Pokemon Go in India: Is it worth all the trouble?

Pokemon Go has hit new highs, not only among fans of the cartoon and video games but also among those who have absolutely no idea what a Pokémon is.

 

Asianet Newsable spoke to users from Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad, Indore and Bangalore and asked a simple question: Did anything happen to you while playing the game? As it turned out, quite a lot happened to them. 

 

Take Aishwariya, a resident of Chennai and a writer by profession. Though not exactly a 'gamer', she apparently couldn’t resist from playing the game not just on city roads, but also inside a Metropolitan Transport Corporation (MTC) bus.  While perhaps that is testimony to how engaging the game can be, the one group that remained unamused by all this were the other pedestrians. As she told the tale, she was not so much going from Pokemon to Pokemon as she was jumping from scolding to scolding. 

 

 

The game requires you to follow different paths to find Pokémon, and it works on a GPS tracking system which uses Google maps to guide you to the next quest. The software has nothing to alert you to the risks of being in the traffic or at an edge of the rooftop. 

 

"There was a Pokémon in a bungalow right next to my office," said Shraddha Singh, a resident of Bangalore, "And I was nearly about to trespass on private property." 

 

As we are all aware, barging into random houses can only be done by IT officials without fear. For the rest of us, this is something to avoid. In a case of doubt, Singh advises, one should log out and re-login to get new locations of Pokémon. Considering the number of houses, and the lack of public spaces, be prepared to keep logging out. 

 

But then again, public spaces are not without their unique horrors.  "My Pokémon was near a pile of human waste," said Shashank Kasar, an engineer by profession. When queried if he was up to the challenge, Kasar demured, saying, "I skipped it."

 

Kasar, a resident of Bangalore, felt that his experience should be a lesson to all - if you aren't prepared to face garbage and sewage, you may as well go home and play with whatever Pokemon you already have.

 

Kasar also pointed out an incident where one of his colleagues was about to fall from a rooftop while he was on a Pokémon hunt. As Harsh Soni, a resident of Indore pointed out - "Who would want to run after a virtual Pokémon if that is the last thing one does?" 

 

Indeed, awareness of your surroundings is critical in this country, since even the closing of open manholes is seen as optional by the government. 

 

Besides, 'death by Pokemon' would require an embarrassing amount of explanations in your subsequent funeral. 

 

Soni himself played the game up to level three and later uninstalled it due to technical glitches and the risk of traffic on the roads.

 

All of this depends on connectivity. One of the biggest problems with the game is connectivity issues, said Abhilash Yerramilli, a resident of Hyderabad. He said the game stops after it loses the connection and you tend to lose the Pokémon too.  

 

Sometimes the game doesn’t open due to server issues which are "frustrating" for "desperate users," he added. 'Desperate' in this case seems to refer to those who apparently never, ever step into the real world for any other reason. 

 

MD Yousuf, a film-maker from Mumbai pointed out another major issue - the game requires a lot of data due to the continuous tracking of the Pokémon’s location and since it is a "server based game," this increases your internet usage bill quite a bit. If you have a postpaid connection, when the bill comes, you better be prepared to treasure what you caught.   

 

All things considered, the legally-mandated caution the makers of Pokémon Go give with the game - "Remember to be alert at all times. Be aware of your surroundings." begins to feel quite sarcastic in India.