The super popular, augmented reality Pokémon Go game isn’t so great for players’ physical safety, a band of USA police warned on Monday (11 July).
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“And you can see other people down there, too”. Players must travel to various and often unfamiliar – sometimes unsafe – real-world locations in order to progress in the game.
But it has not been all fun for gamers.
Robbers set up what’s called a “Pokestop” and when players arrived to capture a Pokémon, they would be robbed at gun point. The game has reportedly been used to lure robbery victims. In Massachusetts, the app mistakenly featured a man’s home as a convergence site for players.
When a player signs up for the app, a screen comes up that says “Remember to be alert at all times, stay aware of your surroundings”, but the game is leading to situations that some players probably did not expect.
Garofalo said that he has already warned officers that people who are acting bizarrely or wandering in odd locations may just be playing the smartphone game.
“You can’t just take off running, you actually have to look at the real world”, Zaliski joked.
“Not only is it a safety risk in terms of if you’re not aware of who may be watching your or following you but additionally if you’re looking at your phone you could step in front of cars”, said Lieutenant Jeff Rinaldo of the Buffalo Police Department.
He said players need to use common sense and be careful.
Goodale said he first learned about the game from his teenage daughter over the weekend. “I caught a Pokémon in the police station to get an idea of what these people are doing”.
There are various landmarks for players across the nation and the White House is one of them.
People here in Erie were out on Monday playing, bringing an old game back to life.
The game, which is available via free download for Andriod and iOS, has exploded in popularity likely due to a burst of nostalgia and the new game’s increasingly thin line between actual reality and virtual reality. “So we want to encourage folks to go ahead and park and then play the game”.
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Zaliski added that he has to keep an eye on him at all times.
