Pokemon go? No!

As I study the happiness and the delicate mechanisms behind the hedonic adaptation, I did a very interesting field study on the release of the new virtual augmented reality game Pokemon Go!. I will start with that classic story of first release of internet on the plane, in Seventies. The story say that when this was first time presented to the passengers, they were amazed, ecstatic even. Internet on the plane, during flight, imagine that. Many of them did not have internet at home, and the mobile connected phones were yet to be invented. But sometimes in the middle of the flight the connection will drop, and everybody become angry and frustrated. That is just how much a miracle will last.

Now back to our pokemons. The goal of every game we play is to bring us some kind of satisfaction, to improve gradually or to compete with others. Pokemon Go! is bringing all this at once, through the capture of your own pokemons, and competing for the gym, to get more gold coins, basically. They will make money through the general public tendency of impatience, the modern culture of "I want it now", although seems that you can get everything for free if you want to walk enough. The innovation is that people need to physically walk to get the eggs open, and to find new pokemons to capture for your Pokedex. At the moment connection is difficult, if not impossible, as the people told me that they tried to login and couldn't for 90% of the time in the last 3 days. They like the game, that is becoming a global phenomenon, but the problem is that at the moment everybody is frustrated because they cannot play. It is only a fine line between being a craze and being the biggest failure of all time as the potential is practically unlimited, starting to influencing even the economy and marketing of the small or bigger businesses. The tipping point is here, and they need to get together, fixing the major bugs (the screen is freezing faster then Elsa's room in Frozen) and building a sustainable server or they will lose all.

We will see what happen.

Why aren't we happy yet?

Between the toxic thoughts that stop us being happy are

• perfectionism
• social comparison
• materialism instead experiences
• maximizing pleasure instead being satisfied.

Are you that kind of person that is still changing the TV channels hoping to find something better, even if you are looking at something that you like? Chances are that you are a maximizer. As a maximizer, you score lower on scales of happiness, optimism, self esteem and life satisfaction. Why?

Because maximizing means you are a perfectionism, and this relate more to unhappiness and discontent. In front of multiple choices, choose the first option and stay with that. 

How to satisfice instead of maximize (and therefore be more happy):

1. Outline your criteria for success.
2. Choose first option that meets the criteria.
3. Once the decisions are done, focus on the positive aspects of the choice.

Good luck!

G.