Thought Experiment: What Miyako de IT Can Learn from Pokémon

Thought experiment: What would make an IT community as inviting to return to as Pokémon? This is not a literal comparison. It is a way to examine why people collect experiences, exchange knowledge, and come back to a shared world.

How to grow a community people want to join

Miyako de IT can become stronger when people naturally gather, take something away, return, introduce someone else, and see value accumulate over time. This thought experiment asks what community design makes that possible.

People return when there is more to discover

Pokémon offers an expanding world with a repeated path of involvement:

It is easy for anyone to enter.
People can join quickly.
There is something to collect.
People can exchange it with others.
There is room for challenge.
Comparison and sharing happen.
New elements keep arriving.
It is easy to return after time away.
Beginners can participate.
Deep enthusiasts can keep finding more.

A community can offer a comparable sense of openness when each visit has room for a new person, a new tool, a new project, or a new question—without making novelty a requirement for belonging.

Explore upcoming Miyako de IT events →

“Catching” as finding a personal connection

In the thought experiment, catching is not acquiring people. It is the moment a participant finds something to take away:

New knowledge.
A new connection.
A new role.
A record of achievement.
Experience presenting.
Something made.
Trust.
An entry point into Kyoto’s IT context.

A community should make those first connections visible and easy to approach.

“Trading” as exchanging value

Trading represents the exchange of value between participants:

Knowledge.
Connections.
Feedback.
Leads for work.
Co-hosting partners.
Ideas.
Encounters between students and working adults.
Encounters between organizations and individuals.

Exchanges work when each person can bring something small: a technical insight, an unfinished idea, a local recommendation, or a question that helps another person think.

“Battling” as safe challenge

Battling represents challenge rather than conflict:

Lightning talks.
Hackathons.
Project presentations.
Ideathons.
Making challenges.
Monthly-theme output.

Show-and-tell, a prototype review, or a hackathon can give people a reason to test themselves in public while keeping failure safe and learning visible.

A world people can re-enter

The goal is not gamification for its own sake. It is to design a place where returning makes sense because relationships accumulate, contribution is possible, and people can choose their own level of participation.

What makes Miyako de IT stronger

1. Keep the entrance broad

Easy to join for the first time
Welcoming to students
Some room for non-engineers to participate
A place for different technical levels
A reason to come even before knowing anyone

2. Provide a path for deeper involvement

Become a regular
Give a talk
Help operate an event
Join a themed project
Build something together
Lead an external collaboration

3. Give people something that accumulates

Participation record
Speaking record
Things made
Contribution record
Collaboration record
A role in the community
Trust in Kyoto’s IT ecosystem

4. Give people something worth passing on

Invite someone
Attend together
Share what was learned
Co-host an event
Let someone else experience the place

5. Keep adding a little newness

New themes
New co-hosts
New venues
New series
New opportunities to try something
A larger annual project

Miyako de IT as a participatory IP

Participation history
Relationships
Achievements
Things made
Co-creation experiences
Trust
The name
A connection with Kyoto
A history of continuous events
Trusted operation
A participant network
A culture of output
A culture of implementation
Collaboration experience
A symbolic role in Kyoto’s IT ecosystem
Participants’ memories

How the idea could develop

Phase 1: Put the core experience into words

Learn, connect, and make things in Kyoto
A place where Kyoto IT people turn learning and exchange into implementation

Phase 2: Decide the repeated actions

Come
Learn
Talk
Make
Present
Connect
Come again

Phase 3: Make accumulation visible

Number of visits
Number of talks
Number of things made
Collaboration history
Contribution badges
A role in the community

Phase 4: Increase connections outside the community

Companies
Universities
Local government
Other communities
Startups
International talent

Phase 5: Create symbols

An annual conference
A flagship event
Commemorative badges
Proof of participation
Original program series
A symbolic visual identity

Miyako de IT as Netsujo’s home base

Projects
Co-creation
Proofs of concept
Research implementation

The idea in one sentence

Miyako de IT can be a place where people collect learning, exchange relationships, and take challenges through output.

Three questions for any community

1. What does a participant take home?

Learning, relationships, a role, a record, or a next step should be tangible.

2. What can participants exchange with one another?

Knowledge, introductions, feedback, work opportunities, and ideas should circulate rather than remain with organizers.

3. What creates challenge and visibility?

Lightning talks, hackathons, presentations, and making can turn a passive gathering into a memorable experience.

Closing

This remains a thought experiment, not a claim that a community should copy Pokémon. It is a design prompt: make entry easy, let value accumulate, and make returning meaningful.

Keep testing the design with participants

The useful question is not whether the metaphor is perfect, but whether people can enter, contribute, and return with more confidence.

Make the first welcome understandable.
Make a first small contribution possible.
Make a return visit feel familiar.
Make different skill levels visible without ranking people.
Make questions safe to ask.
Make unfinished work welcome.
Make learning visible.
Make introductions easy.
Make feedback useful.
Make roles grow with interest.
Make organizers approachable.
Make recurring formats reliable.
Make new formats discoverable.
Make venue choices meaningful.
Make co-hosting possible.
Make a project’s next step visible.
Make a talk an achievable challenge.
Make a prototype worth showing.
Make a record of contribution respectful.
Make a participant’s history portable.
Make student and professional contact possible.
Make company and individual contact possible.
Make university connections practical.
Make local-government connections concrete.
Make international connections welcoming.
Make trust grow through repeated action.
Make event memories shareable.
Make invitations feel natural.
Make community value circulate.
Make implementation a shared habit.
Make annual moments memorable.
Make the purpose clearer than the metaphor.

Designing a community like Pokémon