The BBC reports that officials for both the US Holocaust Memorial Museum and Arlington National Cemetery are taking steps to discourage people from playing within the walls of either establishment, with the former labelling such a move as “extremely inappropriate”.
Advertisement
The museum at Auschwitz is not the only memorial landmark to host a game Pokespot. Even the app has only been launched in the United States, New Zealand, and Australia, the fervor and excitement has been observed around the world as users have taken to different alternate measures to install the game on their devices.
They are both reportedly also Pokestops, where players can collect virtual items like snacks and medicine for Pokemon, but officials at the museum are trying to get it removed from the game.
“Allowing such games to be active on the site of Auschwitz Memorial is disrespectful to the memory of the victims of the German Nazi concentration and extermination camp on many levels”, Pawel Sawicki said in an email. We are attempting to have the Museum removed from the game. The image could be a hoax, but the museum is still concerned by its contents, according to the Post.
The museum encourages visitors to use their mobile phones to share and engage with exhibits while visiting, he added. “But this game falls very much outside that”, he said.
Arlington, the burial ground for the nation’s war dead, tweeted out a somber request: “We do not consider playing “Pokemon Go” to be appropriate decorum on the grounds of ANC”. Players can stumble upon Pokemon while wandering their grounds.
Since “Pokemon Go” was released on July 6, it quickly made noise and became sought-after.
Advertisement
We’re not knocking the game, but “gotta catch ’em all” shouldn’t pull players where they don’t belong. The game was the most downloaded free app on Apple’s app store, while Nintendo shares surged almost 25 percent on Monday for their biggest daily gains ever based on its success.
