Read the passage and answer the questions given below it.
In the summer of 2016, people flocked to parks, beaches and old monuments in many cities. They would stop, stare at their phones and set off in a new direction. They were not lost. They were playing Pokémon GO, a game released that July by the American company Niantic.
The trick was augmented reality, a digital picture laid over the real world. The game showed small cartoon creatures on the camera view of the street around the player, so a creature might seem to sit on a bus-stop bench or a temple step. Real landmarks such as statues, fountains and post offices became PokéStops, where players picked up free items, or gyms, where they battled one another. Nothing could be caught from the sofa. Even the eggs in the game hatched only after the player had walked a set distance.
Doctors have long found it hard to get people to walk more. A phone game seemed to manage it in a week. Studies of players’ daily steps found that they did walk a good deal more in the first weeks. Then the extra walking slowly tapered off, and after some weeks most players were walking about as much as they had before.
The game brought other worries as well. Some players stepped into traffic with their eyes on the screen. Others wandered into private gardens and buildings, chasing a creature that existed only on a phone. By the time Pokémon GO was launched in India in December 2016, such stories had already travelled ahead of it.
Which of the following can be inferred from the passage?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 2
The correct answer is Option (2) → A few weeks of extra walking did not, by itself, turn into a lasting habit.
The third paragraph shows that the players’ new walking did not stay with them.
- Players walked “a good deal more in the first weeks”.
- After some weeks, most were walking “about as much as they had before”.
- So those weeks of walking did not become a habit that lasted.
Why the Other Options are Incorrect?
Option 1: Most players gave up the game within its first week. — Incorrect. Contradicted: The passage says players walked much more for the first few weeks. That is longer than one week.
Option 3: Players walked more mainly because the game made them feel safer outdoors. — Incorrect. Wrong reason: They walked because the creatures could not be caught “from the sofa”. The passage speaks of new dangers outdoors, not of feeling safer.
Option 4: Doctors’ advice had got people walking more than the game did. — Incorrect. Contradicted: The passage says doctors “have long found it hard” to make people walk more. The game seemed to do it in a week.