Background
I decided to play Pokémon Go, an AR mobile game developed by Niantic in which the real world merges with the Pokémon universe. By physically walking around and exploring their environment, players can discover Pokémon in the real world. Pokémon Go’s friendly, minimally violent gameplay makes it accessible for players of all ages.
Thesis
In this post, I will explain how Pokémon Go’s live service events can create addiction. Additionally, I will explain how the random spawn behavior of Pokémon is a more permissible usage of chance than in other mobile games.
Analysis
In Pokémon Go, the player has the option of battling trainers from Team Rocket Go. Most encounters will be against grunts, some will be against leaders, and every once in a while, the player can battle the Team Rocket Go boss, Giovanni. Giovanni’s line-up rotates once every few months, giving the player access to rare Pokémon. For example, in September 2023, players were excited to fight Giovanni in order to obtain the legendary Pokémon, Regirock.
This mechanic plays into the game’s live service model since the time-limited rotation of Giovanni’s lineup keeps content fresh to maintain player engagement. This consistent rotation creates a recurring sense of urgency and anticipation. The fear of missing out therefore becomes a major motivator, especially for collectors who want to obtain every legendary Pokémon.
Additionally, the infrequency of these encounters and the challenge they pose can create a false sense of value for the player. Unlike with wild encounters, Giovanni battles require extensive preparation, including the acquisition of a Super Rocket Radar and a carefully developed team. In her book, “Addiction by Design: Machine Gambling in Las Vegas,” author Natasha Shull describes how in slot machines, players tend to associate rare outcomes with higher value, even if they do not lead to profit. In a similar vein, Pokémon Go players may wrongly believe that Giovanni’s legendary Pokémon, due to their rarity, may be more valuable than they actually are. Oftentimes, Pokémon that can be acquired in daily raids are as rare or more powerful than Giovanni’s line-up. Due to this misconceived notion of value, players often return to the game with each line-up rotation, leading to addiction.
Randomness is key to many of Pokémon Go’s mechanics, but most notably, Pokémon spawn behavior. The game uses environmental information like location, time of day, and ongoing events to determine the spawn frequencies of Pokémon. Players can use these factors to their advantage. For example, if a player is hoping to expand their collection of dark-type Pokémon, they might play at night and encounter a Pokémon like Zigzagoon.
Unlike Pokémon Go, other mobile games, like Clash Royale or Brawl Stars, often incorporate randomness through a loot-box system. These systems often create a passive relationship between the player and chance, since rewards are given based on time gates or pure luck, with minimal interaction beyond clicking a button. In her discussion of slot machines, Shull describes how the “perceptual machinations and transformative distortions of chance” are strategies used by casinos to deceive players into believing that they can win. Similarly, loot-box systems in mobile games tend to obfuscate probabilities, which can mislead players into believing that they have a greater chance of receiving rare rewards.
Pokémon Go’s use of randomness is more transparent and participatory. While the outcome of a wild encounter is not guaranteed, the player’s actions, such as choosing when and where to play, meaningfully influence what they might find. This creates a sense of strategy and player agency rather than dependence on hidden odds. This distinction makes Pokémon Go more ethically sound since it does not manipulate the player’s perception of probability, but rather rewards engagement with the real world. Unlike loot boxes, which are deceptive and more comparable to gambling, Pokémon Go offers permissible randomness that is embedded in discovery.
Conclusion
Pokémon Go represents a complex case in mobile gaming. On one hand, its live service model, especially through Giovanni’s rotating line-ups, relies on limited time rewards and perceived rarity to keep players engaged. These can foster addictive play patterns, as they can produce a fear of missing out, causing the game to fall short by relying on psychological pressure to maintain user attention. On the other hand, Pokémon Go demonstrates a more thoughtful approach to randomness with its spawn mechanics. Unlike the passive loot-box system in many mobile games, Pokémon Go ties chance to real-world exploration, creating more transparent and participatory gameplay. Ultimately, Pokémon Go demonstrates both the potentials and pitfalls of mobile games, revealing that engagement can share a fine line with addiction, but can also create meaningful forms of play.
