{"id":14556,"date":"2016-07-27T19:24:56","date_gmt":"2016-07-28T02:24:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uxpin.com\/studio\/?p=14556"},"modified":"2026-03-09T19:56:11","modified_gmt":"2026-03-10T02:56:11","slug":"beyond-hype-ux-reality-check-pokemon-go","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uxpin.com\/studio\/blog\/beyond-hype-ux-reality-check-pokemon-go\/","title":{"rendered":"Beyond the Hype: A UX Reality Check on Pokemon Go"},"content":{"rendered":"

Today, I walked to work as I always have.<\/p>\n

But I wasn\u2019t alone. All around me, from the sidewalks lining the storefronts and restaurants of the street to the green lawns of the city parks, people roved around with their phones held up in front of them. Random areas like alleys and park entrances were filled with throngs of people, arbitrarily gathered there by a computer algorithm.<\/span><\/p>\n

This is Pokemon Go.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Pokemon erupted as a national phenomenon almost two decades ago. People loved the idea of finding and catching Pokemon, and they were content to use the Gameboy as the platform for it. <\/span><\/p>\n

Over the years, the buzz around Pokemon games began to fade, as no new iteration seemed to produce the magic behind the first games. But with Pokemon Go, millions of loyal fans and even non-gamers  flocked to the game. 2 weeks in, Pokemon Go is estimated to have 75 million downloads.<\/span><\/p>\n

Unfortunately, it\u2019s not all sunshine and butterflies. <\/span><\/p>\n

The game still has a ton of bugs, and there are a lot of UI issues that make even learning how to play the game difficult. Even as an experienced gamer, I still spent the first couple of minutes trying to figure out how to find and capture a pokemon. Despite the numerous raving articles, we can\u2019t ignore the fact that many players have accepted frequent, periodic server crashes to be a normal experience for the game.<\/span><\/p>\n

In this piece, we\u2019ll be taking off our rose-colored glasses. We\u2019ll delve into the good and the bad of Pokemon Go\u2019s user experience.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Good<\/span><\/h2>\n

First, let\u2019s explore what makes Pokemon Go\u2019s UX so compelling. <\/span><\/p>\n

Profile Building<\/span><\/h3>\n

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Customization. Everyone\u2019s favorite part of a game. <\/span><\/p>\n

The thing about immersive-world games like Pokemon, which includes both regular Pokemon games and Pokemon Go, is that people like to really <\/span>feel<\/span><\/i> they\u2019re in the game itself. They want to explore the world and experience it as if they themselves were on the Pokemon journey.<\/span><\/p>\n

The quickest and easiest way to bring the user closer to the game is by allowing the user to create and customize their character. <\/span><\/p>\n

Nintendo first realized this when they allowed their players to choose between being a boy and being a girl in the second generation of Pokemon games, and it helps their case now that they\u2019ve created their most immersive game yet. And there are <\/span>many<\/span><\/i> more customization options in Pokemon Go than there are in other Pokemon games. <\/span><\/p>\n

Style of Gameplay<\/span><\/h3>\n

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One of the signature elements of Pokemon games is the moment when you\u2019re walking through tall grass and you run into a pokemon out of nowhere. Nintendo took that experience and made it infinitely more real and exciting by combining it with augmented reality technology. <\/span><\/p>\n

Once in the game, you can quite literally find Pokemon almost anywhere. It inspires that same feeling of excitement people first felt when Pokemon first released on Gameboy in 1996. There\u2019s a rush, a jump as you locate the pokemon on your screen and engage in \u201cbattle\u201d with the Pokemon to catch it. <\/span><\/p>\n

The key is that, much like the regular Pokemon games, victory isn\u2019t assured at the first throw. Sometimes your aim is off, the Pokemon deflects the ball, the Pokemon escapes after a couple of Pokeball shakes, or the Pokemon even runs away. <\/span><\/p>\n

That feeling of chance is what makes the game exciting to play. It hooks people by keeping the journey to Pokemon master interesting. I\u2019ve explained the phenomenon of Pokemon Go below with Nir Eyal\u2019s <\/span>Hook Model Canvas<\/span><\/a>:<\/span><\/p>\n

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Social Sharing<\/span><\/h3>\n

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Nintendo and Niantic designed Pokemon Go as a social game. People only derive value from the game if other people, including their friends, play the game as well. <\/span><\/p>\n

The more people playing around you, the more Pokemon you can find. Pokemon Go is inherently viral, based on population density and the amount of people playing the game at a time.<\/span><\/p>\n

Players, once they reach level 5, are divided into 3 teams. After that, the game encourages friendly competition between the teams as players battle to control Gyms, which can be taken over by any team. People get <\/span>very <\/span><\/i>competitive, and it makes the game that much more exciting.<\/span><\/p>\n

On top of everything else, Nintendo added a very useful feature to Pokemon Go\u2019s UI. Most people, especially if they\u2019re playing with their friends, want to share their experiences with others. When a player sees a rare pokemon or something else that\u2019s interesting, their first instinct is to take a screenshot with their phone. Luckily, Nintendo included a screen capture button in Pokemon Go\u2019s interface that makes capturing cool moments much, much easier. <\/span><\/p>\n

The Bad<\/span><\/h2>\n

Now we\u2019ll discuss the unfortunate aspects of Pokemon Go\u2019s UX.<\/span><\/p>\n

Unhelpful Onboarding UI<\/span><\/h3>\n

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Let\u2019s start from the beginning. <\/span><\/p>\n

From the moment you finally manage to launch the game after attempting to create a profile through sluggish servers, you\u2019re barely given any help on how to interact with the environment. <\/span><\/p>\n

Fortunately, you are directed to a few pokemon on the screen immediately after arriving in the world of Pokemon Go. However, there are no clear instructions on how to actually capture the pokemon. You\u2019re simply left to figure it out on your own, which can delay that \u201caha\u201d moment for non-gamers or casual gamers. <\/span><\/p>\n

The onboarding only skims the surface. You won\u2019t find any <\/span>progressive disclosure<\/span><\/a> informing users about core actions like:  <\/span><\/p>\n