Behavioral consequences of Pokémon GO: The exaggerated picture. (January 2019)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Alomar, Noura; Alsaleh, Mansour; Alarifi, Abdulrahman
• Is Part Of: Computers in human behavior. Volume 90(2019)
• Page Start: 223
• Page End: 245
• Publication Date: 2019-01
• Subjects: Pokémon go -- Augmented reality (AR) -- Crowdsourcing -- Human behavior -- Human-computer interaction -- Online games; Interactive computer systems -- Periodicals; Man-machine systems -- Periodicals; 004.019
• DOI: 10.1016/j.chb.2018.08.040
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0747-5632

Abstract

Abstract: Overlaying virtual species in real-world environments by Pokémon Go has sparked controversy over the security, privacy, social, ethical, and moral implications of mixed-reality technologies. While the GPS-enabled Pokémon Go in-game activities have contributed to improving players' relationships with their real-world surroundings and enriched players' mixed-reality experiences, the question of whether players' in-game experiences have driven them to unintentionally develop unwanted behaviors that could evolve to be part of their real-life habits remains unanswered. Inspired by previously reported real-world Pokémon Go-related stories, we formulate six hypothetical in-game scenarios that place respondents in vulnerable positions, and then ask 5739 crowd workers about the most likely behavioral decisions that they would take when being engaged in these mixed-reality scenarios. We then compare the decisions of 3492 active Pokémon Go players with the decisions obtained from non-players and present an extensive investigation of whether Pokémon Go has contributed to forming motives for trespassing into private properties, violating respected regulations, compromising personal physical safety, violating street-crossing rules and parking cars in illegal spots. Overall, the long-term negative impact that Pokémon Go players have exhibited in our studies is minimal, and could have been caused by other influential factors, such as players' contextual and personal attributes. Highlights: Pokémon Go has minimum negative impact on the adoption of unwanted behaviors. Adopting unwanted behaviors is more likely when spending more time on Pokémon Go. Players ages correlate negatively with their tendencies to adopt unwanted behaviors. Male AR players seem more likely to adopt unwanted behaviors than females.