General Topic: Science and technology

Specific Topic: The use of Pokemon Go as a tool for the youth to socialize and form
communities
Name of project: Pokemon Go-logy
Group number and name of the class: Social Anthropology, group 3
Team number and names of team members:
Team 3:
Sofia Juarico Vega A00818936
Pedro A. Garca Gonzlez A01282263
Mara Eugenia A. Hierro A01270373
Date: September 20, 2016

I.
General objective:
Understand the usage of Pokemon Go as a tool for the youth to socialize and form
communities.
Specific objectives:
Describe the general aspect of the Pokemon Go community in Cristo de la montaa.
Understand the form of interaction that the community has.
Comprehend the community requirements to be a member.
Know if the community members are friends outside the Pokemon Go.
Comprehend the community's communication dynamics and methods.
Describe the communitys age span, sex, gender, and identification symbols or patterns.
Understand the communitys gathering methodology.
Understand if there is some sort of hierarchy within the community.
Research questions:
How is the usage of Pokemon Go a tool for the youth?
What is the general aspect of the Pokemon Go community in Cristo de la montaa?
What is the form of interaction that the community has?
What are the community requirements to be a member?
Are the community members friends outside of the Pokemon Go environment?
What are the community's communication dynamics and methods?
Which is the communitys age span, sex, gender, and identification symbols or patterns?
What is the community's gathering methodology?
Is there some sort of hierarchy within the community?
II.
Previous research

It is too soon for Pokmon Go to have studies that focused in it entirely. Fortunately there are
numerous studies of the videogame user experience, the formation of communities among
Massive Multiplayer Online Games and other themes. There are also plenty of academic
definitions of what the augmented reality is, how it works and how has it improved. This
project will focus on a game that uses this technology, so we will be needing to revise those
definitions and reports first.
What is Augmented Reality?
Augmented reality is an emerging technology that superimposes computer-generated images
and content onto real-world environments, thereby enhancing a users perception of reality by
combining physical and virtual elements. (Accenturate, 2014).
Augmented reality is a more credible, but still immersive version of Vitual Enviornments (a
technology most popularly known as Virtual Reality). It is a step before the dream of many is
achieved. That dream is that the technology is enhanced enough to make a 100% realistic and
interactive VR experience.
What other possible applications (already knowing that it is used for playing Pokmon Go)
does AR has?
Medicine: surgeries
Manufacturing and repair
Militar
Technological: it may sound redundant, but it is in the specific case of programming, for
example, the path that a robot is going to
Research 1:
The Life and Death of Online Communities: A look at guilds in the World of Warcraft
A study of gamers who played World of Warcraft (virtual participant observation) and
saved the data from aproximately 300,000 characters (througth five different servers) to study
the stablishment, developent and end of different kind of guilds (small, medium, large or
massive groups of people that play online to complete quests that are unobtainable by playing
alone). They found that the strongests guilds are those massively formed by people who are
strangers in real life, and that by contrast, the smaller guilds of people that knew each other
from real life before they started playing, are not able to accomplish as many goals.

It is also notable that this game demands cooperation, which implies virtual (distant,
online) socialization with many other players. The World of Warcraft is a good reference for
videogame communities that are formed as the users play.
Research 2: Groove Street Grimm: Grand Theft Auto and the Digital Folklore
The author of this article, Kiri Miller, stablishes, after studying the case of GTA San
Andreas that the practices people engage in while playing a videogame should be considered
cultural practices per se. Indeed, not everyone likes the same music, stories and videogames.
If the tastes of music, books, movies, stories, etc. that we have are acquired through
socialization, it is no surprise that the same rule applies for the videogames we choose to
play.
Research 3: Being in the World (of Warcraft): Raidingt Realism, and Knowledge Production
in a Massively Multiplayer Online Game
Before the virtual reality fully develops to its fullest, and even before videogames existed,
stories have been a way for people to scape the reality of their ordinary lives. Now, that
videogames exist and are in constant development for more realism, immersesiveness and
more options for the gamers to interact (change, direct) whatever story they are playing;
Online games for Massive Multiplayers are just going to still be on the map, and become
even more stronger and popular than what they are.
Research 4: 100-Percenting It: Videogame Play Through the Eyes of Devoted Gamers
This 2012 study conducted trough small groups observation and 20 individual interviews,
evaluated the meaninfulness of videogames to very devote players. Not only can they achieve
a fulfilment sensation by advancing on the game, but they also can satisfy their social needs
to a certain extent (depending on the kind of game and how much does it rely on teamwork).
Research 5: Project Massive: A Study of Online Gaming Communities
A relatively old study of the Project Massive, that state that trougth the internet and the
development of other technologies, the gamers that used to play alone, or with very few other
people, now are able to socialize with a massive quantity of other users. And they were all in
the same situation, they had to be confined, to a certain point, but now they can chat (by
writing or speaking) with any other players they might be.

III.

Why is this topic important?

We are becoming more and more dependent on it everyday, because it is developing faster
with the passing of time. Pokemon Go works, fundamentally with two technologies: GPS
(already very developed) and augmented reality, a technology thats still emerging and
gaining popularity. In this case, Pokemon Go is also important because its trending
nowadays, due to the original combination of GPS and AR to function, and the fact that many
young adults (people between our ages) play it because they have a kind of nostalgic
sentiment about when it comes to the franchise and its characters.
What is being said about it nowadays?
On the news and on the internet the opinions are divided. For some people the app is
dangerous, because you could be robbed, enter to dangerous places, get hit by a car, etc. But
in the other side its also good because it motivates people to go outside, walk, exercise and
meet new people. On the other hand, the developers of the game are following the tendencies
of nostalgic sentiments that nowadays are a fuel to make profit out of them, the marketing
researchers that most likely worked with the developers, must be very aware of that. What
pushes the downloads of this app is not the playability or technology, but the nostalgia it
awakens in its players and possible players.
Why were you interested in doing research about it?
Because after we research we will be able to explain how modern communities are formed
and how the use of technology can help them meet and bond.
How does it contribute to Social Anthropology?
It contributes to social anthropology starting with the nostalgic feeling for the franchise of
Pokmon that this game awakens in people. Not only are we becoming more inclined to rely
on technology, our generation (Millennials) is proving to thrive on nostalgia a lot. Products
that satisfy this need to revive the good times can be developed, they generate profit and
become a sensation. Other examples of making profit out of this nostalgic sentiment are the
Smart Boy (a kind of case that is attached to the smartphone to make it compatible with
cartridges of Gameboy and Gameboy Color).

IV.

According to your topic: What do you want to observe? What do you want to observe about
the place? What about the people?
What we want to observe is:
-How many people are playing Pokemon Go in Cristo de la Montaa Church
-If they come alone, with friends, or in group
-If they have made any friends using the app
-What are the requirements to be party of the Pokemon Go community
-How many communities are there
-If they contact each other and how
-How many people are in the social group, of what ages, and of which sex and gender
-How did they become part of the social group
-If they have something in common that identifies them
-How frequent they gather
-How many people gathers
Make a list, as detailed as possible, of the things that you want to observe in your social
group.
-Age
-Gender
-Interests
-Motivations
-Social Interaction
-Traditions
Join the things that are similar under categories (food, dress code, family, beliefs, etc.)
Transform the list into questions. Write the questions
1)How was that you first reach crystal Montana to play pokemon go? Did you came by
yourself or with someone?

2) Have you met someone totally new just because of Pokemon go? About how many
people?
3) Would you consider a friend to any of those people you have met? Or you just hang out
because of Pokemon?
4) How do you get to be inside of the WhatsApp group chat?
V.
Make a first contact with your social group during the week and program the next visits.
Describe your first contact, What did you see? Who did you meet? How did they perceive
you? How did you feel? What was hard to do, etc.?
September 15- First Visit
When we first arrived to Cristo de la montaa church we just sat down on bench near one of
the five groups that are near. The people playing. All over the place you can see people is
with their face down and light in it by the light in the cell phone screen. Some people alone
some in players and in groups but everybody is in there cell phone obviously looking for the
Pokemons. There are people sitting down in the stairs near the temple people sitting down on
benches. Are at the edge of a place and most of the people walking around the place. Even
though I already knew why they were walking, I innocently and pretending I didn't knew,
asked a guy nearby "Why is everybody walking around?" And he politely answered me " well
it is because of the poke eggs. Look when you get an egg from a poke stop for the egg to
hatch you have to walk 5 or 10 kilometers depending on the egg you got, so most of the
people are walking around because they are working on their eggs" after that I just answered
"Thanks man, see you" and then I just continue observing people all over the place. But since
I'm not sure I'm being totally clear on my explanation so let me present you real quick the "A
begginer's guide: How to play Pokemon Go":
basically you go around capturing creatures called Pokmon so you can fight other people's
Pokmon with your own Pokmon. The reasonPokmon Go is so clever, though, is that it's all
tied to the real world.
The app tracks your IRL location, which means you hunt and catch Pokmon on the same
network of roads and parks that you're walking through in real life. PokStops (where you
stock up on items) are linked to real world places like post offices, and gyms (where you fight
rival Pokmon trainers i.e. other people playing the game) are things like churches and train

stations in the real world. So after the explanation I think it is pretty clear how to play
Pokemon go so We'll continue the observation process.
On Thursday, September 15th 10:22 p.m. and there were exactly 15 people playing at Cristo
de la Montaa church. From those 15 there were 4 women and 11 men. This were divided
into: A group of four (1 woman, 3 men), a group of three (2 women, 1 man), a couple (1
woman, 1 man), a couple of friends (2 men) and 4 men on their own walking around the
place. That was the people playing at that hour but obviously different people come and go to
the church to play. Since it was the first day of fieldwork I decided to just leave it as
observation and decided to wait until my next visit to interact with the social group and get in
contact with them.
September 17- Second Visit
On the second visit Pedro was intended to play Pokemon go with members of the community
and narrate his experience. This will help us to know more about the community by knowing
life stories, in this case pokemon stories, of the members. It is Saturday the 17th of
September I decided to arrive as normal Pokemon player. You know I arrived just like them a
pretty normal guy with a phone on his hand. I sat on the stairs and just observed how
everything was at Cristo de la Montaa. I noticed that there were only 9 people at the church
at that moment. 7 men and 2 women divided into a group of 4 men, a couple meaning one
woman and one man, and the three left where on their own, two men and one woman. The
youngest person in the place seems about 16 years old and the oldest people seem to have 23
years old.
As I was getting nearby I recognize one of the four men near the stairs. It was an old friend
back from when I was in elementary school. Let's give him the pseudonym of Mr.B. this guy
have played Pokemon go before the app was even out in Mexico. When I first saw him we
said hello to each other and we found out that we were both there because of Pokemon go. So
I decided to ask him "since when do you play?" And he replied " well I started playing
Pokemon go on vacations, exactly July, I found out about the game on a YouTube video and
they helped meet with tips to create an Apple ID from New Zealand I downloaded the app".
Then he asked me " so what level are you?" And I answered " I'm a rookie I am only level 9,
what level are you?" He replied "Jajajaja yes you are, I'm level 34". He seemed to be a good
pokemon player, so then I asked who are they, so he introduce me to the group he was
playing with, they were three guys, let's call them Kit, Kat, and Ant Man. Kit and Kat were

neighbors from near the church and you eachother before playing Pokemon go but they told
me that Pokemon go make them more united than they were, Kat said "I used to just say hello
to him, not going out with him, now we both get along to go out and catch pokemon
together." About Ant Man, he came togather with Mr. B they are friends from school. It is
important to mention that all of the talk was done while we were all playing Pokemon go and
walking around the place. Then after awhile I asked " do you come often to play Pokemon
go?" And 4 of them answered yes. Since they all live near the church and it's easy for them to
go at nights. And I ask them if 10 people are a lot or very few playing there. And Kit
answered me, as the other ones agreed with him, he said " many people just used to play
because of mode, in summer when pokemon go was new the place was full of people playing
sometimes there was about 50 or 60 persons here, now that Pokemon go is not that new the
number of players have lowered a lot now the maximum you've got to see it's about 30 people
at the same time". We continue walking and playing for a bit of time until it was time for me
to leave. So I asked mr. B for his cell phone number and told him that I will come on Sunday
to play that hopefully we could meet there.
September 18- Last Visit
On our last visit we were intended to get even more acquainted with their social group. The
idea was to continue observing how Pokemon go players are, and have semi structured
interviews with the players we were expecting about 10 different persons. But we had a
problem, on September 18th there was just 6 people. These were divided into a group of treat
man a couple of one woman in one man and I'm in by itself. After about 20 minutes on being
there Mr.B arrived and started talking with the tree guys. Then Pedro joined them and played
along with them. After a while someone of of the three guys said something about a whatsapp
group related to Pokemon go so Pedro showed curiosity and asked about the group. Mr.B told
him that it was a group chat conformed by the Pokemon players at Cristo de la montaa. He
told Pedro that he could get him in if he want to, and so he did. So then we talked to Mr.B
about our project and what we were trying to investigate. We told him that if he could
recommend us 10 of the Pokemon players that he think would be open for an interview, not
even a face to face interview. So he tell us who he think we should interview and we took the
number of those people from the whatsapp group and gather the next information from the
interview.

The interview was done to 10 people out of 64 that are in the in the group. In the group there
are 13 women and 51 men. So we decided to do ten interviews, 2 to women and 8 to men.
1- How was that you first reach crystal Montana to play pokemon go? Did you came by
yourself or with someone?
One of the woman came with her boyfriend and the other woman with his brother. Of the 8
guys, 3 came by themselves because they saw poke stops on their celphone, the other 5 came
with friends because they heard that many Pokemon were there.
2- Have you met someone totally new just because of Pokemon go? About how many
people?
The 10 interviewed said that they have meet new people. Four of them said they met about
10, 3 of them said that like 20 people and the three leftover said that everyone from the group
chat so 64.
3- Would you consider a friend to any of those people you have met? Or you just hang out
because of Pokemon?
Three of the interviewed and said that they consider their new friends to some of the people
they met at the church. The other 7 consider that even though they are good people they
wouldn't consider them their friends, they will be more likely just their friends in pokemon
go.
4- How do you get to be inside of the WhatsApp group chat?
In this question the 10 we're almost the same, 5 of them just ask a friend that was already on
the group to help them in, other four were invited in and the one left over was one of the
founders.
Conclusions
After the visits we draw conclusions on what we saw, we listen and what we inferred.
We conclude that Pokemon Go can be a community former. We saw how the app formed
social relationships. Also we were able to see how the technology is so present in our lives
that the community was formed by a technological app that is watsapp. Also we found out

that it was not hard at all to join the community because we were all in the age most of the
members are.
Make a calendar of the activities that you have to do as a team to get ready. (reports,
interview guides, focus groups, ask for a room for an interview, meetings, etc.) Where will
your research take place? Why?

September 13

September 14

September 15

September 17

September 18

Research and

Define the

Write down our

Write down our

Third visit and

investigation

objectives and

expectations,

first visit

interviews.

about the topic.

do the previous

what we want to observations

research.

know about the

and prepare the

community.

interviews.

-First Visit

-Second Visit

VI.
Where will your research take place? Why?
Our research will take place part at the lab and part at the field. The part of the Field is the
participant observation and fieldwork. The lab part, all the previous research, and
investigation on the topic.

Description of the place.

After a long way of stairs is finished, exactly after the 33rd stair you reach the outside part of
Cristo de la Montaa. As the name of the church has it is located at Mount I need is located in
the Cerro de la Silla. That is why the concourse of outside the church its elevated compared
to the ground where the street is. Looking by the front the temple you can see three benches
at the left and three benches at the right. Those are green benches created from cement and
without back part. The space is just a round concourse of about 40 40. And just have a
black three level fountain at the middle of it. The rest is just space with poke stops that's why
people come over. There is four big lights that enlighten the place. The air is flowing, since it
is an open space you do not feel warm. Finally just before reaching the temple there are three
stairways to reach it. Wanted is located at the left part, at the middle, and at the right. The
stairway in the middle is widther than other two on their sides.
VII.
Who will be your social group?
Our social group is the pokemon go players in cristo de la montaa. The community is called
Poketrips sur
How many are they? What is their place into the social group (father, mother, worker,
student, teacher, etc.)?

The community is conformed by 64 members, who are 13 women and 51 men. The youngest
member of the community is 16 years old and the oldest is 25.

Make up a pseudonym for each member of your social group (remember you cannot give
their real names).
We did not met all of the members but we already give pseudonym for the members I met:
Mr. B, Kit, Kat, Antman, and Jimmie G.

Bibliography:
Ducheneaut, N., Yee, N., Nickell, E., and Moore, R. (2007). The Life and Death of Online
Communities: A look at guilds in the World of Warcraft. [archivo PDF]. CA, USA.
Miller, K. (2008). Grove Street Grimm: "Grand Theft Auto" and Digital Folklore. The Journal
of

American

Folklore,

http://www.jstor.org/stable/20487609

121(481),

255-285.

Retrieved

from

Golub, A. (2010). Being in the World (of Warcraft): Raiding, Realism, and Knowledge
Production in a Massively Multiplayer Online Game. Institute for Ethnographic Research.
DOI: http://hdl.handle.net/10524/2116
Khanolkar, P., and McLean, P. (2012). 100-Percenting It: Videogame Play Through the Eyes
of Devoted Gamers, 961-985. Eastern Sociological Society. DOI: 10.1111/j.15737861.2012.01364.x
Seay, A., Jerome, W., Lee, K., and Kraut, R. (2004). Project Massive: A Study of Online
Gaming Communities