1. Harbinger of Social Media
Games?

2. What is ?
• Pokemon is a videogame in which the main character goes on a
quest to capture and train all 151 types of creatures called
pokemon.
• Pokemon started in Japan in 1996 as Pokemon Red and Green. It
sold so well that it came to America as Pokemon Red and Blue.
• It has expanded into an Anime, Manga, Cards and many other
forms of media.
• Red/Blue has several sequels on several different platforms
including the Gameboy, GBA, and Nintendo DS.
• Pokemon is the second most popular game franchise following only
Nintendo’s Mario.

3. Social Media Games
• One of the most popular social media games, Farmville, was
launched in June of 2009.
• Other popular games on Facebook include Zooworld,
Gourmet Ranch, and Café World.
• The driving force behind these games is that you have to complete
tasks with the aid of your FB friends who also play the game. These
tasks are timed so that you have to come back everyday (and in
most cases several times a day.)
• The main objective is to have as many friends as possible to help
you complete the required tasks. But how was this concept
influenced by Pokemon?

4. Game Play
• In Gourmet Ranch, a FB game created by Playdemic, the object is
to grow crops, raise herds, cook and serve dishes, and serve
customers.
• To get unlock keys and more money you have to gain Exp Points.
• To do this you must cook dishes, serve them and clean the stoves,
you can visit your friend’s ranch and click on their stuff to help them,
you can obtain goals, and finally you can purchase decorations.
• The main goal of the game is to unlock better ingredients and cook
higher level dishes and earn more money.

5. Game Play
• In the game a Pokemon trainer is given the choice between 3
Pokemon as a starter. This means to collect all 151 pokemon a
player must trade pokemon with their friends. Trading with friends is
the only way to truly collect all 151, sound familiar?

6. Cont.
• There are several instances in the game in which trading is required
either for evolution (more on this later), because of being able to
choose only one out of a choice, or because a particular Pokemon
is not offered in that version of the game.
• There are two original versions of Pokemon; Red and Blue.
• Each version follows the same story line of the game the only
difference is there are Pokemon that can only be caught in one
version or the other.

7. Red vs. Blue
• Pokemon exclusive to red • Pokemon exclusive to blue
include- Ekans, Arbok, Oddish, include- Sandshrew,
Gloom, Vileplume, Mankey, Sandslash, Vulpix, Ninetales,
Primeape, Growlithe, Meowth, Persian, Bellsprout,
Arcanine, Scyther, and Weepinbell, Victreebell,
Electabuzz Magmar, and Pinsir

8. Evolutionary Trading
• Some Pokemon change their forms into completely different but
related Pokemon, this is called evolution.
• Some Pokemon can only evolve once they have been traded.
• These Pokemon include; Alakazam, Machamp, Golem, and Gengar.

9. The Oddball; Eevee
• Eevee can evolve into 3 different Pokemon; Vaporeon, Jolteon, and
Flareon using different stones.

10. Mew: The Uncatchable
• Pokemon was promoted as having 150 different creatures but one
Pokemon was only available through special events. This was Mew.
To get Mew you had to go to a specially hosted Nintendo event to
get it, or know someone who already had it.
• Of course there were cheat codes, but those could do serious harm
to your game, and most true fans felt it was unbecoming to use
them.

11. What happened to
• Pokemon has grown to enormous proportions. There are five
generations of main games, well over 500 new Pokemon have been
added, and the series has branched into manga, anime, cards, and
toys. Numerous related Pokemon videogames have been released
as well.

12. What is the Future?

13. Possibilities
• Social media and Pokemon have already begun to
merge; there are numerous Facebook pages dedicated
to Pokemon as well as a host of Youtube videos showing
card openings, cheats and strategies for the games, and
plenty of homemade artwork videos and AMVs.
• Eventually the world of Pokemon and Social Media will
have to merge to the point where social media effects
game play. This may come in the form of a Pokemon
only available by liking the official Pokemon FB page,
using Twitter and FB for official Pokemon updates (this is
already done), or even influencing game play based on
where a person is by checking in.

14. Any Questions?