GameSpot's The Lobby -- The best Pokemon Go stories

[MUSIC] Randolph, Justin, you guys have been playing a lot of Pokemon Go. And now I wanna transition and talk about your personal stories, your successes and all the really weird crap that has happened around this. Because not only, because the side effect of this being a phenomenon is We're seeing people having bizarre experiences, having great bonding experiences, putting themselves in danger. And all sorts of weird crap. So let's get into it. First off, I want to start by letting you guys brag a little bit. Who is your best Pokemon? What was your best catch? Okay. Let's hear it. See all right, I'm not crazy high yet because there was a bug as well which I couldn't log into my Pokemon trainer club account. And I have to start again with my Google account. But right now, what do I have? I've got a, it's really embarrassing. Tell me your best. [CROSSTALK] [UNKNOWN] is my best right now with a CP of 538, and I'm patiently trying to level up some others. What about you Justin? I have a pincher Yes, 273. Okay, so I thought I was bad. So wait, Randy would crush you in a Pokemon fight right now? Yeah. Is that what I'm reading? Yeah, probably. I have a a Grimer, I just found. That was kind of interesting. Okay. [LAUGH] Grimer looks. Is basically, I pile of throw-up. That's. He represents You find it in a pile of throw-up? Where did you find your throw-up? [LAUGH] It was off, to the side, of a toilet. [LAUGH] Somebody's pissed. All right, yeah. So let's talk about the places you've found these. I mean- Toilets. Literally in a residence it will just show up? Cuz there are also places like parks and rivers and stuff. Some of them are tied to landmarks as well, is that correct? First up, I think some of the craziest stories that people are reading out there have actually proven to be false. Yup, all right. So like the guy playing Pokemon Go while driving causing a 30 car pile up, I think that was false, completely false. Was the dead body one eventually proven to be false? No, that was true. No [LAUGH] [LAUGH] The dead body one, to clarify,>>Okay, that's all right.>>A woman was playing Pok��mon GO, and she hopped a fence to go be down by the river where there would be more water-type Pok��mons?>>Mm-hm.>>That they link it to natural landmarks?>>It is, they do, if you're near water, you'll see more fish.>>She was looking through the Augmented Reality screen Screen and then she's like, no, there's something weird floating in the water over there. [LAUGH] Dead guy. Okay, so she found a dead body. To be fair, that's just a really weird thing. That doesn't have anything to do with Pok��mon GO. Yeah. But people being dumb, I mean, you have to use common sense with this. It is still an app. You're not gonna, you wouldn't walk down the street reading your email intently. Some people do. Some people do. People literally do that all the time. I have accidentally, a couple times, it is really bad- stepped out on the road, looking at my phone, because something had popped up. And I'm sort of half aware that the light's ok now, I can [CROSSTALK] other people are going. But, I'm not actually paying attention. Right. I'm sort of half way across [UNKNOWN] and I should really look after my business by now. [LAUGH] And just ignore the [UNKNOWN] that just popped up until at least I get to the curb, and then I go. But- And then, stop but don't just stop in front of other people, like a jerk. Yeah. [UNKNOWN] off the side. Yeah. Actually. this morning it was kinda weird The best place to play Pokemon Go is on public transport. Or in a slow moving car. Because you get a lot of, because you're moving. Not when you're driving. Not when you're driving, of course. Clarify. Yeah, I know, but when you're in a in a vehicle, and you're going to a lot of areas, a lot more Pokemon pop up, right? And as long as you're not going crazy fast, you're not doing 80 miles per hour down a highway, it's actually a great way to quickly rack up Pokemon, all right? So I do this on the bus all the time And this morning on the bus I was there, and I think it was a stupid Zubat or something popped up. And I was sort of doing this. And I realized that the AR was right on this woman's crotch. [LAUGH] No. And I was sitting like Okay, please don't think I'm a creeper. [CROSSTALK] Why do you have to keep pointing it here? Why do you have the camera on? When I'm public transit, I turn the camera off so I don't look like a weird creeper. Because it looks cool. It looks really cool. Come on. She's got a Zubat on her face. Imagine a Zubat on somebody's crotch. [CROSSTALK] I found a Zubat. Excuse me, sir. Nonetheless, I'm kinda subtle there. I could just be reading, right? Like there's your crotch. I'm doing this. No, Steve, like I don't know if you're as subtle as you think you are. I'm very nonchalant like I turn off the camera. No one's said anything yet, Chris. I just hit shift because I haven't said anything doesn't mean you haven't proved him wrong. But otherwise, I've, I'm irresponsible. And I hate to say this but there will be an injury Or two because of this game. The question is will somebody self report an injury knowing that they will be up on Reddit before the half hour is up? And I think it's more the type of people that would say Because of Pokemon Go, this happened. No, because you're an idiot. [LAUGH] You need to pay attention to your surroundings. The same thing if you're trying to play like a match three game on your phone while walking. That's probably not a good idea. Don't do that. Don't play Pokemon Go while you're walking. It's different though, because Pokemon Go encourages you to mix the real world with what you see in the phone. You can see the sidewalk, it's fine. [LAUGH] Yeah, so it's not like a match three, where it's a game that you're solely focused on your screen. This game asks you to look around. From your phone and interact with the real world. When you are playing the video game, So it has capability. do only look at the mini map or do you look, are you like someone who plays GTA and like I don't even look at the road. This whole game is, this whole game is mini map. You don't just stare at you mini map, that's dangerous. Well there's no Pokemon in other parts of the map [LAUGH] With the video on. How will I know when I'm close to a pokey stop when I need to start twirling if I'm not looking at the map at all times. See this is what was missing from Google Glass Did you mean physically twirling? or like I don't think that worked. No. We try it afterwards If it's for science. What was missing from google glass. Is this been a part of google glass, it would have been. Pokemon? Universally accepted. Yeah, I know a few type Pokemon. Imagine having a Pokemon Go on your google glass and you just tap it. But people would've stop thinking what is douche. They would've just been like, all right I need a google glass as well. I think Google Glass failed for other reasons outside of not having Pokemon, an app on it. <<but this="" would="" have="" saved="" it.="" <<on="" the="" you="" are="" a="" crazy="" tech="" obsessed="" meter,="" who="" weirds="" out="" more?="" someone="" walking="" around="" with="" very="" small="" bluetooth,="" talking="" loud="" like="" they're="" to="" you,="" or="" clearly="" just="" searching="" for="" pokemon="" in="" corner="" somewhere="" weird.<="" div=""></but> Well, I think the bluetooth The bluetooth guy is [CROSSTALK] We're not weird [LAUGH] Not weird at all, we're very like Pokemon. Well this is, you're not weird and I would like to enable both of your behaviour, however there's a time and there's a place, and as we're starting to see From social media accounts from various governmental and societal institutions, sometimes, it's not appropriate, like in the Holocaust Museum. [LAUGH] Or in Arlington National Cemetery, both of which have sort of put out notices like, yo Please do not be catching Pok��mon goal, GO, and are playing Pok��mon in our establishment.>>Is is true that the World Trade Center Memorial is also a Pok��Stop or a gym?>>I don't know.>>Is that correct?>>It's totally possible. There are a lot of very big, public areas that are marked as As PokeStops. And it encourages you to go to a place and be nearby it. You don't usually have to be inside of a place to use the PokeStop. Like the Holocaust Museum. You don't have to be like walking right along the Vietnam Veteran's Memorial to get that Koffing and then just Like yeah! Alright yeah I got you! And even more than a regular mobile gamer using your phone. It does feel disrespectful because it is a game that is imposed upon the real world. And doing that in places like that you're not using common sense. That's true. Show your deference, right? So That said, I will look at all the screenshots of a Pokemon in your toilet that you wanna post, that is just delightful. [UNKNOWN] [LAUGH] That's my Instagram account. Yeah. [LAUGH] [LAUGH] Not safe for work, is Justin Haywald's Instagram account. All right, let's talk about the positive side. People like, ending up in parks together Like just being a part of that sense of camaraderie. Have you, has anyone gotten married from meeting in a park from Pokemon Go yet? It's only been seven days. That would be- I don't know that marriage meeting in a park- People have probably hooked up. People probably hooked up from Pokemon Go. You're into Pokemon Go, I'm into Pokemon Go. There's a toilet over there. Let's just [UNKNOWN]. [CROSSTALK] maybe there's a diglet in there. [LAUGH] [CROSSTALK] We already caught all our diglets. Maybe you wanna just dig it. No, some of those stories have been really outstanding. I think it was Irene in our Australian office who posted on Facebook how her and her housemates, I think it was 11 o'clock at night their time, decided to go to the local park. To try to catch some Pokemon. And they were like dozens of other people then. And someone had dropped [UNKNOWN] and everyone was cheering because someone had dropped [UNKNOWN]. [LAUGH] And there was this sort of like big, sort of community, sort of like feeling Towards it. And yeah, there's a lot of positivity around this game right now. And I'm seeing a lot of folks that, you wouldn't normally expect to be playing a Pokemon game, playing this game. So it's, I think all the negative stuff is, but it's standing out right now, because the mass media sort of caught on to this, right? So everybody Is writing stuff about Pokemon. And they'll pick the most sort of dramatic angles to try and go in at, right? But I think the vast majority of stories that people have about this game has been about having fun and discovering how other people are into it and how awesome it is to all be In this sort of communion, being a part of this [UNKNOWN] .>> Yeah it is something that just breaks down so many cultural boundaries that you can just be hanging out. It is pretty obvious when you are playing Pokemon Go and you here so many stories of someone pointing that out. Like saying, hey are you playing Pokemon Go? I just caught a Growleaf or something right over there.>> Yeah.>> Like, that kind of small incidental things that bring people together.>> It is a growleaf. Or Growlith? Probably a Growlithe. Growlithe? Okay. But its L I T H E, like [INAUDIBLE]. I don't want to be pedantic about the [INAUDIBLE]. Well you've convinced me to download it again. You haven't downloaded it? I had downloaded it, but then I deleted it cuz I didn't want Zubat reading my e-mails. Which I think we can all agree was a safe maneuver. But no, to hear you describe sort of the The positivity around this. And, to see it myself, and sort of exchange those knowing nods, I mean that's, a way I think, that this technology and this kind of AR game, takes a step towards, maybe like creating more social cohesion, as opposed to the often isolating influence of technology on our lives, so Thanks for sharing the stories Jen. It's no worries. And I hope all y'all share some stories of your Pokemon Go exploits. Please share them at us on Twitter and then Gamespot comments. We'd love to hear them.