Today, we’re going to talk about trail mix—or, as I’ve listed it in the title GORP. GORP stands for “good old raisins and peanuts,” and is often held to be the first and original trail mix. I made a similar mix during my Girl Scout years, although my mother made the mixture infinitely better by adding M&Ms to the mix. I adopted the mixture again when I started going to conventions. Lines for food can get long in convention centers, and sometimes finding a restaurant without a wait can take you miles away from the action of the convention—and who has time for that when you have to attend panels, hunt through artists’ alley, and wait religiously in autograph lines to meet the Pokémon obsessed paragon of storytelling you look up to in all of his plaid-clad glory?
Ahem.
Anyway, the version I make these days is a recipe my friend Emily brought with her the first time she came to Seattle’s anime convention, Sakura Con. It was a little thematic, because “sakura” means “cherry blossom” and the mix included cherries! Emily’s GORP is made up of ⅓ dried cherries, ⅓ hazelnuts, and ⅓ dark chocolate chips. It’s my favorite, and I’ll probably never get tired of it, but for those of you thrown off by any of those ingredients, it’s easy to create your own trail mix that’s specifically tailored to your tastes! Just grab some sort of dried fruit, some kind of nut, and something sweet. Then throw it all into a bag in whatever portions you like and shake until mixed.
Anyway, back to Pokémon.
Essentially overnight, the new Pokémon GO game app has changed the way a lot of young people interact in the community. There’s a lot of interesting news floating around about the game and its implications, but it boils down to if you’re not one of the many twenty-somethings or teens walking around with their eyes glued to their phones, you’ve at least heard of the game.
What one has “heard” and what is true, however, are often two different things. I’m going to break down the game here for accuracy’s sake.
The goal of the game is to get Pokémon GO players (called Trainers) out of the house and walking—as the game records step count as part of the game-play—but while the game is a fantastic way to trick gamers into going outside to play, its impact on the real world has already amounted to so much more. For those who feel like they’re already grasping at straws, you can read up on some basics about the game.
The game is a dream come true for any 90s kid, but it did also lead to a sudden influx of people walking around and staring at their phones—especially around roads! The game always warns Trainers to be aware of their surroundings whenever it’s started (which is fairly often considering the number of errors still rampant within the game and the lack of server space), but even so, part of the game uses the phone's camera to find and catch virtual characters embedded in real life surroundings. This means there are a lot of Pokémon Trainers checking their phones as they walk around, looking for their next catch.
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| Pokémon GO safety advisory. |
Pokémon GO includes a couple safety features to try and encourage Pokémon Trainers safely out of the roads while they play. The game keeps Pokémon and item stops out of streets, and also includes distance and speed caps. This means a Pokémon player cannot access real-world landmarks that function as item stops called “PokéStops” or fighting arenas “Pokémon Gyms” through their game map if they aren’t within range of it. Another part of the game has to do with counting steps. Trainers can acquire Pokémon eggs in the game. The only way to hatch these eggs, however, is by walking certain distances. The game includes a speed cap of 20 kilometers per hour to ensure that Trainers don’t hatch their eggs by cheating by riding instead of walking. Playing on the go isn’t impossible, though. Passenger seat responsibilities have suddenly doubled. Riding public transit has led to an easy way to quickly hit up PokéStops and catch Pokémon. Lyft jumped on the bandwagon too, and offered discounted rides to Pokémon GO players. Other businesses are offering deals and discounts because of the game too, so be sure to ask about those while you’re hunting for Pokémon—especially if a business is near a PokéStop or a Gym.
Then there are the Lures. PokéStops are great places to get items and experience, but also prime Pokémon hunting grounds. Lures can be used at PokéStops to make even more Pokémon appear and often attract people to the locations in which they are being used. This is great in broad daylight, especially if you’ve got a friend or two with you. It can be really scary at night, and has already led to a few robberies. People of color and women are also having a tough time playing this game unmolested.
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| Screenshot of Pokémon Trainer near a Lured PokéStop and a Pokémon Gym. |
There are some other unfortunate limitations to Pokémon GO too. My last post pointed out how inclusive MMOs are due to their online quality. This IRL MMO is a little more exclusive. The good news is that cities have a lot of PokéStops, Gyms, and Pokémon. The bad news is that in order to hatch eggs or really benefit from the placement of anything in the game, one has to be able to get up and walk around. People in hospitals and those with disabilities are kind of at a huge disadvantage. If you want to be an extra cool Trainer, try setting a Lure at a PokéStop near a hospital or in a wheelchair accessible area.
Oh, and make sure to take big bags of GORP with you when you go Pokémon hunting! All the hungry Pokémon Trainers out there will thank you—perhaps even doubly so if you bring some of the infused water from the last post too!
Until next time…
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