The Player and the City

This flow traces the emotional shift from seeing the city as a backdrop to experiencing it as a source of discovery and threat.

increasingBearing stren­gth in each eventdecreasing

New City Resident

An Unfamiliar Home The player has lived in the city for only a few months and has not fully explored it. Pokémon GO offers a reason to move beyond familiar routines. Discovery Through Play The game promises that streets, monuments, and hidden corners may contain something worth finding. Emotional Importance The city begins as a place of distance. The player’s bond with it is formed through the game’s invitation to explore.

Lunch Route Familiarity

Learning the Local Area The player repeatedly visits PokéStops and nearby Gyms during lunch. Repetition turns unknown streets into a recognizable route. Routine Mapping The city is gradually organized according to where resources and encounters can be found. Game knowledge becomes local knowledge. Emotional Importance The player develops a practical intimacy with the neighborhood. The city is no longer simply where work occurs; it is a place full of possible rewards.

The Gold Mine

A Concentration of Stops The player discovers a dense cluster of PokéStops and calls it a gold mine. The city appears to reveal a hidden abundance. Desire Magnified The map’s promise overwhelms the ordinary meaning of the location. Instead of seeing a Cemetery first, the player sees an opportunity. Emotional Importance The bond with the city becomes acquisitive. Discovery has shifted toward extraction, and the player’s excitement begins to obscure context.

Sacred Ground

Entering the Rows The player walks among gravestones and mausoleums while collecting items and encountering ghost-type Pokémon. The setting’s solemnity contrasts with the game’s reward loop. Uneasy Coexistence The player claims respect for the supernatural and for the dead, yet continues the hunt. The city’s emotional reality pushes back against its digital overlay. Emotional Importance The Cemetery becomes more than a location. It is the first place where the player’s game-based bond with the city is challenged by another kind of meaning.

The City Reclaimed

Familiar Streets Become Uncertain The player rides home after calling the police, carrying the memory of what may have happened inside the Large Mausoleum. The route back is no longer merely a path between game locations. Persistent Ambiguity The city has provided excitement, danger, and a possible supernatural event. Its spaces can no longer be trusted to remain within the harmless frame of play. Emotional Importance The player’s bond with the city resolves in unease. Exploration has made the city more vivid, but also more threatening.

during the horror narrative’s opening background

over the days following installation

late at night before entering the Cemetery

during the first walk through the Cemetery

after the player escapes the Cemetery