Search This Blog

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

Geocaching is it a Game, Sport, or an Addiction?

Geocaching is it a Game, Sport, or an Addiction?

Everyone has their own personal take on Geocaching.

Let's take a look at each; first Geocaching as a game.  Games are fun and include playing pieces, the whole family can be involved, as well as, friends.  Normally games have a way of keeping score and can be played anytime day or night.  Hmmm, sounds familiar, Geocaching  is fun and includes playing pieces, such as, Tupperware containers filled with SWAG and a log book, it is also a great way to get together with family and friends, specially if those people have never geocacher before and to see their  faces when they find their first cache, OMG!

Is Geocaching a Sport?  A Sport usually includes a physical activity, a competitive element and a certain amount of skill.  How does Geocaching compare?  Starting with physical activity, simply try a terrain level 5, plenty of physical activity there!   Many people take up Geocaching for it's physical activity component and many have lost weight and gained endurance because of the sport.  Competition, well Geocaching allows you to compete with yourself, friends for numbers, puzzle solving or challenges such as http://coord.info/GC2BV7F, a challenge to find a geocache every day for 99 days (see our previous post on Challenge Caches).  Now it comes down to Skill; in Geocaching circles we call it GeoSense, at first finding even easy caches can seem monumental, but the more you GeoCache you build up an awareness of where caches might be hidden or what in the area is different than it should be so you might say you are building your Geocaching Skill just as a Basketball player gets better through repetition.  Hmmm, sounds like Geocaching is both a Game and a Sport doesn't it?

How about an Addiction; Wow! That's sounds a bit far fetched, but let's look at it anyway.  An addiction can be classified in a number of ways but let's use this one for now.  An addiction is the seeking out of a pleasurable feeling or experience resulting from a substance or ACTIVITY.   i'm sure no one will disagree that Geocaching is an Activity, but does it cause enough pleasure to have one seek the experience over and over again. sure looks like it to me when folks are eager enough to repeatedly go out and find thousands of Caches individually.  I must also confess I am a Geocaching Addict, the other day I had to go over to the hospital to get a portable Heart monitor, I'd had a few heart hiccups, on the way home I scored 4 more Caches.  Does the pleasure of searching for and finding Geocaches warrant being  labelled an Addiction, you bet it does.

In summation I think you will all agree Geocaching is and Game, Sport and Addiction!

Keep on Caching!
   Bill
B&CJones on Geocaching.com

2 comments: