A spokesman for the US Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington described the playing of the game as “extremely inappropriate”.
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While the allure of “catching ’em all” is indeed a real one for players, sensitive situations like these will arise.
Then again, maybe history does have something to teach us: Reality isn’t meant to be easy and augmented and adorned with friendly cartoon creatures.
The new Pokémon Go app is being asked to stay out of the Holocaust Museum, the 9/11 Memorial and Arlington National Cemetery.
As many readers already know, Pokemon GO is a game that requires players to be on the move, searching for challenges and loot, with the main goal of the game having users catch as many Pokemon as possible and train them to become stronger.
“We find this kind of activity inappropriate”.
Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., posted an open letter to the CEO of Niantic, John Hanke, Tuesday, asking for more information from the game-maker. It’s also caused a few problems with police departments in several cities warning players to avoid wandering onto private property while getting caught up in the game.
The museum at Auschwitz is not the only memorial landmark to host a game Pokespot.
A Care 2 petition has quickly raised more than 1,700 supporters asking developer Niantic Labs to remove the Holocaust Museum from Pokemon Go.
Fans of “Pokemon Go” are just unstoppable. The museum’s communications director, Andy Holliger, said that they are “attempting to have the museum removed from the game”. Players are also stalking the Arlington National Cemetery, the burial ground for the nation’s war dead. She said it took about an hour for the museum to be removed as a hotspot. The staff started noticing an uptick of people in the parking lot after the location was included as a gym in the popular game.
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Franken, who asked for a response from Hanke by August 12, concludes the missive by asking seven questions of the game-maker, all related to what data the game collects, whom it shares that data with, and how it handles the issue of parental consent when children are playing.
