Accessing the Pokélayer: Augmented Reality and Fantastical Play in Pokémon Go

Abstract

The mobile gaming phenomenon Pokémon Go is one of the first successful mainstream games to feature augmented reality (AR) components, giving players the feeling of hunting Pokémon in real-life settings. Pokémon Go offers players access to ``Pokélayer,'' a game layer laid on top of the real world, combining GPS and an AR mode. This ability to turn daily activities into gameplay affords players the opportunity to live out their fantasy of being a Pokémon Trainer. The authors present findings from a phenomenological study with 30 participants showing the variant ways in which the Pokélayer and augmented reality's capability for fantasy play emerged.