Haptic Feedback in Pokémon Go

Veteran gamers will likely have experienced "haptic feedback" at least once at some point in time. This refers to actions in games that generate vibration on a game controller, if said controller has a vibration mechanism. For that reason, it's also sometimes called "rumble" for the sound and motion it makes. Just recently, the feature was also added to Pokémon Go, obviously utilizing a phone's vibrate function for this purpose. Yet it also has become a bit of an obscure aspect of its own, which makes it perfect to be discussed along with other obscure aspects of the game for this month.

The feature actually constitutes a bit of an expansion of the vibration feature, as the game does make the phone vibrate for situations such as a new Pokémon appearing or finding a match in the Go Battle League. Now, the feature is also invoked during the situation of Pokémon capture, where actions made with the capture ball will generate certain vibrations. This also happens during some Pokémon battles: a notable occurrence is in Max Battles, when a Trainer's Pokémon goes to its Dynamax form, which initiates a really long vibration, evocative of the big size of the Pokémon. The "feedback" is thus real by any sense of the word.

What makes the feature obscure - or drags it into that realm - is that some people may not actually enjoy the feature despite the added realism (or the illusion of it) that it gives. For them, turning off the feature is easy: it's toggled by one of the option buttons at the top of the list when opening up the Options screen for the game. Of course, they might turn it off for a more practical reason, which is to save battery power, as vibration is known for being a battery drain for phones after all; if the "battery saver" function of the phone is on, the feature is regardless inactive. Of course, practicality is not necessarily a measure of obscurity.

Back to that obscurity, I am likely to be one of the few people who enjoys the feature, even at the expense of battery power as above. It serves as a useful backup guide even in situations where I cannot or am expected to not be able to hear game sounds that do serve some guiding function. In that sense, it really is a kind of "feedback" that is in line with the proper name of the feature. Even so, I could sense how such a "feedback" for some people might make them feel a little uncomfortable, as it could be considered a "stimulant" in a way - and that's as far as I'll go in addressing that. Personally, that isn't much the case for me.

Regardless, Pokémon Go implementing "haptic feedback" is a natural step to take since the game is present on smartphones, which are pretty much universally capable of vibration given their necessary functions. Having been used in controllers for console games to add a sense of realism in playing games, that sense of realism also becomes evident here - even if it could be too real for some people, becoming the only "obscure" aspect about it. For me (and certain other people), though, it is not "obscure" at all and demonstrates a real aspect of Pokémon through some familiar vibrations.

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