The US Holocaust museum has asked gamers to stop playing the Pokémon Go game during their visit.
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The augmented reality technology allows players to physically walk around their surroundings to search for and “catch” the cartoon monsters anywhere, using their smart phones’ camera and Global Positioning System location features.
The museum’s communications director said he’s trying to get the museum removed from the game. PokeStops could also be a major reason why the museum, and even the cemetery, is attracting great attention from Pokemon masters around town.
Players can join for free and set off on a quest to collect the 250 cartoon “pocket monsters” first conceived for the primitive Game Boy handheld in the late 1990s.
Landmarks like this museum, along with many other spots, act as a “PokéStop” within the game.
Pokemon GO fans have been told not to play in the game in US Holocaust Museum.
Niantic, the game’s creator, did not respond to requests for comment about the museum’s complaint.
“We are aware that Elmwood Cemetery has been identified as a “hotspot” in the new Pokémon Go game”.
He said the cemetery’s layout makes it hard to know whether an individual visitor is playing the game on his phone or using the cemetery’s own app to navigate landmarks in a respectful manner.
Washington’s Holocaust Museum has also complained of visitors playing the game within its walls.
Nevertheless, people are playing Pokemon Go at Auschwitz.
The current site of the former Auschwitz Nazi concentration camp is many things. “We compiled the Tumblr page PokeMorbid with a series of examples, including war memorials and mausoleums tagged as “gyms”, and Pokemon suddenly appearing at funerals and hospitals”, they wrote on The Conversation.
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The warning came after research found that 30% of pedestrians say their mobile phone has distracted them from traffic.
