Brendan Downey

#50190372

DMS 448

Week 10

In week 10 of class, our discussion was centered around the readings, “Angry Birds: Mobile Gaming” and “Ball-and-Paddle Games: Domesticity” as well as our game session, “Pokemon Go.”

Throughout our readings this week, the topic of mobile gaming continued to arise. Mobile gaming, once thought of as childish and insignificant, now carries weight in the gaming industry. Are the days of the “casual gamer” long gone? Or was there never a casual gamer? In Lina Eklund’s, “Who are the casual gamers? Gender tropes and tokenism in game culture,” Eklund defines a casual games and casual gamers. Then, she draws conclusions about this genre, namely the growth of casual games. In my opinion, the explanation for the growth of casual games is simple: today, games are accessed easier than ever and can be played anywhere at any time. For most of us, we have multiple games downloaded and stored in our pocket for easy access.

This week, we were assigned to explore the real world and go outside to play Pokemon Go (quarantine rules version). Luckily, I live a few blocks from a large park which offered me the opportunity to go outside and try Pokemon Go for the first time. For starters, let me add that I am a huge Pokemon fan, both the show and games, however have simply never tried Pokemon Go. When it rose to popularity, I was hesitant to follow the crowd and sign up (I have still never played Fortnite).

As I played Pokemon Go, the significance of it popped out to me immediately. Opposed to other Pokemon games where you explore the “region” of the digital space, “GO” offers you an opportunity to combine your physical world with the digital Pokemon one. For example, when I found a Pokemon at my local park, I began to think about myself as a child, when I would have done anything for the same experience. As for gameplay, I have a hard time picturing Pokemon Go as a casual game. Based on my minimal play, it seems like it would take a significant amount of time and travel to progress in the game. Comparing it to other games we have played, I think Pokemon Go stands alone because it is mobile.

Mobile games are a unique place in the gaming world. To most people, mobile games are likely Doodle-Jump, Paper Toss and whatever other popular games were released at the time of the iTouch. However, there are massive markets of people and money who are extremely passionate about mobile games such as Clash Royale or Clash of Clans. In my opinion, the future will be full of mobile game tournaments and even careers.