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It's interesting that almost all of the comments here assume that the 'AR' in Pokemon Go was showing the Pokemon character in the camera viewfinder during the c

by habosa 9y ago

It's interesting that almost all of the comments here assume that the 'AR' in Pokemon Go was showing the Pokemon character in the camera viewfinder during the catching sequence. Is it not also AR to have many invisible creatures, gyms, and resources placed in the real world? I don't think there needs to be a visual component at all for it to be AR. When I used to play the game my reality was augmented because everywhere I went I thought "I wonder what Pokemon are around" and would check the app. A seamless visual integration would be nice (I want to see some Pokemon battle in my living room) but even just the Ingress-style map integration is AR in my opinion.

greenscale 9y ago
Interesting point. I'm not sure what the actual definition of AR is, but the article seems to assume the same definition that several others did, including myself: > "the nascent technology, which blends digital images with a person’s view of the real world."
- marcosdumay 9y ago
  The specific term for this AR technique is "image overlay".
- simcop2387 9y ago
  I think this is part of the reason I've been seeing the phrase "mixed reality" be used to refer to what was previously AR. edit: correct mixed relative to mixed reality. brane fart.
XaspR8d 9y ago
I think this is exactly what the media is trying to get at when they refer to Pokemon Go as an "AR" game, and I'm surprised most folks in this thread are missing the mark. Seeing as plenty of companies are wanting to cash in on the visual definition of AR, perhaps we need a differentiated term here? If you wanted to highlight the locational aspect, perhaps something like "augmented cartography" but I think the idea goes beyond harnessing position data... it's more generally about annotating reality, in a way.
- hordeallergy 9y ago
  Visually Augmented Reality VAR ?
losteric 9y ago
I absolutely agree with that definition of AR, I didn't feel like I lost anything when I stopped using the camera view finder. Pokemon Go may not have deeply integrated with reality, but it brought the game "out of the screen".
- mrkrab 9y ago
  Ingress already existed...
  - H4CK3RM4N 9y ago
    And it had practically no marketing, an terrible on boarding experience. Pokémon Go was Ingress for the masses.
    - lightedman 9y ago
      Actually, Pokemon Go essentially IS Ingress, as pretty much every Ingress spot is also a PG spot.
  - vetrom 9y ago
    Pokemon Go was implemented by the Ingress team.
saghm 9y ago
I completely agree with you; however, the switch in the game to toggle the real-world overlay on and off is labeled "AR", which is likely why people refer to that feature as such.
abritinthebay 9y ago
> Is it not also AR to have many invisible creatures, gyms, and resources placed in the real world? Technically... yes. But that would make any location-tracking application technically "AR" too. Yelp is an AR application (it's Monocle mode) in much more of a real way tham just slapping stuff on landmarks and using GPS. Lets face it - "Augmented Reality" to most people means real-time video overlay and enhancement. Maps data isn't reality, it's a representation of it. Real-time video through a devices camera is a reflection of reality so augmenting that is much more towards the spirit of the term.
atarian 9y ago
> my reality was augmented because everywhere I went I thought "I wonder what Pokemon are around" and would check the app. But you're not augmenting your senses that perceive the reality. Using the app to check if an entity exists near you is nothing more than just a reference check; it's like looking up Yelp reviews for the restaurant you're in.
NamTaf 9y ago
My only contention with this is that those features don't really take influence from the real world in any more than a superficial sense. The biggest influence is geography of spawns. I don't mean the regional pokemon aspect, rather the feature that water-based ones spawn closer to water (ie: next to a river). I can agree that's AR. On the other hand, gyms are just arbitrarily tied to landmarks purely by location. There's no actual interaction with the landmark. Excepting spawn variance, you could replace the entire pokemon map with a fake world and absolutely nothing would change from a gameplay point of view. In that sense, I struggle to call that AR there's no actual augmentation to the reality. The pokemon, gyms, PoI, etc. do not influence or take influence from the landscape around them. You don't go to actual hospitals to heal your pokemon. Gyms don't change in any way whatsoever based on where they're placed - for example, battling in a gym in the middle of a park doesn't involve fighting in an open field with no obstacles, vs a gym in a CBD letting the buildings, cars, etc. play a role in the battle. It really boils down to the subjective aspect of what AR/VR/etc. constitutes. For me, there needs to be some influence from the real world to the AR. With PoGo, there's really not beyond the most superficial listed above. In that sense, it's no more AR than an achievement/reward-based, social-network style step counter where you compete with your friends and the public for the amount you walk. It simply uses the GPS to measure distance - beyond that, the real world plays no role.
- thaumasiotes 9y ago
  > those features don't really take influence from the real world in any more than a superficial sense. The biggest influence is geography of spawns. I don't mean the regional pokemon aspect, rather the feature that water-based ones spawn closer to water (ie: next to a river). Is that actually a feature of Pokemon Go? I'd heard of this, but what I heard was specifically that it was a myth.
  - Al-Khwarizmi 9y ago
    It's definitely not a myth. I live in a coastal city and the seafront is packed with water pokémon.
  - NamTaf 9y ago
nightcracker 9y ago
I was about to comment about this until you changed my mind.
usrusr 9y ago
The two kinds could be called geo-AR and visual AR, with Pokemon Go being the odd outlier that dabbles in both. "Geo-AR" reached an early user awareness peak when foursquare was exciting and it is still very much alive in niches like Strava segments.

by habosa 9y ago

greenscale 9y ago

Interesting point. I'm not sure what the actual definition of AR is, but the article seems to assume the same definition that several others did, including myself: > "the nascent technology, which blends digital images with a person’s view of the real world."

marcosdumay 9y ago
The specific term for this AR technique is "image overlay".
simcop2387 9y ago
I think this is part of the reason I've been seeing the phrase "mixed reality" be used to refer to what was previously AR. edit: correct mixed relative to mixed reality. brane fart.

XaspR8d 9y ago

I think this is exactly what the media is trying to get at when they refer to Pokemon Go as an "AR" game, and I'm surprised most folks in this thread are missing the mark. Seeing as plenty of companies are wanting to cash in on the visual definition of AR, perhaps we need a differentiated term here? If you wanted to highlight the locational aspect, perhaps something like "augmented cartography" but I think the idea goes beyond harnessing position data... it's more generally about annotating reality, in a way.

hordeallergy 9y ago
Visually Augmented Reality VAR ?

losteric 9y ago

I absolutely agree with that definition of AR, I didn't feel like I lost anything when I stopped using the camera view finder. Pokemon Go may not have deeply integrated with reality, but it brought the game "out of the screen".

mrkrab 9y ago
Ingress already existed...
- H4CK3RM4N 9y ago
  And it had practically no marketing, an terrible on boarding experience. Pokémon Go was Ingress for the masses.
  - lightedman 9y ago
    Actually, Pokemon Go essentially IS Ingress, as pretty much every Ingress spot is also a PG spot.
- vetrom 9y ago
  Pokemon Go was implemented by the Ingress team.

saghm 9y ago

I completely agree with you; however, the switch in the game to toggle the real-world overlay on and off is labeled "AR", which is likely why people refer to that feature as such.

abritinthebay 9y ago

> Is it not also AR to have many invisible creatures, gyms, and resources placed in the real world? Technically... yes. But that would make any location-tracking application technically "AR" too. Yelp is an AR application (it's Monocle mode) in much more of a real way tham just slapping stuff on landmarks and using GPS. Lets face it - "Augmented Reality" to most people means real-time video overlay and enhancement. Maps data isn't reality, it's a representation of it. Real-time video through a devices camera is a reflection of reality so augmenting that is much more towards the spirit of the term.

atarian 9y ago

> my reality was augmented because everywhere I went I thought "I wonder what Pokemon are around" and would check the app. But you're not augmenting your senses that perceive the reality. Using the app to check if an entity exists near you is nothing more than just a reference check; it's like looking up Yelp reviews for the restaurant you're in.

NamTaf 9y ago

My only contention with this is that those features don't really take influence from the real world in any more than a superficial sense. The biggest influence is geography of spawns. I don't mean the regional pokemon aspect, rather the feature that water-based ones spawn closer to water (ie: next to a river). I can agree that's AR. On the other hand, gyms are just arbitrarily tied to landmarks purely by location. There's no actual interaction with the landmark. Excepting spawn variance, you could replace the entire pokemon map with a fake world and absolutely nothing would change from a gameplay point of view. In that sense, I struggle to call that AR there's no actual augmentation to the reality. The pokemon, gyms, PoI, etc. do not influence or take influence from the landscape around them. You don't go to actual hospitals to heal your pokemon. Gyms don't change in any way whatsoever based on where they're placed - for example, battling in a gym in the middle of a park doesn't involve fighting in an open field with no obstacles, vs a gym in a CBD letting the buildings, cars, etc. play a role in the battle. It really boils down to the subjective aspect of what AR/VR/etc. constitutes. For me, there needs to be some influence from the real world to the AR. With PoGo, there's really not beyond the most superficial listed above. In that sense, it's no more AR than an achievement/reward-based, social-network style step counter where you compete with your friends and the public for the amount you walk. It simply uses the GPS to measure distance - beyond that, the real world plays no role.

thaumasiotes 9y ago
> those features don't really take influence from the real world in any more than a superficial sense. The biggest influence is geography of spawns. I don't mean the regional pokemon aspect, rather the feature that water-based ones spawn closer to water (ie: next to a river). Is that actually a feature of Pokemon Go? I'd heard of this, but what I heard was specifically that it was a myth.
- Al-Khwarizmi 9y ago
  It's definitely not a myth. I live in a coastal city and the seafront is packed with water pokémon.
- NamTaf 9y ago

nightcracker 9y ago

I was about to comment about this until you changed my mind.

usrusr 9y ago

The two kinds could be called geo-AR and visual AR, with Pokemon Go being the odd outlier that dabbles in both. "Geo-AR" reached an early user awareness peak when foursquare was exciting and it is still very much alive in niches like Strava segments.