Like most children, Lucas has had varied interests over the years. When he was very young, it was cars. Cars, trucks, tractors-anything with wheels. It wasn't often that you would see Lucas without being double fisted holding at least two hot wheels wherever he went! I'm sure other parents can relate... :) Lucas's interest was so strong that if we were without him for any reason, we would still find ourselves pointing out the cars he loved most-hey, there's a green volkswagon bug! As he grew, other interests dominated his life like lego, Star Wars, Hockey, Stuffies and so on. Lucas is one of those people who obsesses about his interests and they cross into all aspects of his life. One time, I explained how he was creating his own curriculum with hockey alone. He watched hockey, played hockey, read about hockey, drew hockey pictures, collected hockey cards, researched hockey, strategized about hockey, knew all the ranks of his favourite teams and players and so forth. These days, it's all about Pokemon. So, I asked Lucas today, what does Pokemon do for you? Why do you love it so much? What do you get out of it? What skills have you gained? How is it educational for you?
The following is what he told me:
Pokemon is educational because there's a lot of reading involved. Even though you don't have to read to play, you would probably want to especially if it was your first time playing the game. Pokemon is also educational because whenever your pokemon levels up, it gets higher status. So, you have to make sure your status is high or it gets weak. You need to keep track of all the numbers to do this. You need to add up the status from when it levels up from its original status. You also subtract your pokemon's health number whenever it's attacked.
You also use math whenever you are using the pokeradar as you have to keep counting how many of the same pokemon you face up to a high number like 40. Once you reach 40, you have a one in 250% chance you would face a shiny. So, once you reach 40, you should start resetting your pokeradar so you can face a shiny. A shiny is a pokemon that is a different colour. Whenever it levels up, it still gets the same status as the original pokemon. The differences about a shiny are that it's a different colour and it is rare to find and hard to train. People just like it because it looks cool and is hard to find. At the starting, there is a 1 in 8, 782 chance you would face a shiny. As you play, you have to use the pokeradar to improve your chances of getting a shiny, otherwise it's pure luck.
When you are making decisions on what moves you should use, it depends on what pokemon you are facing and what pokemon you have. For example, if you had a Staravia and you were facing a Roselia, you should try using your flying type moves because they are super-effective. It's the basic, water beats fire, fire beats grass, grass beats water.
When you play pokemon against your friends, you have to use strategy to win. So, whenever my friend sends out his level 100-Rayquaza, I try to use my Palkia because he has high speed, so he can attack his Rayquaza first. You face many challenges as you play. Now that we have Nintendo WiFi connection, in B.C., we can trade and battle pokemon with people from around the world which is really cool.
Pokemon is really one big story. I really get into the characters. I know all about the different pokemon. I like to look them up on the computer and draw them. I also research something that I really want to find or pokemon that I really want to get on the Internet. I can type pretty fast now that I have tried to find all the pokemon. I have learned that some websites are evil! They give me fake information on trying to find legendary pokemon. I know which sources I can trust even though their website names may not be what you would expect them to be. I know I can trust a source if every time I look up something they suggest and it works. YouTube is not a good source because they always use cheats when they say they don't, so they can't be trusted.
I find Pokemon really really fun and just want to keep playing. Me and my friend Griffin both said that we would make a virtual pokemon machine that goes on your head that would allow you to touch and interact with all the pokemon. Maybe, someday it will come true.
