A work day in London was lightened through the playing of Pokémon (although I did, as I reflected on in the forum) feel a little silly playing as an adult.
I headed to the British Museum during the day and it was stuffed with school groups. The pupils were working on worksheets and were – it appeared – having a great time; there was much excitement.
However, I did think that there were other possibilities which could have been exploited via location-based gaming. There are many Pokéstops in and around the museum and the consequent ‘gamification’ of their educational visit could have been enhanced by supplementary activities relating to Pokémon Go.
There’s lots of interest in this article too:
- Regarding educational potential, I would argue that physical play is secondary to the social learning that takes place with Pokémon Go. Sure, video games sharpen hand-eye coordination and pattern recognition. But they also teach problem solving skills, resilience, and meta-cognition. When players meet together at Pokéstops—which are often parks, museums, and historical buildings—meaningful conversations can emerge. Like Minecraft, the learning in Pokémon Go resides in the game’s growing community of practice. There is social knowledge construction that takes place among its players.
- Game scholar Raph Koster considers Pokémon Go to not be just an augmented reality game. Rather, he argued that it is a massive multiplayer online (MMO) game, like World of Warcraft, but pervasive, in the real world. In this sense, Pokémon Go is more like live action role-playing (LARPing), than a smartphone game.
- Koster’s article can be found here.