Pokemon Go.
- Thread starter Woodsman
- Start date
bjorn said:
What a strange world we live in. When someone gets molested, most people look away or escape but when a pokemon appears most people rush in. The contrast between the general apathy of the human population towards the suffering of others and the excitement about Pokemon Go is quite disturbing.
According to the various fact keepers and trend watchers, this fad is finally dipping in popularity.
_http://today.usa.extra.hu/news/its-happening-pokemon-go-popularity-is-in-decline
_http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-3755031/Has-Pokemon-caught-users-New-figures-reveal-10-million-players-abandoned-game.html
The game had limited advancement tracks, and as one user commented, "It felt like a beta version".
The "Daily Mail" tells us that daily users have dropped from a peek of 45 million to 30 million. I don't know if that's world wide or just the UK or what, but with rolling releases in various countries, (in the video above, Taiwan hosted its release date a month after the U.S.), I supposed the wave is peeking at different times across the globe.
I wonder if they have collected all the data they wanted?
And I wonder what the final tally of persistent users will be?
Or what the next global milking project will look like and how it will interface with humanity?
Time will tell.
2016 has certainly been one for the history books, and we're not out of it yet! We still have that crazy election ahead of us.
_http://today.usa.extra.hu/news/its-happening-pokemon-go-popularity-is-in-decline
_http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-3755031/Has-Pokemon-caught-users-New-figures-reveal-10-million-players-abandoned-game.html
The game had limited advancement tracks, and as one user commented, "It felt like a beta version".
The "Daily Mail" tells us that daily users have dropped from a peek of 45 million to 30 million. I don't know if that's world wide or just the UK or what, but with rolling releases in various countries, (in the video above, Taiwan hosted its release date a month after the U.S.), I supposed the wave is peeking at different times across the globe.
I wonder if they have collected all the data they wanted?
And I wonder what the final tally of persistent users will be?
Or what the next global milking project will look like and how it will interface with humanity?
Time will tell.
2016 has certainly been one for the history books, and we're not out of it yet! We still have that crazy election ahead of us.
bjorb
The Living Force
[quote author= Woodsman]And I wonder what the final tally of persistent users will be?[/quote]
I guess anything in between 10/20 million each based on the overall amount every decent game franchise sells.
And there are a lot of big franchises. Or in other words, there are plenty of dreams available for everyone to dissociate and get lost in.
Pokemon was just the start, and like others already pointed out at the beginning of this topic. If the hype part loses momentum, it will just be replaced by something else.
[quote author= Woodsman]I wonder if they have collected all the data they wanted?[/quote]
I think that it proved that using entertainment is the best way of collecting data. The Police State happens voluntarily because it is so much fun …
I guess anything in between 10/20 million each based on the overall amount every decent game franchise sells.
And there are a lot of big franchises. Or in other words, there are plenty of dreams available for everyone to dissociate and get lost in.
Pokemon was just the start, and like others already pointed out at the beginning of this topic. If the hype part loses momentum, it will just be replaced by something else.
[quote author= Woodsman]I wonder if they have collected all the data they wanted?[/quote]
I think that it proved that using entertainment is the best way of collecting data. The Police State happens voluntarily because it is so much fun …
bjorb
The Living Force
Bit insane to witness a massive crowd of people running towards you. Enjoy the 4STS energetic Pokemon hamsterwheel :
https://youtu.be/KbEoaab4Pf0
https://youtu.be/KbEoaab4Pf0
PerfectCircle
Jedi Master
Dangg, we could make a competition for craziest footage of Pokemon catch. Many grown men and women are also running, very sad.
And when they get tired, they do it like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xlSTBQ3kbQg
And when they get tired, they do it like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xlSTBQ3kbQg
Straycat
The Force is Strong With This One
I thought I would add a personal observation to the discussion. Not long ago, my husband and I had dinner with some friends we hadn't seen in a few weeks. They had recently started playing Pokemon Go.
The entire time we were with them - during dinner and in a park afterward - every couple of minutes they were picking up their phones to play. What struck me was how they apologized each time, because they knew it was rude, but they couldn't help themselves. They would set the phones down and push them away in an attempt to stop, but within a few minutes they would get more and more restless and distracted, glancing at the phones, hands fidgeting, conversation faltering. Finally it would get to be too much and they would have to pick up the phones and play again. Apologizing while they did it. This continued repeatedly throughout the meal.
These weren't kids, this was a middle-aged couple. I've never seen them like this.
When we finished dinner and sat in the park across the street, they were able to play continuously. There was this palpable sense of relief at not having to resist any more.
Then I started watching the other people in the park. Over a dozen people, and every. single. one. was playing Pokemon Go on their smartphones. After about 15 minutes, they all started to move to the next Poke-stop or whatever it is. It was like watching bees move in a swarm.
My husband and I said our goodbyes and left. The whole thing was just strange and uncomfortable for us.
The entire time we were with them - during dinner and in a park afterward - every couple of minutes they were picking up their phones to play. What struck me was how they apologized each time, because they knew it was rude, but they couldn't help themselves. They would set the phones down and push them away in an attempt to stop, but within a few minutes they would get more and more restless and distracted, glancing at the phones, hands fidgeting, conversation faltering. Finally it would get to be too much and they would have to pick up the phones and play again. Apologizing while they did it. This continued repeatedly throughout the meal.
These weren't kids, this was a middle-aged couple. I've never seen them like this.
When we finished dinner and sat in the park across the street, they were able to play continuously. There was this palpable sense of relief at not having to resist any more.
Then I started watching the other people in the park. Over a dozen people, and every. single. one. was playing Pokemon Go on their smartphones. After about 15 minutes, they all started to move to the next Poke-stop or whatever it is. It was like watching bees move in a swarm.
My husband and I said our goodbyes and left. The whole thing was just strange and uncomfortable for us.
Straycat said:
Straycat,
I was talking to my daughter-in-law a few weeks ago about the Pokemon game and she thought it was a very strange game too. Speaking of the "swarm" type behavior she said you know they could all just be directed to the same spot and then who knows what could happen to them. She had no interest in playing the game and I was releived.
It's kind of like lemmings heading for the cliff.
Straycat
The Force is Strong With This One
goyacobol said:Straycat,
I was talking to my daughter-in-law a few weeks ago about the Pokemon game and she thought it was a very strange game too. Speaking of the "swarm" type behavior she said you know they could all just be directed to the same spot and then who knows what could happen to them. She had no interest in playing the game and I was releived.
It's kind of like lemmings heading for the cliff.
That was very similar to my thoughts - they're being led around like lemmings, unable to resist for more than a few minutes. What could be done with that? Sobering possibilities.
bjorb
The Living Force
Keit said:
Didn't took long for 'Amnesty International' to turn this into a crusade for Empire and Imperialism. They always have time to lecture Russia's democracy. Tho they never seem worried about western countries bombing others countries into oblivion for 'democracy'.
They call him a prisoner of conscience. I don't mind people criticizing religion, but how about respecting free will and be external considerate and not provoke followers of that faith to trash their holy places. It's provocative and inciting hatred. Those laws exist for good reason, if everyone just trashes each other holy places, things can escalate in really bad ways.
Help Free Student Imprisoned for Video Playing "Pokemon GO" in a Church (Russian Federation: UA 207/16)
http://www.amnestyusa.org/get-involved/take-action-now/help-free-student-imprisoned-for-video-playing-pokemon-go-in-a-church-russian-federation-ua-20716
Ruslan Sokolovsky, a 21-year-old law student and well-known atheist blogger from Yekaterinburg, Russia, is currently in pre-trial detention facing up to five years’ imprisonment for a video he published showing himself playing Pokemon GO in a church. He is a prisoner of conscience.
On 11 August, Ruslan Sokolovsky published a video on YouTube in which he plays the mobile phone game “Pokemon GO” in one of the main churches in Yekaterinburg, the Urals. He intended to draw attention to the absurdity of legislation that criminalized offending believers’ feelings in Russia. At the end of the video, Ruslan Sokolovsky states that he regrets not catching the rarest Pokemon, Jesus, and says: “they say he doesn’t exist”. The video was shown on federal television stations with the commentary that Ruslan Sokolovsky was insulting the feelings of believers and was possibly mentally ill.
...
Yes, this is a rather interesting development - even creepy, methinks. This app is now being used to manipulate crowds? That must be a very powerful weapon, indeed.
The Polish news made a mention of this strategy today (Polsat). Apparently, the Dutch Police are "educating" the Polish Police on how Pokemon Go can be used to steer crowds towards troublesome spots. And the context? The current tense political situation in the country with a spike in xenophobic attacks. Hmmm...
This is all sort of reminiscent of 'The Crowd; study of the popular mind' by Gustave Le Bon. There are probably better quotes and works but this book immediately sprang to my mind while hearing about the amazing remote control properties of this game.
Weird.
[quote='The Crowd; study of the popular mind' by Gustave Le Bon]
2. THE MEANS OF ACTION OF THE LEADERS: AFFIRMATION, REPETITION, CONTAGION
When it is wanted to stir up a crowd for a short space of time, to induce it to commit an act of any nature—to pillage a palace, or to die in defence of a stronghold or a barricade, for instance—the crowd must be acted upon by rapid suggestion, among which example is the most powerful in its effect. To attain this end, however, it is necessary that the crowd should have been previously prepared by certain circumstances, and, above all, that he who wishes to work upon it should possess the quality to be studied farther on, to which I give the name of prestige.
When, however, it is proposed to imbue the mind of a crowd with ideas and beliefs—with modern social theories, for instance—the leaders have recourse to different expedients. The principal of them are three in number and clearly defined—affirmation, repetition, and contagion. Their action is somewhat slow, but its effects, once produced, are very lasting.
Affirmation pure and simple, kept free of all reasoning and all proof, is one of the surest means of making an idea enter the mind of crowds. The conciser an affirmation is, the more destitute of every appearance of proof and demonstration, the more weight it carries. The religious books and the legal codes of all ages have always resorted to simple affirmation. Statesmen called upon to defend a political cause, and commercial men pushing the sale of their products by means of advertising are acquainted with the value of affirmation.
Affirmation, however, has no real influence unless it be constantly repeated, and so far as possible in the same terms. It was Napoleon, I believe, who said that there is only one figure in rhetoric of serious importance, namely, repetition. The thing affirmed comes by repetition to fix itself in the mind in such a way that it is accepted in the end as a demonstrated truth.
The influence of repetition on crowds is comprehensible when the power is seen which it exercises on the most enlightened minds. This power is due to the fact that the repeated statement is embedded in the long run in those profound regions of our unconscious selves in which the motives of our actions are forged. At the end of a certain time we have forgotten who is the author of the repeated assertion, and we finish by believing it.
To this circumstance is due the astonishing power of advertisements. When we have read a hundred, a thousand, times that X's chocolate is the best, we imagine we have heard it said in many quarters, and we end by acquiring the certitude that such is the fact. When we have read a thousand times that Y's flour has cured the most illustrious persons of the most obstinate maladies, we are tempted at last to try it when suffering from an illness of a similar kind. If we always read in the same papers that A is an arrant scamp and B a most honest man we finish by being convinced that this is the truth, unless, indeed, we are given to reading another paper of the contrary opinion, in which the two qualifications are reversed. Affirmation and repetition are alone powerful enough to combat each other.
When an affirmation has been sufficiently repeated and there is unanimity in this repetition—as has occurred in the case of certain famous financial undertakings rich enough to purchase every assistance— what is called a current of opinion is formed and the powerful mechanism of contagion intervenes. Ideas, sentiments, emotions, and beliefs possess in crowds a contagious power as intense as that of microbes. This phenomenon is very natural, since it is observed even in animals when they are together in number. Should a horse in a stable take to biting his manger the other horses in the stable will imitate him. A panic that has seized on a few sheep will soon extend to the whole flock.
In the case of men collected in a crowd all emotions are very rapidly contagious, which explains the suddenness of panics. Brain disorders, like madness, are themselves contagious. The frequency of madness among doctors who are specialists for the mad is notorious. Indeed, forms of madness have recently been cited—agoraphobia, for instance—which are communicable from men to animals.
For individuals to succumb to contagion their simultaneous presence on the same spot is not indispensable. The action of contagion may be felt from a distance under the influence of events which give all minds an individual trend and the characteristics peculiar to crowds
[/quote]
The Polish news made a mention of this strategy today (Polsat). Apparently, the Dutch Police are "educating" the Polish Police on how Pokemon Go can be used to steer crowds towards troublesome spots. And the context? The current tense political situation in the country with a spike in xenophobic attacks. Hmmm...
This is all sort of reminiscent of 'The Crowd; study of the popular mind' by Gustave Le Bon. There are probably better quotes and works but this book immediately sprang to my mind while hearing about the amazing remote control properties of this game.
Weird.
Palinurus said:
[quote='The Crowd; study of the popular mind' by Gustave Le Bon]
2. THE MEANS OF ACTION OF THE LEADERS: AFFIRMATION, REPETITION, CONTAGION
When it is wanted to stir up a crowd for a short space of time, to induce it to commit an act of any nature—to pillage a palace, or to die in defence of a stronghold or a barricade, for instance—the crowd must be acted upon by rapid suggestion, among which example is the most powerful in its effect. To attain this end, however, it is necessary that the crowd should have been previously prepared by certain circumstances, and, above all, that he who wishes to work upon it should possess the quality to be studied farther on, to which I give the name of prestige.
When, however, it is proposed to imbue the mind of a crowd with ideas and beliefs—with modern social theories, for instance—the leaders have recourse to different expedients. The principal of them are three in number and clearly defined—affirmation, repetition, and contagion. Their action is somewhat slow, but its effects, once produced, are very lasting.
Affirmation pure and simple, kept free of all reasoning and all proof, is one of the surest means of making an idea enter the mind of crowds. The conciser an affirmation is, the more destitute of every appearance of proof and demonstration, the more weight it carries. The religious books and the legal codes of all ages have always resorted to simple affirmation. Statesmen called upon to defend a political cause, and commercial men pushing the sale of their products by means of advertising are acquainted with the value of affirmation.
Affirmation, however, has no real influence unless it be constantly repeated, and so far as possible in the same terms. It was Napoleon, I believe, who said that there is only one figure in rhetoric of serious importance, namely, repetition. The thing affirmed comes by repetition to fix itself in the mind in such a way that it is accepted in the end as a demonstrated truth.
The influence of repetition on crowds is comprehensible when the power is seen which it exercises on the most enlightened minds. This power is due to the fact that the repeated statement is embedded in the long run in those profound regions of our unconscious selves in which the motives of our actions are forged. At the end of a certain time we have forgotten who is the author of the repeated assertion, and we finish by believing it.
To this circumstance is due the astonishing power of advertisements. When we have read a hundred, a thousand, times that X's chocolate is the best, we imagine we have heard it said in many quarters, and we end by acquiring the certitude that such is the fact. When we have read a thousand times that Y's flour has cured the most illustrious persons of the most obstinate maladies, we are tempted at last to try it when suffering from an illness of a similar kind. If we always read in the same papers that A is an arrant scamp and B a most honest man we finish by being convinced that this is the truth, unless, indeed, we are given to reading another paper of the contrary opinion, in which the two qualifications are reversed. Affirmation and repetition are alone powerful enough to combat each other.
When an affirmation has been sufficiently repeated and there is unanimity in this repetition—as has occurred in the case of certain famous financial undertakings rich enough to purchase every assistance— what is called a current of opinion is formed and the powerful mechanism of contagion intervenes. Ideas, sentiments, emotions, and beliefs possess in crowds a contagious power as intense as that of microbes. This phenomenon is very natural, since it is observed even in animals when they are together in number. Should a horse in a stable take to biting his manger the other horses in the stable will imitate him. A panic that has seized on a few sheep will soon extend to the whole flock.
In the case of men collected in a crowd all emotions are very rapidly contagious, which explains the suddenness of panics. Brain disorders, like madness, are themselves contagious. The frequency of madness among doctors who are specialists for the mad is notorious. Indeed, forms of madness have recently been cited—agoraphobia, for instance—which are communicable from men to animals.
For individuals to succumb to contagion their simultaneous presence on the same spot is not indispensable. The action of contagion may be felt from a distance under the influence of events which give all minds an individual trend and the characteristics peculiar to crowds
[/quote]