Franken, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Privacy and Technology Subcommittee, wrote a letter to John Hanke, CEO of Niantic Labs, requesting information about Pokemon Go, the app that is the hottest thing since, well, Pokemons. Who doesn’t love it when a youth director shows up at soccer games and concerts? And right now youth and young adults are gathering around Pokestops. It’s also very realistic, with the type of pokemon appearing based on the player’s location and time of the day.
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The point of the game, as the tagline suggests, is to “catch “em all” by walking to the various “Pokestops”, which are usually touristic landmarks and other random sites such as tattoo shops and churches”. People are getting out and about in their communities. The more into the city you travel, the more Pokemon you will find.
There are even some Pokemon Go addicts that post signs on the back of their vehicles, warning the drivers at their back of the many stops that they will make because of them playing the game.
“What team are you on?”
And although the game is not available in China, the world’s biggest smartphone and online gaming market, some people there fear it could become a Trojan horse for offensive action by the United States and Japan.
– Choose to join the red, blue or yellow team.
We asked Patrick Moorhead, founder and principal analyst at Moor Insights & Strategy, if the various downsides to playing Pokemon Go should be cause for alarm. At the start of the game, players will receive the said items, but additional Incense could be acquired at Pokestops and stores, provided you have the needed pokecoins.
Like Ingress before it, it looks like Pokemon GO will allow companies to pay for their businesses to be special meetup places for players. Can you believe it? This app has been built by fans, for fans who love the Pokemon GO game and wanted to create this separate assistant app to support it’s community.
To learn how to play check out this link.
However, for the game to work users will also need to install a virtual private network on their phones to bypass censorship and have a Google account, as well as a GPS simulator, as the global positioning system has strong restrictions in China.
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Nate Taylor is a youth worker now studying at Union Presbyterian Seminary in Richmond, VA.
