PLAYFUL MOBILITIES IN THE GLOBAL SOUTH: A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF POKÉMONGO PLAY BETWEEN RIO DE JANEIRO AND NAIROBI

In 2016, the release of the location-based game, Pokemon Go, prompted millions of players worldwide to venture into the streets to catch digital creatures, known as Pokemon. Since then, Pokemon Go has received strong attention from the popular press and scholarly community, exploring considerations of mobility, sociability, commoditization, and safety risks as part of the game. However, most of this attention has focused on the game’s popularity in the Global North, failing to consider how issues of infrastructural access and development can shape experiences of play. To respond to this gap, we offer a study exploring how dense urban spaces within the Global South shape players’ experiences of Pokemon Go gameplay and, inversely, how Pokemon Go shapes players mobilities through these urban spaces. We consider the ludic mobilities of players in Nairobi, Kenya and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, two Global South cities with similar population and ICT adoption rates. We proceed by asking the research questions: How do considerations related to mobile access affect experiences of playing Pokemon Go, and, inversely, how does experience of the urban space shape players’ mediated mobilities? Findings reveal that mobilities in the Global South are often at odds with the ludic mobilities encouraged in Pokemon Go, as issues of violence, theft, traffic jams, and insecurity come to the fore. Consequently, this study offers important insights about the intersections of mobile devices, communication and transportation infrastructures, mobile gaming interfaces, and all the social and political aspects associated with urban mobilities in developing countries.