11. Playing Pokémon GO in a Public Park in Malaysia: A Survey and Analysis

Public parks have been developed to provide the physical facilities and the cultural activities that cater the needs of the community. This research aims to argue the implications of the Pokémon GO phenomenon with regard to the existing physical activities in a public park, namely Taman Perbandaran Tengku Anis (TPTA), Kota Bharu, Kelantan, Malaysia. Site survey and observation have been conducted to measure the frequency of visitors and the use of the facilities provided. The survey demonstrated that there are 38 general activities implemented in this park and observation has shown that the Augmented Reality (AR) game Pokémon GO has merged to become part of the activities in this park where the PokéStop and Gym game elements have been involved in this site. The observation was conducted for a period of one week following the launch day of this game resulted in the introduction of a new activity and an increasing number of visitors to this park. However, Pokémon GO only engaged AR, smartphones and the player without utilizing the facilities and engaging with the common activities of this park. Although this park is considered a public park where a multitude of social cultural activities could be embedded, Pokémon GO is one activity that allows the player to undertake his or her own visual physical challenges and gives no provision to the other visitors in terms of safety guarantees and space commonality. The phenomenon drastically increased the number of visitors attracted to the park, although after several months it returned to normal and visitors with sports attire became much more visible. Several issues related to the local authority and religion also resulted in decreasing numbers of players.