The Augmented Reality of Pokémon Go

This cultural anthropology study examines the explosive 2016 launch of Pokémon GO and its profound impact on how we perceive and navigate physical space. When 30 million players suddenly began seeing digital creatures overlaid on their real-world environments, it created unprecedented social dynamics where gamers operated in parallel realities to non-players. The book explores how this augmented reality technology fundamentally altered human interaction with urban landscapes and public spaces, creating new sensory experiences that challenged conventional boundaries between digital and physical worlds.

Neriko Musha Doerr's analysis stands out by framing these phenomena through the lens of chronotopes—how time and space become reconfigured through gameplay—while addressing the moral panic that emerged as society grappled with this new technological reality. The book particularly resonates with readers interested in digital anthropology, game studies, and the sociology of technology, offering sophisticated theoretical tools to understand how augmented reality reshapes social behavior. Its lasting contribution lies in demonstrating how seemingly simple gaming mechanics can reveal complex truths about contemporary human experience in digitally mediated environments.