Pokémon GO is just the Beginning
The craze that is Pokémon GO is bringing people together and causing quite the commotion in the real world. People are driving slowly down streets in neighborhoods on the hunt. Hoards of people can be found in malls playing and searching for that elusive Pokémon. Families are coming together to go outside, of all places, and play together.
Copycats
And with all good crazes, there will be the copycats. I can imagine that all over the world in boardrooms executives are trying to figure out how they can get on this Augmented Reality Gravy Train.
I can imagine the offices are abuzz at Disney, Marvel, DC Comics, and even Nintendo to capitalize on this new diversion. “How do we monetize it?” they may ask. “Who cares. Let’s capture the users first. Monetize second.”
Clone Wars
And with all successful novelties comes the flood of clones and eventual burnout.
In the next 2 to 3 years, everyone and his brother will come out with a clone of Pokémon GO. Why? Because nobody wants to take a risk in the new. The model of Pokémon GO will be looked at superficially for it’s most basic attributes and those will be copied effectively destroying the novelty and making a clone that’s only a hint of the genius original.
The eventual demise of Pokémon GO’s model is inevitable. But while everyone else is jumping on that bandwagon, what we really should be doing is thinking about how to make something completely different with the technology.
Gamification of Shopping
Imagine what would happen if there were hidden and rare savings coupons in your local Kohl’s or Walmart. You have an app on your phone that let’s you capture the coupons and redeem them at the cashier or possibly online. Think about how much fun shopping would be if the hunter/gatherer in us could find or hunt down hidden gems on isle 7 or in the ball cage of the toy section.
Or what if you’re local Bed Bath and Beyond or Bloomingdale’s let you use their app to setup virtual sale bots in the Linen Department to keep a lookout for sales. Then when a sale is active weeks later, your phone will alert you. Now, you must interact with your phone to earn the sale through a game-based activity.
For example, to capture a sale coupon, you have to return to the store and search through the department to find the hidden deal. Note that, as with any game, it’s possible for you to lose the opportunity. But that’s okay, that’s part of the fun.
This could be a great way to re-engage shoppers when they’re at home. So, you’re interrupting them to tell them about a sale and they’re happy about it. Why? Because, the game has intrinsic value. And the greater reward is to get an exclusive coupon. Value through scarcity. No form of advertising can beat that.
Video Games Outside
Most video games have very simplistic mechanics for achieving rewards. Go battle the monster and pluck the key off his dead corpse. Then take the key to the castle and open the locked room.
There usually is only one level of indirection. Door’s locked? Find key. Open door. BORING.
Now imagine this. Door’s locked? Turn off the game. Put your shoes on. Go outside and look for the key in your neighborhood. Or get in the car and drive to a location given to Google Maps in the form of Geocoordinates.
Once you get there, you get an email on your smartphone that’s from someone in the game giving you clues to break into a Virtual Safe that has the key to the door in the video game.
But wait. It’s not that simple. You must search in the vicinity for a tool that let’s you crack the safe. Maybe find 2 or 3 items to craft that item. Then you use that tool to open the safe. Now you’ve collected the key and some gold or some kind of game currency based on how fast you cracked the safe as an additional reward.
Now you get back in your car, drive home, bootup your game and voilà, you have the key in the game and you now you can unlock the door. NOT BORING.
Education in the Real World
The only thing more boring than a field trip is NO field trip. But imagine if every kid was allowed to bring their smartphone on their next field trip. Imagine that they can compete to gain points by doing research at the local museum or aquarium. How much more fun would that be?
The only thing more boring than doing homework at home is doing schoolwork at school. But imagine if homework was an interactive discovery process of collecting virtual parts around the neighborhood that are needed to make a science experiment work. And imagine if there were more things that could be collected than needed. This would force students to decide which items they’ll need to make the experiment work. How much more fun would that be?
The only thing more boring than doing math problems is doing math problems for no good reason. But imagine they had a reason to solve math problems.
For example, imagine an augmented world of golden chests with combinations. The numbers in the combination locks are solutions to algebra problems. Once they gained access to the chest, they get gems or in-game points to help them level up. They also get clues to a larger puzzle to help them decode a decrypted message which in turn allows them to open a final chest, and so on and so on.
And these chests are all over the campus. Imagine doing math OUTDOORS!
Just the Beginning
These are just a few ideas my brother and I came up with during a single phone call where he was explaining to me his experience with Pokémon GO over the last 24 hours. His experience made me ask the question, “What’s next? Not just the obvious next, but the not so obvious next.”
Imagine what’s you could come up with if you could spend a little more time thinking about it. So much more than just a Pokémon GO clone.
So what are you waiting for? Get out there and build it.