From the Editor: Tuesday 28th March

If you want to discover more in the city, an unorthodox way to go about it is to play Pokémon GO. There was an understandable buzz about the launch of the game last year for two reasons in my opinion. Firstly, and probably more importantly, Pokémon is a much-loved franchise that meant a lot to 20 and 30 somethings, while also still grabbing new younger fans.

The second reason is arguably more interesting however: it is the first high profile augmented reality game. This is distinguished from virtual reality which aims to totally envelop you in a new world, wheras augmented reality uses locations or features around us which we interact with through a game.

I have discovered new places and facts about Brighton due to Pokémon GO (including several historical bells in the ground around Hollingbury which I had never noticed before) because they are PokéStops in the game. I also found a new route home whilst hunting a Pokémon. PokéStops often highlight things of historical interest such as plaques, memorials, statues and old buildings that you might simply walk by without ever really considering them properly before.

Another great thing that Pokémon GO does is to gamify walking. I think that video games are going to be huge this century because they’re fun, immersive and cheap (all the more important as job security plummets). Pokémon GO has certainly made many of my walks more interesting by turning it into a purposeful game, rather than simply wandering.

The game does get a bit samey after a while and isn’t to everyone’s taste, but it’s a fascinating sociological experiment (a Brighton & Hove Facebook group has over 4,400 players for example). I suggest trying it out while there’s still a community of active players.

Joe Fuller
editorial@thelatest.co.uk