Since its release in July, Pokemon Go has garnered over 100 million downloads—topping the number of daily active users for both Twitter and Tinder. The game, made for Android and iOS mobile devices by Niantic, Inc., has become an overnight phenomenon around the world. At UNC Wilmington, that Pokemon craze is evident.

“Nostalgia and the live factor algorithms of [Pokemon] spawning”  are what student Samantha Stone identifies as the reason behind the app’s popularity, and UNCW students’ obvious fondness for the app.

The live factor algorithms that Stone referred to is the apps ability to use a mobile device’s GPS capability to locate, capture, and battle virtual monsters called Pokemon.

Players have the option to capture turf for their teams and battle rival Teams. Turfs are pre-selected, special points of interest are called ‘Gyms’. Gyms house Pokemon that will battle against other players in order to guard their team’s turf. 

The app has gained a reputation for its ability to get its players out of the house and make them active. The game requires players to walk in order to find new Pokemon or to hatch an egg housing a new Pokemon. Stone said that the Pokemon Go app has been a great social and active activity for both she and her boyfriend, Graham Davenport.

“I have two battery banks, four chargers and a side bag full of water bottles,” Davenport boasted. “We’ve been out six hours at a time before.”

The duo enjoys staying out for long periods of time to catch as many Pokemon as possible, but also because it allows them to meet other people who also play the game.

“I met my neighbors for the first time by [playing the game],” Stone said.

UNCW Associate Professor of English, Nicholas Laudadio, who has taught classes focusing on Popular Culture and Literary and Critical Theory, shares a similar perspective as Stone.

“I think that generally, in the right context, [Pokemon Go] can be tremendously beneficial. It’s not just about getting people out and about, exploring their environments, but it’s also about meeting and interfacing with others doing the same,” Laudadio said. “It’s often easy for folks to shout ‘escapism’ when a new popular game is released, but this is a different ballgame.”

However, other professors think the app may do more harm than good.

UNCW Associate Professor of Sociology, John Rice, who has taught classes like Sociology of Culture, Sociology of Deviant Behavior, and Social Theory believes the game could become a distraction and detract from social issues.

“We’re in the process of destroying the only world we have to live in,” Rice said, implying both sociological and environmental issues plaguing society. “Maybe we should pay attention [to those issues] instead of finding the latest Pikachu at Front Street Brewery.”

“It diverts people’s attention on serious issues like, ‘who is going to be our next President?’ The more time we spend time on Pokemon Go, the less time we read up on [current events].” Rice continued.

Whether Pokemon Go has a negative or a positive influence, one thing is for certain—it’s here to stay.