The Pokemon Go craze is getting players off the couch and outside, exploring their neighborhoods.
Advertisement
Allegheny Health Network contacted the makers of the game to demand that they remove all of its locations from smartphone apps, Channel 11’s news exchange partners at TribLIVE reported. The game has caught on like wildfire as it requires gamers to use phones to explore their towns, cities and neighbourhoods with their phones as navigational aid in search for critters, called Pokemon or Pocket Monsters. That’s why Allegheny Health Network is putting a stop to it before things go too far.
The memo said the system’s locations are included as gym locations in the app because they’re technically public places. The app has been installed on more devices than the popular dating app Tinder.
The location-aware game provides virtual rewards for players who visit real sites designated as “Pokestops” in the game. Augmented reality uses features on a smartphone to change or enhance the world around a person when viewed through the phone’s camera and connected via Global Positioning System.
Part of what makes Pokemon GO so fun is the game allows us to interact with our world as if it’s our own big and real-life version of Kanto, Kalos, Johto or any other Pokemon region.
Niantic did not immediately return a call for comment. Users can now change their character’s appearance through the Pokemon trainer profile page in the app. Another change that the update introduced is that now, players cannot transfer Pokemon that are marked as favorites.
The memo also instructs employees to report anyone seen taking unauthorized pictures.
AHN does not appear to be the first hospital system to take steps in halting the Pokemon phenomenon.
Advertisement
So, why are people wandering into hospitals to play a game anyway? “According to data from App Annie Intelligence, Pokémon Go has not had a sustained and meaningful impact on the daily revenue of other games on iOS and Google Play”.
