I fought; I resisted; I failed.
The pressures from my best friend and brother tempted me, yet I stayed strong.
The desire to fit in at work and participate in a new fad started to allure me, yet my resolve was firm.
Ten seconds in a car with my nine-year-old nephew and older sister brought the walls crumbling down and the game that I had enjoyed sharing mocking memes merely minutes before was now being downloaded with enthusiasm.
I was now officially a part of the great craze of 2016: Pokémon Go.
The game is small, 56 MB, and quick to install.
It was a snap to launch and I was happily greeted with friendly Nintendo sounds that plucked away at emotional strings tied to memories of when I was the age of my young kin.
The graphics were animated just right for me, being neither too cartoony or too serious, but conveyed the Goldilocks vibe of being "just right."
The avatar was fun to set and far less involved than games such as Skyrim, making for a quick customization and a let's-go-already kind of setup.
Having been picked up from my work in the south of Calgary, the journey north to my sister's meant a decent trek on Macleod Trail and through downtown.
Densely populated areas are good it seems.
Pokémon Go is easy to understand for anyone who has ever used a phone for navigation at any point.
Your avatar is the substatute for the usual arrow that is always at the centre of a GPS map, and instead of showing upcoming areas of interest --AOI-- such as gas stations or Tim Horton's, the map displays points out focus areas for the game that are set in physical locations nearby.
Close proximity to an AOI matters and will affect your ability to interact with objects on the map.
Walking sacrifices speed for proximity but allows any AOI nearby to be investigated; however, being a passanger in a vehicle can help pad your stats in a much shorter period of time. Much shorter time indeed.
While driving, things come and things go quickly and if the distance is too far, you will be out of range, where all you can do is shrug your shoulders and murmur "life, eh" in your best French accent and try to forget about the one that got away.
Some places allow you to gain resources while others encourage battle. At my current level I am limited to being able to only entertain the former and not the latter.
Critters are interesting to catch because you click them on the map when they randomly appear, causing the map to disappear and you then find yourself viewing the images from the lens of your smartphone's camera instead.
There is, however, a small difference than what you would normally see when looking at the screen of your camera because now when you pan around you there is a target to aquire.
You will see a lil' fel'er bouncing around menicingly on the screen that you can't see with your own eyes when you look at the same spot (unless of course you are just coming home from a rave and are not actually playing Pokémon). The objective here is to catch them (or drink lots of water and think happy thoughts).
Catching one is achieved by flicking your thumb up the screen in the direction of the critter, thereby launching Poké balls at them which traps them.
Some are easy to hit while others require the assistance of a nearby nine-year-old nephew.
Be mindful that just because you catch one doesn't mean you get to keep it.
Some of the little buggers can escape.
In the event one escapes, keep cool and say no to Poké-rage.
Where it gets interesting from my limited experience is when you are riding in a car and you have to point the camera in the direction of the driver.
My sister was never a fan of me throwing things at her in our youth, but age has mellowed her it seems and was quite understanding as I missed the random critters, resulting in her being "hit" instead.
Once.
Maybe a couple of times.
A lot.
I really am not good at this game quite yet.
I could not have picked a better route to start my Pokémon career because during the 20 minute car-ride I managed to capture six lil' critters and a bunch of swag to accompany them.
My sister accurately describes it as a treasure hunt and to think of ourselves as members of the Goonies.
Having reached level three so swiftly seemed to excite my nephew. The ramifications of this quick ascension have yet to be fully understood as I now must wait until tomorrow to continue this journey and figure out how to keep the momentum alive.
There is much I have yet to learn about this game. What are these things I just caught? Can I eat them? Are eggs a good thing or are they going to hatch and go all Alien on me?
What I like about it so far is that I can't play it when I am in bed when I should be blogging, but most importantly, sharing the excitement of my first hunt with my nephew and sister in a game they helped convert me to enjoying.
I fought; I resisted; I failed...and am happy because of it.
I will wrap up this peroration by stating that family is the most important thing methinks.
Cheery bye until next time.
