmarks and public places get more traffic and brought more people into local businesses. The buzz and phenomenon status went away with time, but it's still going strong obviously and things only stay huge for so long. There's only a few apps that can say they've reached mega status, and Pok?mon Go is the only one truly interactive (Foursquare is somewhat similar with checking in and becoming mayor of places, but it doesn't have the same game element and it wasn't as fun).
Most of the updates have been beneficial, and it seems like the raid updates are getting people into it a little bit more by adding a more interactive group play element. I would still love to see individual battling against friends/people nearby you and battling that is more than just pushing and swiping. Ninantic has definitely given us a lot already though, and they clearly know what they're doing. Happy 1 year anniversary Pok?mon Go!
BlazingCobaltX
big mood. bye
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Nice article! But I'm being called a he. :o
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Fixed it!
bobandbill
7.8/10 too much water
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Edit history shows it was made after the article was posted. =p I had to put it up so it'd still be the launch day in the countries the game actually launched in.
Sorry, my bad. I was strapped for time in updating, editing and adding images and forgot to double check things like that. Luckily Radiating has already fixed this.
Spyro
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No worries! I can't remember the time of my edit but I hadn't seen the article before editing, my bad! ^-^ I was pretty late in posting anyway :P