
Niantic, developer of Pokémon Go, has acquired Seismic Games - tosh
https://www.nianticlabs.com/blog/seismicgames/
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kaycebasques
Fun fact, entirely unrelated to this article.

The Niantic was a ship from the California Gold Rush. Sailors were so eager to
secure their fortune that they would often abandon ship as soon as they
anchored in San Francisco. At one point there were hundreds of abandoned ships
floating in the bay. You can see them in this [1] photo from 1851. The Niantic
was one of the comparatively lucky ships that got converted into a warehouse
and hotel [2]. You can still visit it to this day, at the Maritime Museum in
San Francisco [3].

[1] [http://www.foundsf.org/images/b/b4/Downtwn1%24yerba-buena-
co...](http://www.foundsf.org/images/b/b4/Downtwn1%24yerba-buena-
cove-1851.jpg)

[2] [https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-I0VV5z4rats/Ws-
ns4ikAOI/AAAAAAAAG...](https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-I0VV5z4rats/Ws-
ns4ikAOI/AAAAAAAAG2s/cBbeXZlr5eQ8pznZfXgtz6SURb1QIBLIQCEwYBhgL/s1600/Niantic%2Bstorehouse%2Bmodel.jpg)

[3]
[https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Niantic_stern_and_...](https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Niantic_stern_and_rudder,_built_1832,_burnt_in_the_Great_Fire_of_1851_-_San_Francisco_Maritime_Museum_-
_San_Francisco,_CA_-_DSC04093.jpg)

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tzakrajs
I am 30 and Pokemon GO is my obsession. I wouldn't get out of the house
without it and it's helped me stay in shape better than closing rings ever
did.

~~~
wincy
I saw a family of five at my local botanical gardens the other day, all
shuffling around like zombies, the dad pushing a stroller with one hand, phone
in the other, staring at the screen. I suppose they wouldn’t have been outside
at all without Pokémon Go, but it made me feel uncomfortable knowing mentally
these people were far away and not at all living the same experience I was.

I met an old friend the other day for board games and he spent more time
playing Pokémon Go than actually interacting with me (or the board game). I
told him he was being rude and he just laughed like that was absurd.

I don’t know that there’s anything I can do, or anything I SHOULD do. I’m just
making an observation of how people playing these AR games is going to
increasingly become this strange phenomenon of walking around for cheap
dopamine hits, oblivious to the world around you.

~~~
chrisvalleybay
Question: why is it that the ‘world around you’ has more intrinsic value than
a virtual one?

I find it interesting how we are always doing value judgements based on what
we ourselves prefer. In a millennium, if we are still around, I doubt very
many will even have a body.

~~~
ledriveby
Because the world around you sustains you, and isn't made to game your
neurochemicals for addictive behaviors. Isolation is a very strong factor for
depression.

~~~
chrisvalleybay
> and isn't made to game your neurochemicals for addictive behaviors.

Everything we do game our neurochemicals for addictive behaviours.
Conversations, hugs, kisses. My question isn't how they are different on the
surface, but how the intrinsic value is different. Try to leave any values you
might hold out of it.

As for depression; one reason for this could be that the game is able to
stimulate some parts of your brain (dopamine receptors), but might yet not be
able to stimulate oxytocin and serotonin at the same level. Who says we won't
be able to do this going forward?

I'm in no way an expert in this subject, but given neuro-plasticity (I don't
really know how this relates to the amount of neurochemical receptors, so I
might be totally wrong), we might even adapt to these new worlds rather
quickly.

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stevehawk
seems weird that Niantic's own "About" page doesn't mention their original AR
game

~~~
AndrewKemendo
Ingress is on the 2012 slide

~~~
stevehawk
Oh, it is. I'm an idiot.

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eecsninja
This begs the question of what will be the next trivial game by this company
that will be hyped as the next quantum leap forward only to fizzle out a few
years later while revealing how naive the developers are about the
implications of real life social interactions (e.g. crime driven by Pokemon
go)

