So if people are looking for Pokemon now...

[Bob]

How is the Pokémon thing placed there?  Does someone just virtually mark it on a map?  Or is it near another person's phone or there's an actual object there spitting out a wifi signal?

[birba]

Let me know when you find out.

[chris2014]

okay, so the pokemon are randomly generated in locations, which when people go near said location, the pokemon appear on the game in the phone - To which they catch, however I think pokemon are more active around certain locations marked called pokestops which are just everyday locations like parks and such.

that's all I really know =\

hope it helped.
- Chris

[Bob]

I read something about them being positioned near geographic landmarks, like they were tied into a map system (google maps probably).  I was wondering how people found them in their house or a restaurant.

[rachmaninoff_forever]

You capture wild animals against their will and trap them inside a tiny ball and the only time they can taste the fresh air is when they're forced to fight until they faint or die lol

[outin]

I have a theory that they are in fact created from the condensed stupidity of the people with phones on the area 

[visitor]

i suspect they are ghosts and souls foolish enough to dabble in these matters shall have their due comeuppance.

[visitor]

Ken used haduken- magikarp.  it was really effective lol

[kuska]

Ken used haduken- magikarp.  it was really effective lol

 
already stolen

[iansinclair]

I have a theory that they are in fact created from the condensed stupidity of the people with phones on the area 

I like your theory!  Sounds about right! 

But... they are programmed in by the game's creators (Niantic) and are based on GPS signals.  Which means Niantic can put the blessed little critters anywhere they please.  And yes, your smartphone has GPS and yes, whether it is on or not it is constantly broadcasting where it is.  Something to think about...

The original use of the technology was to have smartphone specific advertisements pop up when one was in the vicinity of something -- such as a Thai restaurant or Pizza joint or whatever.  The advertiser supplies their coordinates and cash and then you are strolling along and the ad. pops up.  Or you are searching for something -- a TexMex restaurant -- and your 'phone knows where it is and tells Google, which promptly pops up the TexMex restaurants in you vicinity.

It's scary stuff.

[ted]

It is very noticeable here, with lots of people wandering about in public staring at their phones. They do not look where they are going and cross roads without checking for traffic. In the mall, increasing numbers of people are running into me. I used to dodge them but now, unless they are very large, I just let them bounce off.

[Bob]

Yes, now when I see people out at night in a weird place moving their phone around I assume Pokemon Go.  I saw two last night.  The phones light them up.  That was two people though.  Imagine if they're on the phone.  They're out in an odd place, waving their phone around, talking... to someone?  Or maybe they're delusional and they're talking to no one.

[iansinclair]

There was a time when people who were chasing fairies in the bottom of the garden were regarded as harmless, but mad.  Sometimes they were locked up and given treatment... I fail to see the difference between chasing fairies in the bottom of the garden and chasing a Pokemon critter in the middle of the road...

[visitor]

Cant help but remember this old gem everytime i see them out there, surely someone has re enacted this beauty by now...