Description
Book SynopsisWhat happens when a group of people see things that others do not and begin acting accordingly? The Augmented Reality of Pokémon GO: Chronotopes, Moral Panic, and Other Complexities explores this question by examining what happened after Pokémon GO, a smartphone augmented reality game, was released in July, 2016. The game overlaid the world of Pokémon onto the real physical world, drawing 30 million players in the first two weeks. Pokémon GO has created new ways of sensing the environment, reading things around us, walking the street, and dwelling in certain areas, i.e., inhabiting the world. Through detailed text analyses of the game and auto-ethnographies of the contributing authors' experiences playing the game analyzed from anthropological perspectives, this volume provides nuanced analyses of this new way of relating to the world: the augmented reality world of Pokémon GO. Each chapter focuses on specific aspects of this new experience of the world: the cosmology of the world of P
Trade ReviewThe global treasure hunting game Pokémon GO, in which players collect cute virtual monsters in real world locations, comes under scrutiny by top anthropologists who play with, puzzle over, and thoughtfully analyze the trend and all its fascinating gamelore. The Augmented Reality of Pokémon GO will surely delight all readers, from fans to other scholars. -- Laura Miller, University of Missouri-St. Louis
This dense and delightful book demonstrates that Pokémon GO is more than a popular game and top news story. Instead, as a cross-cultural product creatively using world places, Pokémon GO provides valuable insights into society, politics, history, geography, and notions of nation and home. It shows how digital media influences our interaction with the lived environment. These seven essays apply critical theories to analyze Pokémon GO, providing academic models, and prove that playful popular culture teaches serious lessons. Gotta read them all! -- Alisa Freedman, University of Oregon
Table of ContentsForeword: Pokémonology on the GO by Anne Allison Introduction: Analyzing the Augmented Reality World of Pokémon GO by Neriko Musha Doerr and Debra J. Occhi Chapter 1: Pokémon and the Environment by Elle Sentry Chapter 2: The Politics of Intersecting Landscapes: Chronotopes and Modes of Governmentality of Pokémon GO and the Real World by Neriko Musha Doerr Chapter 3: Botanizing on the Asphalt: The “Poké-Flaneur” and the Virtual Urban Wildlife of Pokémon GO by Paul Manning Chapter 4: Social and Affective Implications of Pokémon GO in Japanese Contexts: “Mind your Manners and Have Fun” by Debra J. Occhi Afterword by Bonnie Nardi
