Study Concerning Pokémon GO Players and Happiness

[Crossroads Bulletin]

“Pokémon GO people are happy people” according to a survey done on the University of Wisconsin–Madison campus.

It’s no secret that Pokémon GO was a bit of a hit right after its launch. It also made people more active and got them outside in a way that was unprecedented for mobile games. But with such huge popularity and widespread use, Pokémon GO has also provided people, like grad students James Alex Bonus and Alanna Peebles, a large pool of people to research on.

During the three weeks following Pokémon GO’s launch, the researchers, including grad student Irene Sarmiento and communication arts Professor Marie-Louise Mares, surveyed about 400 people, asking them questions about their emotional and social lives as well as their physical activity prior to the release of the mobile app. They were surprised to find that more than 40 percent of their respondents were current Pokémon GO players, and that these people were more likely to be out exercising as well as experiencing more positive emotions all around.“People told us about a variety of experiences with differential relationships to well-being,” Bonus says. “But, for the most part, the Pokémon GO players said more about positive things that were making them feel their life was more worthwhile, more satisfactory, and making them more resilient.”Players were also shown to be more social, either through making new friends or deepening their relationships with current friends. Even people surveyed that were more likely to experience social anxiety were not less likely to be Pokemon GO players, and showed some increase in their social interactions because of the community that surrounds the game.“The more people were playing, the more they were engaging in behaviors that reflected making new connections — making Facebook friends, introducing themselves to someone new, exchanging phone numbers with someone, or spending more time with old friends and learning new things about them,” Bonus says.You can read more here.

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[Pokemon Trainer Sarah]

Interesting. I played lots of GO when it was big but I never really spoke to anyone even though I saw them around haha.

[MC Elesa]

Interesting. I played lots of GO when it was big but I never really spoke to anyone even though I saw them around haha.

I once met a guy who had gotten out of jail while playing Pokemon GO.

[Noblejanobii]

I once met a guy who had gotten out of jail while playing Pokemon GO.

What? How?

[MC Elesa]

What? How?

I was at the park looking for a Gastly and he was out and about playing Pokemon GO. Apparently he was looking for the same Pokemon. We walked together for about twenty minutes. Sometime during that he mention about being in jail.

[Noblejanobii]

I was at the park looking for a Gastly and he was out and about playing Pokemon GO. Apparently he was looking for the same Pokemon. We walked together for about twenty minutes. Sometime during that he mention about being in jail.

Huh sounds cool. I think my favorite is one time at like 1AM I needed a soda so I had to walk across campus to get one and I was walking back I was playing Pokémon Go. So I spot these guys sitting in the back of a pickup truck about the same time one of my eggs hatched. So I did this "Yes finally got this egg hatched!" and little dance kinda then kept walking. Well these three guys jump out of the back of the truck and I hear them approaching me from behind. So I started walking faster but they caught up and one guy just goes "What's your strongest?" and we just started have a conversation about Pokémon Go as they escorted me back to my dorm!

[Scytherwolf]

Man, I miss when Pokemon Go was big and I'd go to parks and there'd be just...so many people, helping each other catch pokemon and telling each other where to catch certain ones. It was awesome.