Stir Up A Real War by Pokemon GO App (Or Similar)?

Pikachu, the most well-known Pokémon, was impressed in many people's mind and accompanied their teenager age. "Pika-Pika Pikachu!" was a famous slogan, once the teenagers repeated with it in front of TV. Today, Pikachu was brought to you into the real world by the instant hit mobile app, Pokémon GO.

There’s no doubt that Nintendo games have begun to feature a genuine social aspect, many years after the clunky Game Boy. Nintendo’s stocks are reported to have risen to their highest value since 1983.

Pokémon GO is now available for iPhone and Android devices in some countries, the others follows soon.

What Is Pokémon GO?

Pokémon GO is a game that uses your phone’s locating and timing function to detect where and when you are in the real world, and attach Pokemon into the real world via the real time camera (Pokemon is displayed by the screen of your phone), so that Pokemon "appear" around you and you can do something and interact with them, virtually.
It is interesting that Pokémon GO leads you to go somewhere outdoors from your living room or office by the specific tasks, either catch up something, collect something, or other actions. It is a complete different experience from the traditional electric games. To put it in plain words, the game attracts your desire to do something, by the way that game providers or service providers want you to do, or to go.

Where Are The Pokémon GO Players Going?

Well, if you had the experiences in playing an online game, you would know these games and service provides always try their best to bind your eyes, your fingers, your curiosity, your vanity, your desire, your time with the game. And the final target of these providers is your money or those ones who will pay the money for you, like a ads sponsored. They sell you the authority of playing the game, virtual objects, or earn the money from other information provider who wanted you to take the information while you playing the game. Feed a herd of cattle every two hours, join a battle at 19:00, finish a task in 2 hours, remember? Now, the game will ask you to go somewhere, face a direction, watch something, and do some actions. For what? Only catch up Pokemon?
Bingo! It will be much more than that in the future.

A Modern Opium War?

Lin Zexu
(Photo from Wikipedia)

Who is this guy in the photo? His name is Lin Zexu, a Chinese scholar and official of the Qing dynasty (1616 - 1912). In his age, China is a pedantic, weak country. All the powers from western world were doing their best to earn the most benefits from China, it includes opium "trading". Lin is the one who launched a series campaigns against it. And finally, Lin pissed off those vested interests, and called down the well-known Eight-Nation Alliance situation.

In Lin's age, China was poisoned by opium on all the society levels, either rich or general people, noble or civilian. People like to stay in the public parlors and "enjoy" the opium, temporarily hide away from secular hums, to be a virtual dreamer. It may be too much to compare the computer games with opium, however, when we compare the intentions of those businesses behind these two "products", they have so many similar characteristic.

There are so many teenagers, employees, workers abandon themselves to playing the games, and use the real time to exchange the virtual achievability. We may wonder what the difference from the drug is.

Join The Two Worlds In One?

Is it possible that somebody will use Pokémon GO to create real conflicts by the desires of virtual achievability? It is difficult to say, but it is not impossible. Let's think about one thing, if there were a large percentage of people becoming the players of Pokémon GO, it would be very possible to achieve this, as long as the game company can try to separate their players into two parties. Human beings always have a group of right-wing, a group of left-win, and a smaller group of middle. And we saw how the fighting happened in the politic forums, how Facebook separated the ideas of revolutions or rumors, and how LINE or WeChat called the partners for a street bloody fighting.


We don't know what will happen after people completely mix up the messages in the virtual world and the real world, and to be fooled by somebody or some groups. Is it possible to stir up a real war by the desires in the virtual world? I don't know. A politic member can be killed in order to influence the election. I can say, everything is possible in this world. We will see!


Pokemon GO 中文翻譯為 寶可夢 GO，也就是以卡通神奇寶貝裡面的可愛怪獸，為遊戲中的腳色。 Pokemon GO 這個遊戲,，於2016年8月7日在台灣正式推出。
一些衍伸的 App 已經逐漸出現，比方 PokeVision 這個 App，可以顯示在你附近出現的神奇寶貝。