Please watch your step
Pokemon Go is, depending on your perspective, a welcome distraction for a nation troubled by violence, division and a cheerless presidential campaign, a potential remedy for America’s obesity problem, or yet another way we are being hypnotized by merchandisers.
The reality undoubtedly includes elements of all three. For anyone whose acquaintance with games dates back to rolling the dice and accumulating more money and property on a Monopoly board, Pokemon Go updates the 1990s video game once played on television screens or Nintendo Game Boys. This new incarnation has players walking around gazing through their cellphone cameras on the lookout for Pokemons that can be “caught.” In a story that appeared in the Observer-Reporter Thursday, 25-year-old Washington resident Amanda Avelar explained the game is “fantastic, because you can go out there and catch the Pokemon,” and “I’ve been catching them all throughout Jollick Manor. It gives me and my son something to do together.”
Pokemon Go sparked concerns, however, that its players are so distracted by the game they are endangering themselves. Some players were reportedly robbed at gunpoint in St. Louis after they were lured to a dark parking lot, while others were found wandering through a New Hampshire park after it closed. In a reminder of our own real-world problems, fights broke out as a result of the game.
At least one caller complained to police in McDonald about someone trespassing on their property while playing the game, and Pennsylvania State Police issued a community awareness bulletin Wednesday about the safety issues arising as a result of Pokemon Go.
The bottom line is this: Pokemon Go might be a lot of fun for participants, but they should be respectful of the property of others and look where they are going. As McDonald police chief Mark Dorsey explained, “I think there’s possibly a chance of somebody getting hurt or injured for not paying attention and focusing so much on their phones. It’s essential they’re careful about their surroundings.”