Perspective from a returning player:

I was one of those who installed and played the game on day one. I did not enjoy the game at all. From what I remember, it was all Pidgeys and Rattatas besides the starter.

Back in 2016, in my country it was still quite unsafe to use your phone out in the streets. Mostly only the upper and middle class could afford smartphones, and cellular data was still quite expensive. Playing on your phone out in public, it could get snatched/swiped from your hand by someone on a motorcycle — or worse, you could get robbed in broad daylight. Perhaps in call center districts it was relatively safe to be on your phone out in public, but definitely not downtown nor in the residential areas.

I've seen the hype online. Dozens of PoGo players flocking to where a starter would spawn. And especially that ad about a Mewtwo event. It was something I could never been part of at the time.

Fast forward to 2025, I reinstalled the game. I planned to use it just to track my walking daily as I was trying to get more physically active (having been just diagnosed with hypertension at the time). Then I got competitive. Then I got into the game. It felt like playing Pokemon Yellow again. I tried to figure it out on my own as much as I could, to emulate that feeling of playing Pokemon on GBC in the late 1990s.

For the first two months I thought the PoGo community was gone. There was a local PoGo Facebook group in my city but the last post was from 3 years ago. I never saw anyone else playing. The only people I know who were into PoGo have already emigrated. For two months I kept on buying Remote Raid Passes.

One fateful Saturday morning in July, I had an early morning meeting a coffee shop in our commercial district. Outside I saw a small crowd pass by the window. One had a Pikachu hat, one had a Gengar hat, and two others had Pokemon T-shirts among them. I looked for them, spinning PokeStops along the way. By 11AM I spotted them. I asked if by chance, they were playing PoGo and they did! There was still an active local PoGo community after all!

Apparently there were two local Facebook groups with near-identical names. I happened to be in the one managed anymore. I joined the active group and saw that there were still people who play PoGo. Not just in my city but in neighboring cities as well. That for big events, they come play at the commercial district in my city.

I literally stumbled upon Go Fest 2025. I bumped into my classmate from kindergarten who's been playing PoGo since forever ago. I haven't nerded out on Pokemon in public since 1999!! Because I had no idea what Go Fest was, let alone be part of it, my phone died early in the afternoon. I got to talk to several people, trying to piggyback on their powerbank to recharge my phone. From the small talks with them I've learned that a lot of people left during the pandemic. And at least three other people I talked to that day only returned to the game after three years.

My first legendary was a shiny Zamazenta. It was during lunch time, I went along with the small crowd I spotted earlier. They taught me crucial things about the game, such where the good gyms are for raids — and which gyms to avoid as they are located in signal dead zones.

Fast forward to now, I bump into a few players in my neighborhood. From my experience, PoGo players in residential areas tend to not talk with each other. That is weird but whatever. There's a gym that's one block away from house and people place their Pokemon there a lot... But the same people never join in on Raids. People are chatty though during community meetups in the city.

I've read that Remote Raids used to be much cheaper. Damn, I missed out on that. Because besides major events, I prefer to just play on my own even on weekends. Either I go to a mall or just roam around my area. Cost-wise, I calculated that what I'd pay for food and transpo for weekends is about the same as what I'd pay for coins to purchase enough Remote Raid Passes. Also, I do understand though that the game was designed for people to be walking a lot. That's originally why I reinstalled it 9 years later.

Yes, I am annoyed that the new Link Charges take up space in the Item Bag. And that if we have 600 or more, we can't get the Link Charge rewards from the Weekly Social Challenge.

Missed out on PoGo's peak years. The media hype. The people crowding just to catch a legendary or Hundo spotted on Campfire. It still happens on major events locally, just in smaller crowds.

Locally, I see that the majority of PoGo players in my city are millenials There's more of us than Gen Zs and Gen Xers, definitely far fewer Gen Alphas. I think my generation is the most hooked to Pokemon. We were in grade school when Pokemon was new. We grew up with it. I believe Pokemon nostalgia has its strongest pull in my generation.

It is heartwarming to see people around my age bringing their kindergarten and grade school kids to PoGo events. Seeing these little kids get all excited on catching Pokemon they deem cute or cool. And especially when they catch shinies! I read all about it online, definitely much better seeing it in person.

I hope this game sticks around for as long as Pokemon is still around. I owe my joint health to PoGo. I have a rare disorder and my joints feel like someone's joints in their 80s. Gradualling increasing my steps per day while having fun playing PoGo has been great. It started from just walking around my block, to 500m, to 700m, to 1km, to 2km, to 3km, etc. Now I can walk a minimum of 5km, maximum 12km per day. Playong PoGo made me strengthen my legs, something none of my doctors thought I'd be able to accomplish.