Quote: (07-20-2016 03:09 PM)Sharkie Wrote:
In before comments like ITS NOT WORTH YOUR TIME TO FARM, I AM AN INVESTMENT BANKER WHO DOES LINES OF COCAINE EVERY NIGHT AND HAVE NO TIME FOR CHILDREN'S GAMES.
Reporting in, Sharkie. Until last night, all I'd seen playing it was:
- A 12-year-old girl with her Smirking Dad, which gave me the correct framing;
- Two mid-twenties Hipster/Nu-Males both with standard 'shrinking into oneself' profile and a cloud of 'Virgin Male Ally';
- and, an early 20's Sudanese Mum and Dad escorting their three little kids, all interacting in a way that mirrored where White Families were in the 70's before the Marxist Rot really set in.
Finally, in a group at the pub last night, I saw the opening when a few girls were holding up their phones next to us.
Since I know nothing about Pokémon - way,
way after my time - I said to you before I was going to work the Bemused Father angle, so I nudged one of the guys and said, loud enough for them to overhear, "Hey mate, those girls are trying to Creep Shot your arse."
They protested their innocence, which led me into "Oh, are you all playing with
your little Pokeybots?"
That triggered one girl back to the Playground, (as I knew it would), who then delivered a Frustrated, Pedantic Explanation about how "it's
'Pokemon' actually", whilst I smirked, and nodded without paying full attention, as you do when you're an adult pretending to listen to kids ramble on about their obsessions when you're trying to talk to the adults.
A few minutes later, I'm asking the same girls to show us how to catch 'Pokeybots', so they'd know I was distracted.
Look, I'll say one thing for it. It's a hell of a social lubricant. It must have had a strong hold over Millennials to have created such a sense of regression / nostalgia, because these girls lead a couple of us guys around the neighbourhood, the one in particular just
having to show me how it worked.
They found one by the water next to the bridge over the river, and I watched the process and how pleased they were with themselves, which, of course, is when Daddy has to feign praise for his little girls.
"So, was that it? You caught Peekaboo?" (I imagined you trying your best not to laugh as I said that).
A pedantic explanation of
what exactly it was followed. Goddamn girls love being the Bossy Know-It-Alls they were on the playground.
I nodded my head, with a visible smirk, then delivered a Fatherly Combination of amused and patronising: "Well, wasn't that a big adventure?"
Closer body contact now. Clutching my biceps each side as they held the phone in front of me, trying to show me that it wasn't silly,
it was really rather cool. Trying to win over Daddy, wanting his approval, tugging at his arm.
As such, they got to run around for a couple of more hours with us being Little Girls again (Silly, Playful and Trite). The experience wasn't really much different than, say, going Spotlighting or Scavenger Hunting when I was young, and you'd gradually see the girls and guys naturally start pairing off in the group and falling into their private worlds with each other.
I ended up a number, and an invitation to do the same thing tonight at the pub that I'll probably let slide, unless the guys are enthusiastic. I can see why older members would dismiss the whole craze, but it just seems to function as an opportunity for people to get back into a pre-social media socialising mindset. Could be a passing thing, but who knows?