Lately on campus students can be found staring down at their phones intently while walking, which really isn’t anything new. However, now they’re also stopping to peer into bushes or point their phones at blank walls as if taking a picture. This behavior might seem a little strange, but they’re just playing “Pokémon GO.”
“Pokémon GO” is grabbing the attention of many students at Moorpark College. Dozens can be seen playing the game all over campus and the stiff competition at the Pokémon gyms, where players can battle their Pokémon against each other, is sure to heat up once the fall semester begins.
Twenty-one-year-old philosophy major Marc Chaney has already had some experience with them.
“I had a Vaporeon at one of the gyms for a while, but it got beat,” Chaney said. “And I caught a Snorlax in the library!”
Vaporeon and Snorlax are just two of the 151 Pokémon hidden throughout the real world for players to catch. Using an augmented reality interface that shows a map matching the real world with objects, buildings, and roads in the same positions, “Pokémon GO” allows the collectible, digital creatures to run wild in places all over the world.
In order to move your character in the game from one location to another, you have to physically travel to that location yourself. Therefore, if you’re standing in front of the library and you want to move your character to the zoo, you have to walk across campus. It’s along the way that you might catch some Pokémon.
“Pokémon GO” uses real-world landmarks such as park signs and public statues to guide players to where Pokémon might be roaming. With it’s myriad of landmarks, memorials, sculptures, and dedicated plaques, Moorpark College is filled with Pokéstops. These in-game landmarks allow players to collect useful items for catching and powering up their pocket-sized monsters making campus the perfect place for both players who’ve spent all summer questing to be the very best to new players looking to take advantage of their school hours to stock up on items and power-ups.
There are 21 Pokéstops in the centralized campus area and five more in America’s Teaching Zoo, most of which can be accessed via the gravel road alongside the EATM building’s south side. As far as gyms, there are three located outside of Fountain Hall, the Communications building, and the Earth Dome within the parking lot outside of the Performing Arts building. If that wasn’t enough, Campus Park Drive has a gym just before turning up toward campus, Campus Park has three more Pokéstops, and Campus Plaza has four Pokéstops as well as its very own gym!
Observant players will notice that some of the Pokéstops, namely the ones between Fountain Hall and the Physical Science building as well as the three surrounding the Technology building, overlap. Meaning players and their friends can attach lures, ways of attracting more Pokémon than normal at a cost, to each of them simultaneously and gather a far greater number of Pokémon than would normally be available in one spot.
With as many Pokéstops as there are on campus though, moving around and exploring is just as viable and forcing players to be more active is one aspect of the game critics are praising.
Christian Myers, a physical therapist who works with elementary school students in the Ventura Unified School District, says he has used “Pokémon GO” as a tool for his patients.
“Before, I would try to motivate them with different kinds of toys or prizes,” said Myers. “Now I can use ‘Pokémon GO.’ I’ll tell my patients to, for example, hatch three eggs this week. It works and the kids really like it. Any game that gets kids off the couch seems great to me.”
Players can sometimes acquire rare Pokémon by hatching them from eggs they collect. The eggs are hatched by walking a certain distance varying from egg to egg and are just one of the many items players can collect by visiting Pokéstops.
Moorpark College has a lot to offer in terms of education, growth, personal development, and now Pokémon! Players looking to start fresh with the game this upcoming fall semester will have a treasure trove of chances to bulk up their collection on campus.
So why skip class when there’s so much to gain? Maybe the one day you don’t show up could be the day that the rare Pokémon you’re missing appears. Just remember you don’t need to be on top of Pokémon to catch them. There’s no need to barge into classrooms or interrupt less Pokémon inclined students.
