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Thursday, July 28, 2016
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
NEWS

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OPTIMISM

Pokemon Go captures A2 

and University community

Leeser hopes 
to shake up 
City Council 
in Ward 3 bid 
 

CAMPUS LIFE
ANN ARBOR

Game benefits 

players and 

businesses but has 

safety concerns 

By 
IRENE 
PARK 
and 

MADELEINE GERSON

Summer Daily News Editor and Daily 

Staff Reporter

University of Michigan students 

and Ann Arbor residents, like the 
rest of the world, are working hard 
to catch ’em all.

Pokemon 
Go, 
a 
game 

app 
developed 
by 
software 

development company Niantic, 
has captivated millions of players. 
The game has already broken 
several records, including the 
number of downloads on the Apple 
App Store during the first week of 
release — 7.2 million downloads, 

towering 2.2 million 

downloads 
for 

Angry 
Birds 
2. 

The 
game 
has 

been downloaded 

more than 40 million times on 
the App Store and Google Play, 
bringing in more than $45 million 
in net revenue.

During the game, players walk 

around the real world to catch 
Pokemon — the game uses a 
smartphone camera to detect the 
Pokemon and the phone screen 
to prompt the player to throw a 
Pokeball to catch it. In addition, 
players can walk to designated 
locations called “PokeStops” to 
collect items like Pokeballs, which 
are required to catch Pokemon.

Recent LSA alum Roxanne 

Ilagan said that she was first 
attracted to the game because she 
has been a fan of the franchise, but 
she grew to like the game because 
it encourages her to be more 
physically active.

“I was a huge Pokemon fan 

growing 
up, 
so 
I 
naturally 

downloaded 
the 
app,” 
Ilagan 

said. “I really love the concept 
of walking to new places for 
Pokestops and Pokemon. The 
other day, I walked all the way to 
Gallup Park from Central Campus 
… I walked 30 more miles last week 

than what I usually do.”

Ilagan is one of the moderators 

for a Facebook group called 
Pokemon Go: Ann Arbor — a 
group for Pokemon Go players 
in Ann Arbor to share tips with 
other players about where to find a 
certain Pokemon, organize group-
playing events and establish a 
“sense of community” among the 
players. As of Wednesday, the 
group had 463 members.

Not all students are Pokemon 

Go fans, however. LSA sophomore 
Davon Smith said there are too 
many risks associated with the 
game, so she did not download the 
app.

“Playing Pokemon Go, you are 

wandering into unknown places; 
given that people know where 
PokeStops are when they find 
them themselves, anyone can have 
access to your location and you can 
become a target,” Smith said.

While Smith said the social 

aspect of the game exposes players 
to potential threats, Ilagan said 
it actually encouraged her to 
play. According to a Wall Street 
Journalarticle, the game requires 

that players show up in person at 
PokeStops, so it catalyzes social 
interaction among players.

“Without 
the 
game, 
I 

wouldn’t have had any reason 
to talk to (the other players) 
… I think it has definitely 
influenced my decision to play 
since I do think it’s significantly 
more fun to meet people or walk 
to new places with friends,” 
Ilagan said.

While 
Pokemon 
Go 
has 

garnered 
attention 
for 
its 

social and health benefits, the 
therapeutic uses of the game 
may not be as well known. The 
University 
Health 
System’s 

C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital 
is utilizing the game as a 
part of a therapy that enables 
children with serious illnesses 
to cope with treatment. USA 
Today featured a video of 
patients at Mott, many of whom 
have not left their beds for 
weeks, laughing while playing 
Pokemon 
Go 
with 
nurses, 

doctors and other children.

Incumbent Warpehoski 

hopes to maintain 
pragmatic leadership

By BRIAN KUANG

Daily News Editor

Kevin Leeser, a nurse at the 

University of Michigan Health 
System, hopes his bid to unseat 
incumbent City Councilmember 
Chuck Warpehoski (D–Ward 3) 
can shift the state of affairs in city 
government to be more receptive 
to the needs of constituents.

As a new father, Leeser says 

he saw the traffic layout around 
his neighborhood to be a hazard 
to his children, as did many of 
his neighbors. However, when he 
pushed to lower the speed limit of 
his residential streets to 25 mph 
several years ago — among other 
improvements to pedestrian safety 
— Leeser said city government 
was too slow to address the issue.

“Being a nurse, I see the actual 

ramifications of these accidents 
that were happening,” Leeser said, 
noting there were three deaths 
in Ann Arbor from pedestrian 
accidents in 2015. “If (the public) 
could see how serious some of 
these accidents are … it’s head 
injuries, lifelong injuries. To me, 
it’s a public health issue.”

Leeser says this is a broader 

reflection of citizen disengagement 
from City Council, which drove 
him 
to 
unsuccessfully 
mount 

a 
write-in 
challenge 
against 

Warpehoski’s Ward 3 colleague 
Chip Smith (D) in 2015.

“You can sit there and go to 

City Council meetings and pour 
your heart out, and City Council 
can just go, ‘yup, thank you,’ and 
then vote against you,” Leeser 
said, referring specifically to how 
the council brushed aside vocal 
opposition to the Ann Arbor 
deer cull from residents, though 
city surveys have indicated the 
majority of the city continues to 
support lethal culls.

See WARD, Page 9

Read more at MichiganDaily.com

