Free to Roam? Pokémon GO and Childhood Anxieties

The extraordinary popularity of the augmented reality mobile game Pokémon Go, fuelled widespread concerns about locative media play. Whilst media coverage helped to alert players to the potential risks of locative media game-play, the controversies also seemed to guarantee the game’s notoriety. Concerns regarding the commercial motives behind this equally creative media franchise have always been complex. In this chapter I reflect critically upon Hiroki Azuma’s argument that Japan’s intensely devoted media fans are vanguards of a future mainstream, postmodern consumer. Nevertheless, in an era of networked and playful media, meaning is emerging in different ways. Similarly, I would argue that the safety, or otherwise of locative media, is an equally complex adjustment that involves not only game designers, but also the players themselves, as much as the rules that govern behaviour in public places.