[Nestor Chayelle] Can Pokemon Go contribute with the conservation movement?

Pokemon Go could raise awareness about conservation

Pokémon Go makes people get in touch with nature because players have to locate Pokémon in the real environment. This lead to raising awareness about conservation.

Pokémon Go is a game for smartphones that has become very famous around the world. The game consists of locating, capturing and battling virtual creatures called Pokémon, which appear on screen as if they were part of the real environment. When playing the game, people have to go out of a home in order to locate Pokémon, and this implies that players will be in contact with the natural world.

In last years people seem less interested in nature and real environment due to the rise of technology. For this reason, researchers from the universities of Oxford and Cambridge, UNEP World Conservation Monitoring Centre, and University College London (UCL) led a study to determine if Pokémon Go may be an opportunity to raise awareness about conservation, or may decrease the interest in real environment since people interact with virtual “animals.”

Pokémon Go recreates natural history and conservation

This famous game is a good recreation of a real environment. Leejiah Dorward, one of the researchers from the study said: “when Pokémon Go first came out, one of the most striking things was its similarity with many of the concepts seen in natural history and conservation. The basic facts and information about Pokémon Go make it sound like an incredibly successful citizen science project, rather than a smartphone game.”

Exploring nature

The study found that Pokémon Go contributes to creating changes in the daily routines among players. Since people spend time outside locating Pokémon, they are actually exploring nature. During this exploration, people not only are in contact with the real environment, they are also discovering real species. The Twitter hashtag #Pokeblitz was created to share photography of the species found during the play. Pokémon Go definitely contributes with the conservation movement leading players to get in touch with nature, in a world where people is more attracted by technology.