research-article

The Impacts of Covid-19 on Players of Pokémon GO

Authors:

Konstantinos Papangelis,

Nicolas Lalone,

Michael SakerAuthors Info & Claims

ACM Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction, Volume 30, Issue 4

Article No.: 57, Pages 1 - 31

https://doi.org/10.1145/3569896

Published: 11 September 2023 Publication History

Abstract

Since its creation, the Location-Based Game (LBG), Pokémon GO, has been embraced by a community of fans across the world. Due to its recency, the impact of COVID-19 on the community of Pokémon GO players is underexplored. We address how COVID-19 has impacted the players of Pokémon GO by building upon existing work focusing on player gratifications and impacts in Pokémon GO. Through semi-structured interviews, we provide a snapshot of the state of LBG play during unprecedented times. These player interviews demonstrate (1) the importance of in-person socialization to LBG, (2) additional ways players use the game as a coping mechanism, and (3) how intentionality mediates player perceptions of people-place relationships. Furthermore, we explore how Niantic influenced these behaviors through changes to how players interact with points of interest and engage with elder game mechanics such as raiding.

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Cited By

Laato SSöbke HBaer M(2024)Augmented future: tracing the trajectory of location-based augmented reality gaming for the next ten yearsi-com10.1515/icom-2024-001823:2(189-203)Online publication date: 14-May-2024
https://doi.org/10.1515/icom-2024-0018
Laato SRauti SKordyaka BPapangelis KJung SNummenmaa THamari J(2024)Gamification of walking in nature: A field experiment with Pokémon GO RoutesProceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction10.1145/36770758:CHI PLAY(1-25)Online publication date: 15-Oct-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3677075
Confessor B(2024)Hiki-game-ori: A Proposed Framework for Therapeutic Game Development for Socially Isolated AudiencesCompanion Proceedings of the 2024 Annual Symposium on Computer-Human Interaction in Play10.1145/3665463.3678852(413-415)Online publication date: 14-Oct-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3665463.3678852
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Index Terms

The Impacts of Covid-19 on Players of Pokémon GO
1. Human-centered computing
  1. Collaborative and social computing
  2. Human computer interaction (HCI)
    1. HCI design and evaluation methods
      1. User studies
    2. Interaction paradigms
      1. Mixed / augmented reality

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cover image ACM Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction

ACM Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction Volume 30, Issue 4

August 2023

614 pages

ISSN:1073-0516

EISSN:1557-7325

DOI:10.1145/3623486

Editors:
Kristina Höök
KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden
,
Kasper Hornbæk
University of Copenhagen, Denmark

Issue’s Table of Contents

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Association for Computing Machinery

New York, NY, United States

Publication History

Published: 11 September 2023

Online AM: 27 October 2022

Accepted: 02 September 2022

Revised: 01 July 2022

Received: 10 February 2022

Published in TOCHI Volume 30, Issue 4

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Laato SSöbke HBaer M(2024)Augmented future: tracing the trajectory of location-based augmented reality gaming for the next ten yearsi-com10.1515/icom-2024-001823:2(189-203)Online publication date: 14-May-2024
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Laato SRauti SKordyaka BPapangelis KJung SNummenmaa THamari J(2024)Gamification of walking in nature: A field experiment with Pokémon GO RoutesProceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction10.1145/36770758:CHI PLAY(1-25)Online publication date: 15-Oct-2024
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Confessor B(2024)Hiki-game-ori: A Proposed Framework for Therapeutic Game Development for Socially Isolated AudiencesCompanion Proceedings of the 2024 Annual Symposium on Computer-Human Interaction in Play10.1145/3665463.3678852(413-415)Online publication date: 14-Oct-2024
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Dunham JXu JPapangelis KLalone NSaker MSchwartz D(2024)Pokémon GO as an Advertising Platform: The Case for Locative Advertising in Location-based GamesGames: Research and Practice10.1145/36415092:1(1-25)Online publication date: 18-Mar-2024
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Dunham JPapangelis KLaLone NWang Y(2024) The player traits and gratifications of casual and hardcore players in Harry Potter: Wizards Unite , Ingress , and Pokémon GO Behaviour & Information Technology10.1080/0144929X.2024.2345293(1-24)Online publication date: 26-Apr-2024
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Huțul TKarner-Huțuleac AHuțul A(2024)“Go-tcha!”: The social component of mental health during the Covid-19 pandemic and the benefits of playing Pokemon GoEntertainment Computing10.1016/j.entcom.2024.10064950(100649)Online publication date: May-2024
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.entcom.2024.100649
Laato STregel T(2023)Into the Unown: Improving location-based gamified crowdsourcing solutions for geo data gatheringEntertainment Computing10.1016/j.entcom.2023.10057546(100575)Online publication date: May-2023
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.entcom.2023.100575

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