Geoff Ball, a professor of pediatrics at the University of Alberta, said that the release of Pokemon Go could have a positive impact on people’s health.
The positive impact comes from that fact that the game pushes players to get off the couch and to move around in the real world. The game involves players walking around in the real world to find and catch Pokemon. In a statement, Ball said:
“I like the idea of how it has had an impact on activity. If people are completely inactive before or there wasn’t anything they really enjoyed about physical activity and this helped them to do that, then that’s a really positive impact.”
The game uses popular landmarks around your city as PokeStops, which allow you to collect in game items and find Pokemon if a lure is attached. The game also uses the smartphone’s GPS and pedometer to track your steps that motivates users to achieve several in-game goals, like hatching rare eggs.
“Kat Stocking says Pokemon Go has inspired her to overcome her social anxiety and get out of the house. Since she downloaded the game on July 7, she says she has walked at least 10 km on her hunt for Pokemon, and has constantly been meeting other players.”
Pokemon Go is now available in the Canadian App Store as a free download. The game requires any device running iOS 8.0 or later and contains in-app purchases that range between $1.39 and $139.99.
[via Edmonton Journal]
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That’s what they get paid to do? Stating the obvious.