I have sadly felt to have missed out on Pokémon Go compare to others. I was not able to be there doing the launch and when I did down it my phone had an issue of over heating while playing though I did start in the late spring early summer, or that is if memory serves.
I was limited by not having a car, and generally living in an area without many PokeMarts or items, and gyms were all filled with pokemon who had too high of CP for my team. More, frustratingly I felt having starters was a bit pointless as it was so hard to find one's starter in the wild for the appropriate candies.
The mechanic of capturing the same Pokemon over and over again just to increase the CP of one also felt off, especially how one had to send them in for such. I admit though this may have been because of my experience and familiarity with the Pokémon games.
I admit, another aspect I found disappointing is how they had released such an unfinished game. Reading one statistic where it was only like 15% complete and now offering what seemed to be promised in the release video. Particularly training and the idea of battling others playing Pokémon go. Finally, how often the servers were crashing, the issues and bugs found.
I left it alone and really haven't gotten back into it. I have no idea really how it has improved and if so how much. Does it even having trading yet or trainer battles apart from at gyms?
Parents who play Pokémon GO with kids: 'It wasn't really about the Pokémon'
In the first study to survey and interview parents who play 'Pokémon GO' with their children, families report a number of side benefits, including increased exercise, more time spent outdoors and opportunities for family bonding. However, some guilt about screen time persisted. Ref. Source 1x.
Pokemon Go players are happier, friendlier, study finds
Pokemon Go people are happy people. That's the finding of media researchers who leapt to study the wildly popular mobile game shortly after its release in July 2016. Their work shows that Pokemon Go users were more likely to be positive, friendly and physically active. Ref. Source 5b.
I was so obsessed with this game when it first came out. The day it released in the US, I went out and went on a catching spree. Mind you, I live in a suburb, so not much was there. However, once I got my parents into the game, I could see the benefits it had. They are both sort of couch potatoes, but they were dragging me outside to catch pokemon every morning. Since I moved out, I still get calls from them about all the things they've caught. Meanwhile, I don't really play so much. The lack of good pokemon is really what did it, although I still do pull it out sometimes. Another complaint I have is that battles are not so much based on strategy as they are on pure power of pokemon. One more thing that could have saved this game was trading.
I was the same as many players in Pokemon Go. Heck, my starter was the elusive Pikachu. But as it was said earlier, Pokemon Go is now losing momentum. Even I am having problems with continuing to play after a certain point. But that doesn't mean it isn't a fun game. It just means my personal interest in it isn't as grand as it was before.