What does it take to be the very best, like no one ever was? For some that means excelling in their classes, rising to the top on graduation day.

For others it means being exceptional in athletics, leading their team to victories at State, Regionals, and maybe even Nationals.

For one growing group of individuals however, to be the best means something entirely different, it means becoming true pokemon masters.

Pokemon Go has taken the world by storm since it was introduced over the summer, and like many things that make their way into popular culture, it has sparked fierce debate between people.

For some the game is an innovation, a pioneer that brought AR games to the forefront of modern gaming and allows people to engage in a healthy round of walking while they play.

For others the game is an incarnation of everything that is wrong with the world, causing accidents by distracting people and stealing people’s attention towards their phones more than ever.

The truth of the game’s impact on society actually sits somewhere firmly in the middle of black and white, muddled in gray.

Pokemon Go has taken the world by storm since it was introduced over the summer, and like many things that make their way into popular culture, it has sparked fierce debate between people.

When Pokemon Go was introduced it was in fact an innovation, but only in the way that it actually allowed people to start paying attention to the field.

Niantic, inc., the company who worked with Nintendo to develop the game, actually had another AR game that came out long before Pokemon Go.

This game is called Ingress, and in a lot of ways it is actually more complex and challenging than its more recent counterpart.

However Ingress didn’t appeal to our inner ten year old the way Pokemon Go did, nor did Niantic have the funds to do the advertising campaign for Ingress that Nintendo was able to create for Pokemon Go.

In total, Pokemon was not the innovator that it first appeared to be, but that doesn’t mean it hasn’t had a massive impact on the world of gaming.

For the first time in many years gamers are back out from behind a TV or computer screen or tabletop game board and wandering the streets.

If you think that this is a new phenomenon however it is suggested that you look into LARP gaming and learn more about it, you might find it to your liking.

For all its progress in getting people outside, it is true that the game also has its downsides.

There have been accidents across the United States caused by people playing the game while driving, or not paying attention to their surroundings and wandering into traffic or off of cliffs.

It has happened enough times now that most people wouldn’t classify it as isolated incidents.

That doesn’t entirely make it the fault of the game though, in fact it has very little to do with it.

Much like blaming the car in a car accident, or a power tool for cutting off someone’s hand, the game is simply an engine.

How people use the engine determines its value, and the unfortunate matter is that some people don’t pay attention to their surroundings despite numerous warnings to do so.

When a game explicitly warns you, multiple times, to pay attention to your surroundings while playing and you fail to do so, then the blame for any incidents that occur rests on your shoulders.

In this way the game developers have done all they can in trying to keep its players safe.

Pokemon Go has done a lot of good for people in bringing AR games to the front of people’s attention, and it also has been an engine for a lot of stupid mistakes.

In either case the result is based on how the game is used.

So whether you play or not, the amount of praise or degradation you heap on the game likely won’t impact how many people are playing and just genuinely having a good time.