Pokémon Go and the Concept of Community from Games

My current Summer job, as I wait for school to start up again, is working for the City of Provo.  This last week was my first week, and I was assigned to pull weeds outside of the Provo City Library.  This takes longer than you might think, especially if you're going to do it right, and pull out the entire weed by the roots.  So I had lots of time to sit in front of the library this last week.

The Library also happens to be the location of a Gym (or Pokéstop, or Lure? or something; I'm not really sure how this game works) for the Pokémon Go game.  Which means that it is constantly surrounded by a large group of about 50 people at all times, all playing their Pokémon Go game with their smartphones.

I'm working hard pulling weeds, and I get a chance to observe these people.  And what I see is amazing.

I see a group of pretty much complete strangers, all gathered around for a common goal.  I see people who don't know each other reach out to one another for help in their games, and I see them converse over the game: I see complete strangers come together and bond and converse over something they have common ground with.  Questions over what team they're on, what Pokémon they have, how to do certain things, it's just incredible to me.

One of my friends on Facebook put it really well.  She said: "Okay but I didn't know what I was supposed to do at a Pokéstop late last night and so I was about to leave but I saw this car full of people drive to the stop I was at so when they started driving away I honked at them and asked them what I was supposed to do and they said I had to spin the circle and I thanked them and off we all went but how beautiful thanks Pokémon Go for bringing strangers together in the strangest way possible"

As I was sitting there pulling weeds and glancing up, I could see people come to the library from wherever they had come from in order to be part of something bigger than themselves.  And I have to admit I got a little bit jealous.  I envied those with the game Pokémon Go that could just come and be part of a larger group than themselves and hang out and converse freely about pretty nerdy stuff but that was okay because everyone there accepted that. They were part of a larger community, something bigger than themselves.

That's something I think that games have the power to do.  As my brother Alex mentions in his blog post here: Community of Ashes, games have the power to create communities.  It not only gives you something to talk about and connect with, but it also allows you to feel included, part of the group, important.  Games have that potential.  All you have to do is look around yourself when you're outside.  You see those people with their smartphones out walking in a random direction across that field?  Yeah, they're evidence of that.