Pokémon Go is an augmented reality game for Android and iOS that taps into our childhood nostalgia brilliantly. The game, still in its beta version, tracks our location through GPS and spawns Pokémons for us to interact with, thus mapping out a whole adventure on the streets. With the advent of the game, the whole campus is in uproar!
It is 10th October 2016.
One professor tells us that there has been a significant increase in random requests by the students to go to the washroom in the middle of the class. He continues by adding that apparently, this is not an isolated case which he realised after someone in the faculty meeting raised the issue. “How come kids nowadays have such weak bladder control?!” a perplexed faculty member asked.
Campus Patrol isn’t having an easy week either. The patrol vehicle was summoned at 10pm to popular PokéStop Venugopal Temple to rescue a fresher who was locked inside the premises. When asked, he explains that he had to catch a Gengar. A confused Campus Patrol turns to an equally confused priest who can merely shrug. The priest reports that an unbelievably high number of students frequent the temple nowadays. “It’s not even the end semester season!” he exclaims, clearly baffled.
The game has impacted social dynamics too. Enemies are becoming friends as they run into each other to capture that ever elusive Gyarados. Friends are turning against their own because that Gym needs to be painted Red. Jaywalking MIT-ians are bumping into each other and minor injuries are at an all-time high, a KMC student practitioner reports. She tells us last week she attended to a student who broke his arm in such an incident. She gave him a light fist bump on his plaster and the location where he can get a Pikachu.
That’s not all. People who have never set foot upon the ash-laden grounds of SP are visiting it, frantically trying to catch a Weezing, coughing all the way. Guys have been seen pacing up and down before the girls’ blocks waiting for their female acquaintances to return with their phones and, hopefully, with that Wigglytuff or Jynx.
And all this has created profit for local businesses. Mobile data recharge packs are selling like hot cakes. Auto movement across the town has increased, though none of the drivers can explain the reason for suspicious requests like “Anna, take us to the fountain near KMC behind the ladies’ block.” Halfway across the world, developers of the app Flick Basketball are astonished at the marked increase in downloads.
A campus full of engineering students known for their sedentary lifestyles is suddenly abuzz with movement and laughter. State and central governments alike, are openly encouraging the game for it is creating a fitter generation of youth. It is rumored our that respected Prime Minister is holding talks next week with Niantic to subsidize the in-game purchases to encourage more outdoor activity.
It’s a glorious future ahead, with Pokémon Go.
— Agnihotra Bhattacharya for MTTN
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