Two years ago, during the exciting first days of Pokemon Go’s release, National Geographic wrote an article, “Can Pokemon Go Get Players Into National Parks?” The idea at the time didn’t seem too….Farfetch’d…after all, people were taking the game outside and likely discovering local public spaces they had no idea were there before. Speaking from my own experiences, I found myself wandering through a local park and parts of my college campus I would have otherwise never explored. Granted, I’ve never been back to those places unless I was playing Pokemon Go, but the game got me there in the first place and I can now honestly tell people, “Yeah, Cranes Roost Park is pretty nice.”
The problem, the article explains, is that National Parks are so vast, sprawling, and unpopulated that cellular signal is likely going to be very weak. Without cellphone signal, or reliable Wi-Fi, playing Pokemon Go is impossible. A few parks’ visitor centers have complimentary Wi-Fi, but there are few people who would want to drive all the way out to a remote National Park visitor center when the gym or Pokestop next to the Starbucks around the corner from their house is just as lucrative a destination for Pokemon Go players.
That may soon change.
The developers of Pokemon Go announced they are teaming up with the National Parks for the 50th anniversary of the National Trails and National Wild & Scenic Rivers acts. For each National Parks postcard (physical or digital, one per person) that the developers receive from players, they will donate $5 to the National Park Foundation. For a complete rundown of rules and how to submit your postcard, visit Niantic Lab’s official website.
Players are encouraged to tag their Instagram posts with #ExplorewithNiantic and #FindYourWay, along with tagging the developers themselves: @NianticLabs. The special event runs for U.S. residents only, from October 4 through December 31 of 2018. Players in more northern regions may not want to wait much longer to venture out into their closest national park, while people in the southern portions of the country, like yours truly, will be waiting until it’s not in the 90 degrees at 9AM every day, before planning an outdoor excursion.
This National Parks event is a really cool idea, and I’m glad Niantic has been committed to not only improving their game, but giving back to the land (literally) that their players must use to play their game. I never gave up on the game and have been faithfully swiping and poking away at it since launch, but I know a large chunk of the original playerbase has moved on. If you’re one of those players I urge you to reconsider. Pokemon Go now has many of the aspects of the game that so many people felt the game lacked. Niantic has done a great job of consistently adding in more engaging activities and mechanics.
Players are slowly realizing that Pokemon Go did not crawl out to the Safari Zone and die. It has continued to grow and become better, and that growth has yielded notable results. Eurogamer reported that May of 2018 was saw the most active player count since the game’s original summer 2016 release. For anyone that remembers the hordes of players who took to the streets (no exaggeration for the unaware), rising back up to that point is nothing to dismiss. Pokemon Go is finally where players originally wanted it to be. Give it another chance if you gave up on it. At the very least you can get Niantic to plant a tree in your honor. It’s what Professor Oak wood want.
Okay, I’m done.
