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How do I not look like a Pokemon player while geocaching?


lilricky

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Seriously, was out geocaching on a multi-use trail near my home and got stopped twice by people asking if I had found Pikachu yet.... So embarrassing!

Don't be embarrassed. With practice, I'm sure you'll find him.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

:laughing:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

:ph34r:

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Seriously, was out geocaching on a multi-use trail near my home and got stopped twice by people asking if I had found Pikachu yet.... So embarrassing!

Didn't find any caches either... Threw you off that much? :)

 

I guess if your face was buried in the phone (on a trail no less), to others, with this in all the news/papers lately, it'd be a simple thing to assume.

The rare time either of us use our phones, just like with a GPSr, we scan it quick and put it back.

People only see us as walking the trail like most out n about.

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Seriously, was out geocaching on a multi-use trail near my home and got stopped twice by people asking if I had found Pikachu yet.... So embarrassing!

I ran in to two young men who had their phones out in a park that had two geocaches that I was looking for. I asked them if they were geocaching and they said they were looking for pokemon. So I'm thinking of using that as an excuse for muggles from now on if they are asking what I"m doing. I had man walking his dog in the next park who came around the bend while my friend and I were looking for a geocache (seriously the only clue was "not on the fence" so we didn't know if it was low or high and the GPS was bouncing all over the dadgum place). I swear he was probably going to call the police bc it looked like we were looking for the right place by the park's generator to place a bomb. So, Pokemon Go isn't a bad thing, really. :)

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Seriously, was out geocaching on a multi-use trail near my home and got stopped twice by people asking if I had found Pikachu yet.... So embarrassing!

 

Almost* worth doing a little reasearch, and finding the name/names of some of the rarer pokemons...

 

When you get asked "Found ?? yet?" you can say "No, but XXX is over there..." and point in the opposite direction to where you want to look! :laughing:

 

* Almost. Cant be bothered to 'actually' do the research!

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Almost* worth doing a little reasearch, and finding the name/names of some of the rarer pokemons...

 

When you get asked "Found ?? yet?" you can say "No, but XXX is over there..." and point in the opposite direction to where you want to look! :laughing:

A quick Google indicates that the frequency of different pokemon varies by location. So what is rare in one area may be common in another area.

 

There. Now you know as much as I do about the game.

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Why would you not want to look a Pokemon player? The news media has really embraced the Pokemon craze and endorsed it as a new acceptable fun way of life. Maybe now, geocachers won't appear to be stalkers and the general public will now accept us as normal.

Edited by rcm999
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Why would you not want to look a Pokemon player? The news media has really embraced the Pokemon craze and endorsed it as a new acceptable fun way of life. Maybe now, geocachers won't appear to be stalkers and the general public will now accept us as normal.

That's weird... Most I've seen had a brief explanation of the game, then go right in to the problems.

So far, I've seen few nice things mentioned about this phone game. much less "embracing" it.

Well, there was the smart car wash owner who just happens to have a pokemon character in the car wash tunnel.

- You'll need to get your car washed to find it...

Most I've seen this week have to do with trespass, vandalism, and hurt-while-stupid.

 

If anything to do with geocaching comes of it, as it now has the attention of everyone, since the majority of cachers use phones now too, maybe folks will actually have to start asking for permission soon. :)

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Seriously, was out geocaching on a multi-use trail near my home and got stopped twice by people asking if I had found Pikachu yet.... So embarrassing!

Didn't find any caches either... Threw you off that much? :)

 

I guess if your face was buried in the phone (on a trail no less), to others, with this in all the news/papers lately, it'd be a simple thing to assume.

The rare time either of us use our phones, just like with a GPSr, we scan it quick and put it back.

People only see us as walking the trail like most out n about.

 

A few years ago I was walking down a sidewalk in Monterey, California with my GPS hanging from a lanyard around my neck. As a group of people passed me coming from the other direction one of them "Geocaching?". At them time I wasn't looking for a cache or even looking at my GPS.

 

 

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So far, I've seen few nice things mentioned about this phone game. much less "embracing" it.

If I'm approached by a land owner or concerned neighbor, or the usual, a LEO and asked "Hey, what are you doing here!", and given the choice of "I'm playing Pokémon" or "I'm looking for the Geocache", I'd choose the latter. Mainly because that's the truth of what I'm doing (and in many cases, that cache is causing no issues, so it's fine to continue). But it's good to know that if I answer "Pokémon", I'll be embraced. BEEEEG HUG!!!

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Why would you not want to look a Pokemon player? The news media has really embraced the Pokemon craze and endorsed it as a new acceptable fun way of life.

The media in your area has a different view of Pokemon Go than in my area. The coverage I've been seeing and hearing tends to be along the lines of "here's a silly game some people are going unjustifiably insane over" or "here's a game that's causing people to walk into trees/walk into lakes/drive into trees/etc.".

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Why would you not want to look a Pokemon player? The news media has really embraced the Pokemon craze and endorsed it as a new acceptable fun way of life.

The media in your area has a different view of Pokemon Go than in my area. The coverage I've been seeing and hearing tends to be along the lines of "here's a silly game some people are going unjustifiably insane over" or "here's a game that's causing people to walk into trees/walk into lakes/drive into trees/etc.".

 

I'm in Nashville and the local stations (well one in particular) seem to report stories with emotion and personal slants. Absolutely crazy. Most of the reporters are young and think Pokemon is the greatest thing to come around in a long time.

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Seriously, was out geocaching on a multi-use trail near my home and got stopped twice by people asking if I had found Pikachu yet.... So embarrassing!

 

Mainly don't walk with a phone in front of your face. Refer to the device intermittently. My only other recommendation is to look older - that might involve wearing a hat, graying your hair, etc. But keep the phone and gpsr hidden - you know, be *stealthy* without appearing stealthy (a fine line that takes practice).

Edited by wmpastor
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Seriously, was out geocaching on a multi-use trail near my home and got stopped twice by people asking if I had found Pikachu yet.... So embarrassing!

Funny stuff. I actually asked a couple where I was caching if they were geocachers and they were pokemon-goers! But I have to say, when I'm downtown caching, I don't like people watching me, so if they think I'm just another pokemon-goer they probably won't give me a second look:)

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How do I not look like a Pokemon player while geocaching? Use a GPS unit and stay in the woods on a hiking trail and out of Wal-Mart parking lots. :laughing:

 

This!! ^^

 

Although I must report that one of my geocaching friends recently posted a picture of a pokemon character sitting next to an ammo can in the woods. The characters can pop up anywhere. It's the Pokestops that are fixed locations.

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How do I not look like a Pokemon player while geocaching? Use a GPS unit and stay in the woods on a hiking trail and out of Wal-Mart parking lots. :laughing:

 

This!! ^^

 

Although I must report that one of my geocaching friends recently posted a picture of a pokemon character sitting next to an ammo can in the woods. The characters can pop up anywhere. It's the Pokestops that are fixed locations.

The Pokemon don't pop up in some locations, it's based on where cell service is used a lot.

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How do I not look like a Pokemon player while geocaching? Use a GPS unit and stay in the woods on a hiking trail and out of Wal-Mart parking lots. :laughing:

 

This!! ^^

 

Although I must report that one of my geocaching friends recently posted a picture of a pokemon character sitting next to an ammo can in the woods. The characters can pop up anywhere. It's the Pokestops that are fixed locations.

The Pokemon don't pop up in some locations, it's based on where cell service is used a lot.

 

Yet another reason to only cache in the woods. No cell service, no Pokemon. laughing.gif

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Go geocaching in South Korea, where the game isn't yet released (not yet, anyway). But avoid the very northeast corner -- apparently there is (or at least was) a glitch where one town along the DMZ was mis-mapped as being in North Korea, which resulted in a flood of Squirtle-starved Koreans flooding the town.

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Why is it embarrassing? Do you have some kind of problem with people enjoying a game?

 

I play both. Both are fun. Don't be elitist.

 

+1. And it's not like the two games are that fundamentally different! The average age of the two sets of players is very different, though.

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Why is it embarrassing? Do you have some kind of problem with people enjoying a game?

 

I play both. Both are fun. Don't be elitist.

 

Actually, feel free to be an elitist too if you like. There's nothing wrong with a diverse set of opinions and attitudes. You don't have to hide in the corner cowering just because someone suggests you're not like them.

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Why is it embarrassing? Do you have some kind of problem with people enjoying a game?

 

I play both. Both are fun. Don't be elitist.

 

Actually, feel free to be an elitist too if you like. There's nothing wrong with a diverse set of opinions and attitudes. You don't have to hide in the corner cowering just because someone suggests you're not like them.

 

Not my point. You can like or dislike a game all you want. Acting like you're somehow embarrassed because someone thinks you're doing something rather popular right now is silly. Just politely explain what you're doing and move on.

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Why is it embarrassing? Do you have some kind of problem with people enjoying a game?

 

I play both. Both are fun. Don't be elitist.

 

Actually, feel free to be an elitist too if you like. There's nothing wrong with a diverse set of opinions and attitudes. You don't have to hide in the corner cowering just because someone suggests you're not like them.

 

Not my point. You can like or dislike a game all you want. Acting like you're somehow embarrassed because someone thinks you're doing something rather popular right now is silly. Just politely explain what you're doing and move on.

 

Time-out! Elitism is not the issue here. Let's keep it cordial.

 

And anyway, I thought that for an activity to be elitist, you needed to keep it closed and secretive (not inviting others to play, especially not the "wrong kind of people"), with bonus points if the activity is expensive.

 

But some members of the public do judge either or both activities as silly - but people play in different ways. And if they don't play at all, that's their loss.

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Why would you not want to look a Pokemon player? The news media has really embraced the Pokemon craze and endorsed it as a new acceptable fun way of life.

The media in your area has a different view of Pokemon Go than in my area. The coverage I've been seeing and hearing tends to be along the lines of "here's a silly game some people are going unjustifiably insane over" or "here's a game that's causing people to walk into trees/walk into lakes/drive into trees/etc.".

 

Media hype! C'mon, what sells news - kids playing, or a few of the players doing unsafe or crazy stuff?

 

A typical attitude of parents of teenagers is *gratitude* toward Pokemon. One parent i spoke with went as far as to say "The company deserves an award for getting kids moving!"

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Why is it embarrassing? Do you have some kind of problem with people enjoying a game?

 

I play both. Both are fun. Don't be elitist.

 

Actually, feel free to be an elitist too if you like. There's nothing wrong with a diverse set of opinions and attitudes. You don't have to hide in the corner cowering just because someone suggests you're not like them.

 

Not my point. You can like or dislike a game all you want. Acting like you're somehow embarrassed because someone thinks you're doing something rather popular right now is silly. Just politely explain what you're doing and move on.

 

Time-out! Elitism is not the issue here. Let's keep it cordial.

 

And anyway, I thought that for an activity to be elitist, you needed to keep it closed and secretive (not inviting others to play, especially not the "wrong kind of people"), with bonus points if the activity is expensive.

 

But some members of the public do judge either or both activities as silly - but people play in different ways. And if they don't play at all, that's their loss.

 

I can agree with that.

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One parent i spoke with went as far as to say "The company deserves an award for getting kids moving!"

...into areas they shouldn't be in, late at night and not paying attention to their surroundings. There's no shortage of stories of people getting into bad situations because they were playing the game with blinders on. The same could potentially be said about geocaching, but at least geocaching doesn't require you to look at the world through your smartphone, so you do remain more aware of your surroundings.

 

It's just the latest smartphone fad anyway. 6 months from now, something else will have come along and Pokémon Go will be as cool and current as Myspace. Rather than cachers getting asked in excitement, "oh cool, are you playing that new Pokémon game?", we'll be asked with derision, "ugh, are you still playing that Pokémon thing?"

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One parent i spoke with went as far as to say "The company deserves an award for getting kids moving!"

...into areas they shouldn't be in, late at night and not paying attention to their surroundings. There's no shortage of stories of people getting into bad situations because they were playing the game with blinders on. The same could potentially be said about geocaching, but at least geocaching doesn't require you to look at the world through your smartphone, so you do remain more aware of your surroundings.

 

It's just the latest smartphone fad anyway. 6 months from now, something else will have come along and Pokémon Go will be as cool and current as Myspace. Rather than cachers getting asked in excitement, "oh cool, are you playing that new Pokémon game?", we'll be asked with derision, "ugh, are you still playing that Pokémon thing?"

 

Let's start with our point of agreement - yes, it's probably a fad, and I predicted that in September, when school resumes, the amount of game activity will take a major hit.

 

I'm one of the fans of Pokemon Go. I don't play, although I tried it. I've seen the game community up close through family and friends of family. I think it's a clever and creative invention. I applaud the fact that it get kids moving (1,000s of computer and video games don't).

 

The incidents in the news? No matter how many it's still a tiny fraction - just do the math. Media hype! And of course when we were kids, back in the good old days, we and our friends *never* were out late or went where we shouldn't, etc.

 

Edit: I don't condone trespassing.

I can also add that locally there have been no problems with Pokemon - & I would have heard if there were.

Edited by wmpastor
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