The conversation about Pokemon GO has settled down quite a bit lately but a new update this week has caused a bit more discussion to begin again. I think parents need to hear some of what is being said. While this update adds a new 8 mph maximum speed to keep you from playing while driving and a few new Pokemon to catch, the issue most relevant to parents is the addition of Daily Bonuses to the app.
Daily Bonuses = More Eyes on Screens
This is a small, fairly standard gesture to keep people from forgetting they have the game installed on their phone, but so few people only open the app to catch a single creature so this is a good way for Niantic [the game developers] to keep people playing for extended periods of time. – Android Central
Games use the “Daily Bonuses” method along with push notifications (which I wrote about yesterday) often to keep people playing their games. The idea is that logging in and catching a monster will give you increasingly larger bonuses each day. This will cause you to open up the app at least once a day and most likely lead to continued play that you maybe hadn’t intended on. So it’s normal and common for game developers to use this tool so why should parents be concerned?
Well, I wouldn’t say you should be concerned as much as I want parents to be aware. Maybe you play Pokemon GO with your kids, that’s great! I said so much in a podcast episode when the game first came out. Anything that causes you to spend more time with your children is awesome. However, the addition of daily rewards gives your kids incentive to open the app up and log in every single day, perhaps increasing their involvement in the app. If you’re like us, you keep your children’s screen time very regulated. Our children don’t log on to anything every single day. The incentive to do so would be something that caused us to uninstall the app immediately.
I think the thing we are trying to avoid is impulsive screen use. When you wake up knowing that you need to mark “Catch ’em all” off your to do list, that’s impulsive game use. Your child is thinking about the task they must perform in this fictional world, in order to gain virtual rewards that they can spend on non-real world goods. Is that what you want your kids to be motivated by? I don’t. Here are some conversational topics to help you navigate this update with your children.
- Remind them that this is a game and not as important as they or their friends may think it is.
- Tell them that if they seem obsessive to you then you’ll be forced to uninstal the game from their device.
- Lastly, be sure you aren’t showing obsessive tendencies with apps like Pokemon GO. It’s important that when you’re with your kids, you are WITH your kids. Put the screen down and let them see you giving them all of yourself.
Pokemon GO is a neat concept and a really fun app to use. It has gotten some folks out and about instead of always sitting at home on their phones. It has even caused some families to bond over completing the tasks in the game. This new update brings some new ideas and protections to Pokemon GO but the daily bonuses add more reasons for parents to pay attention to how much your kids are focusing on the game. It is, after all, just a game.