Unlike virtually all other听video games, viral sensation Pok茅mon Go requires its players to get outside and walk around. It has听encouraged masses of players to gather in places like and in search of adorable little monsters. Depending on who you ask, it鈥檚 either leading to hoards of smartphone zombies walking into traffic and portends the , or it's creating听spontaneous public happenings that are all part of our .听
Pok茅mon Go is such a sensation that it鈥檚 easy to forget it was only released a听week ago. And as popular as it is, it feels like a somewhat clunky first draft. Its developers have with gameplay tweaks and new features. We had two ideas that could make it much more fun and encourage players to get even more active and go farther off the beaten path.听
Wait, What the Hell Is Pok茅mon Go?听
Some background, in case you鈥檝e been living under an exceptionally large rock the last few days: in the original听Game Boy听Pok茅mon games, players would direct a human character around a fictional world, collecting Pok茅mon and battling other players.听The new mobile game takes that concept and mixes it into the real world鈥攚hat techies are calling augmented reality.听Players navigate around a cartoonish (but accurate) version of Google maps on their smartphones by physically walking through the world. The map is automatically populated with points of interest: Pokestops, which can dispense valuable items, and gyms, where players can battle one another.听
There are two ways to acquire Pok茅mon: when the app is open, players will periodically encounter the virtual monsters and can capture them with a skillful swipe of their phone鈥檚 screen. Pok茅mon can also be 鈥渉atched鈥 from eggs, which players obtain at Pokestops and hatch once the player has walked a predetermined distance鈥攂etween two and ten kilometers. 听听
#1: Add Better Fitness Features听
The app already tracks players鈥 steps and distance covered to hatch eggs, and the anecdotal evidence suggests that it is , which we can all get behind. But right now,听the game only gives you credit if it鈥檚 running in the foreground. So while it鈥檚 theoretically possible to use hiking or running to progress, even an accidental button push in your pocket means no credit for all the hard work.听
A Strava-like option to start an activity could allow the app to run in the background while players get their steps in. It could even allow more interesting metrics like flights of stairs climbed or total feet of vertical gain to advance different aspects of the game. But the feature wouldn鈥檛 have to be that explicit. Unless you鈥檝e disabled it, your phone is likely already keeping tabs on your steps at all times through programs like Google Fit and Apple Health. Simply using that data could let active Pok茅masters progress without needing to keep the game running at all times. 听
It wouldn鈥檛 be the first time the franchise has rolled out a feature like this: a version of the GameBoy game that allowed users to passively train their Pok茅mon.
#2: Place Pok茅mon in Far-Flung Outdoor Locations
While it鈥檚 true that the the game has encouraged people to get out of the house, its current structure doesn鈥檛 reward venturing very far. Points of interest have been crowd-sourced by players of an older game made by the same developers, and they tend to be clustered in city centers and near roads.
Smart players are currently walking short loops in crowded areas, so while they鈥檙e covering miles, the effect is less like actual exploration听and more akin听to wandering around trying to find free Wi-Fi. The game is aware of your location鈥攑layers see more water types by rivers and oceans, for instance. But finding rare, powerful Pok茅mon has more to do with a player's progression in the game than any particular location, so there鈥檚 little incentive to truly explore.听
A pair of enterprising New Zealanders went viral last week听when they to claim an offshore gym, but so far, that seems like more of a fluke than a typical occurrence in the game. We鈥檇 like to see the developers putting rare Pok茅mon and gyms in adventurous locations, like at the end of trails or on top of mountains.
In order for this to happen, the game would need to听change its听mostly听random format. Perhaps the app听could alert you with a push notification听to a limited window where you鈥檇 find a particularly desirable Pok茅mon at the end of a long hike. However,听this tweak听would also involve some technical challenges. Right now听the app won鈥檛 work correctly without a strong听data connection, which isn鈥檛 guaranteed at many off-the-beaten-path locations. It would also require the manpower to create custom locations鈥攑oints of interest and Pok茅mon appear to be almost totally auto-generated at the moment. But surely the app is making enough money to hire some developers to build an offline mode and some custom content?听听 听听听
A change to focus on far-flung outdoor locations would be in keeping with the treasure-hunt spirit of the original games, in which听rare Pok茅mon like Mewtwo could only be found in remote places after a difficult search. It would also move players from boring loops near roads to more interesting places. It might even act as a gateway drug for analog outdoor adventuring. Trust us: we know some people might recoil against the idea of smartphone gamers crowding trails. But smart tweaks to the way the game works could mean less face-down plodding through suburbia听and more outdoor adventure with a side of augmented reality fun.
Personally, I just want to catch an on a craggy peak after a long day of climbing. Is that really too much to ask?听