Health and Social Impacts of Playing Pokémon Go on Various Player Groups

Abstract

Pokémon Go might be considered to be one of the most successful exergames ever released. When the game was released in the summer of 2016, Pokémon Go players spent more time exercising, being outdoors, and socializing with the unknown, family, and friends. There have been many papers that report on how playing Pokémon Go affects the player’s health. However, few studies report how playing the game has different health and social impact on different groups of players. Specifically, the paper investigates how Pokémon Go has different health and social effects on gender, where the game is played, how much video games players play, their initial physical activity level, and occupation. The survey results of over two thousand active Pokémon Go players show that playing Pokémon Go has a statistically significant positive effect on physical and social activity. It was also found that the game had a different effect on various groups of players and that 50% of the players reported positive health benefits, including weight loss, loss in body fat, and gain in muscle mass. The paper’s most significant result is how Pokémon Go managed to motivate groups who are hard to motivate to be physically and socially active.