I don’t have to elucidate on how much Pokémon GO has taken over our lives. It is literally everywhere, and almost everyone cannot stop playing it, walking around with their heads buried in their phones, catching Pokémon, or hatching eggs, or taking over gyms.
The University of Idaho, USA has announced that it will include Pokémon GO as part of its curriculum for the Pop Culture Games course.
“You get to adventure around, seeing different things, being active, seeing the sun. It allows you to move in large groups and a team. You get not only physical activity, but you also get team-building and leadership.”
Department of Movement Sciences employee Steven Bird, who is teaching the course, said that it is a Physical Exercise class, where students will be encouraged to move around in groups, playing the game. He says that the benefits are far more than just a lot of Pokémon.
According to Bird, the purely nostalgic value and engaging platform of the game is enough to bring people out into the open and socialise way more than they would have done otherwise, in different situations.
The course is also famous for having a full-blown interactive and competitive tournament involving the cult-classic smartphone game ‘Humans vs. Zombies’. Movement Sciences department chairman Philip Scruggs had the following to say,
This new devleopment is sure to spike the University’s admissions next year!
News source: The Daily Dot
Cover image sources: 1 & 2