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 The augmented reality game, which launched in July, requires people
to use mobile devices like smart phones to locate and capture
cartoon characters that pop up on their screens at real-world
locations. They can then battle other players at specific locations
known as gyms.
Christian Suharlim, one of the study's lead authors from the Harvard
T.H. Chan School of Public Health in Boston, said it had been
suggested that players may get health benefits from walking around
looking for the fictitious creatures.
"We wanted to investigate the impact of Pokemon GO on physical
activity," Suharlim told Reuters Health.
Suharlim and colleagues recruited 1,182 young adults in the U.S. to
take part in an online survey. Nearly half had reached at least
level five in Pokemon GO, which means they had played for at least
around two hours and unlocked some of the game's key features. The
other participants didn't play the game; including them allowed the
researchers to account for factors, such as weather, that may affect
people's activity levels.
All participants had iPhone 6 mobile devices, which automatically
tracked their steps.
"We basically asked them to upload their steps from before and after
(they had installed) the game and we were able to get a snapshot of
how their walking patterns changed," said Katherine Howe, who is
also one of the study's lead authors.
Overall, they found Pokemon GO players walked an average of 4,256
steps per day during the month before installing the game. The
average increased by 955 steps per day in the first week after they
installed it. That translates into about 11 extra minutes of walking
each day, the researchers write in The BMJ.
The added steps would account for about half of the World Health
Organization's recommended 150 or more minutes of walking each week.
Unfortunately, however, the amount of walking decreased each week.
After six weeks, the players' step counts returned to pre-game
levels.
"There is a big improvement in the first week and then it slowly
goes away," said Suharlim.
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The study can't explain why the increase in walking disappeared over
time, but Suharlim said it could be that people lost interest, or
complications - such as the game's servers crashing - caused people
to stop playing.
"There is potential for augmented reality gaming to improve physical
activity and mental wellbeing," said Howe, pointing to the large
increase at the beginning of play. The trick is to find out how to
keep people engaged in the game.
Suharlim said it would be interesting to study the differences
between people who continued playing Pokemon GO and people who lost
interest or stopped playing.
Also, he said, it's important to examine other potential benefits
and harms of the game. For example, benefits may include more time
spent outdoors, and harms may include an increased risk for
accidents.
"In public health, we kind of see any type of public health
intervention as having benefit and risk," said Suharlim. "We only
quantified the benefit of physical activity."
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