Photo: Ayer police
Unless you've been living under a rock without Internet connection or TV access in the last couple of weeks or so, a new global obsession has taken over most of the civilized world.
In a nutshell, Pokemon Go is the new TiVo, iPod, Gangnam Style or whatever you want to call it. Everyone either plays the game and loves it, or they hate it with a passion. There is probably a small group of people who haven't yet heard of it and an even smaller one that doesn't really care.
At first, I belonged to the latter category, but in the past few days I kind of moved up the ladder and am now sitting in the “hate with a passion division.” I'm exaggerating a bit here, but if someone close to me will somehow get hurt indirectly because of Pokemon Go, then things will most definitely change.
Wait, what? How can someone get hurt because of a smartphone game, you ask? Ah, so you haven't read all the news about Pokemon Go, then. You see, Niantic's latest and arguably most successful augmented reality mobile game has the potential to become one of, if not the most dangerous pieces of software ever to be used by humans.
More dangerous than a computer virus or Skynet? Well, Skynet isn't (yet) real, and we have plenty of antivirus programs to handle computer viruses, so yeah, Pokemon Go is definitely more dangerous than both.
Not in a direct way, mind you, so don't go throwing tin foil hats in my general direction yet. It's actually pretty obvious why such an addictive game can quickly become a hazard, particularly as it's not just a mobile game, but a so-called exergame.
Full disclosure: I haven't played Pokemon Go and don't plan on trying it anytime soon, but I have spoken with many of the few friends who are actively using the app on a daily basis. In other words, my opinion about the game is strictly based on Information gathered from various Pokemon-related news pieces that autoevolution and other websites have covered and from talking to actual players.
My first conclusion was the every Pokemon Go player loves the game, for one reason to another, but that is because not everyone is yet aware of how much of a health risk can become at some point.
Most of my friends praised it for the fact that it makes them get out of the house more (the “exer-gaming” bit I was talking about earlier). Even if even they admit that it's slightly addicting, at least it doesn't keep them locked up in a dark room with pizza boxes scattered all over, like other online multi-player games with a similar addiction level.
OK, so it's probably better for your physical health than WoW or Dota or whatever the youngins are still playing these days, but that doesn't mean that it can't interfere with your well-being in other, more hazardous ways.
Some guy recently crashed into a parked police car while he was playing Pokemon Go and driving at the same time. Two teenagers were shot at by a man who wasn't amused at the teens trespassing his property at night while hunting for Pokemon.
Another teenager was hit by a car because she was shooting invisible balls at an invisible monster on her phone in the middle of a four-lane road, while a driver caught a tree head on instead of the Pokemon he was aiming for in the game.
All these accidents, if I can call them that, happened in the last week or so, and it has become pretty apparent that this is just the beginning.
Where am I going with this? Well, I'm not trying to suggest a 1984 level of rules and regulations, but it's pretty clear to me that the peeps in charge of government laws should probably do something about Pokemon Go until it becomes as much of a nuisance as drunk- or text-driving.
Drivers are already prohibited from using their phones while driving in most countries, but Pokemon Go is used by pedestrians, cyclists, and bikers as well. On top of its, most rules are meant to be broken or bent, and the police cannot directly enforce a person to stay out of an app on their smartphone while driving or crossing the street as a pedestrian.
The easiest thing to do would probably be for legislators to make Niantic Labs change a couple of details in the way Pokemon Go works. For example, if the smartphone on which it is played is carried at more than 6 mph (10 km/h), it would most likely mean that the person carrying it is using a vehicle for locomotion, thus not paying attention to the road.
To better care for the mindless zombie pedestrians that are risking life and limb to catch that Pikachu across the street, maybe the game could automatically pause when the phone's GPS detects that a street is being crossed by the gamer.
Third of all, perhaps who or what is in charge of spawning those dreaded pocket monsters all over the place could be more selective about it. I realize that it would be pretty hard for the game to “know” if a rare Pokemon has appeared behind a fence, a recently erected building or in one that's about to fall down, but that doesn't mean that spawning could be programmed to be a bit more location specific. Open spaces like parks, public squares and such are good enough.
In conclusion, I don't want to sound like a “get off my lawn” old geezer, especially since I haven't even experienced playing the game, but all those accidents are apparently happening because of Pokemon Go, and millions of new players are starting to “catch them all” every week. Soon enough, it may even turn into a worldwide outbreak. Catch your Pikachu or whatever, just make it safe for you and everyone else.
At first, I belonged to the latter category, but in the past few days I kind of moved up the ladder and am now sitting in the “hate with a passion division.” I'm exaggerating a bit here, but if someone close to me will somehow get hurt indirectly because of Pokemon Go, then things will most definitely change.
Wait, what? How can someone get hurt because of a smartphone game, you ask? Ah, so you haven't read all the news about Pokemon Go, then. You see, Niantic's latest and arguably most successful augmented reality mobile game has the potential to become one of, if not the most dangerous pieces of software ever to be used by humans.
More dangerous than a computer virus or Skynet? Well, Skynet isn't (yet) real, and we have plenty of antivirus programs to handle computer viruses, so yeah, Pokemon Go is definitely more dangerous than both.
Not in a direct way, mind you, so don't go throwing tin foil hats in my general direction yet. It's actually pretty obvious why such an addictive game can quickly become a hazard, particularly as it's not just a mobile game, but a so-called exergame.
Full disclosure: I haven't played Pokemon Go and don't plan on trying it anytime soon, but I have spoken with many of the few friends who are actively using the app on a daily basis. In other words, my opinion about the game is strictly based on Information gathered from various Pokemon-related news pieces that autoevolution and other websites have covered and from talking to actual players.
My first conclusion was the every Pokemon Go player loves the game, for one reason to another, but that is because not everyone is yet aware of how much of a health risk can become at some point.
Most of my friends praised it for the fact that it makes them get out of the house more (the “exer-gaming” bit I was talking about earlier). Even if even they admit that it's slightly addicting, at least it doesn't keep them locked up in a dark room with pizza boxes scattered all over, like other online multi-player games with a similar addiction level.
OK, so it's probably better for your physical health than WoW or Dota or whatever the youngins are still playing these days, but that doesn't mean that it can't interfere with your well-being in other, more hazardous ways.
Some guy recently crashed into a parked police car while he was playing Pokemon Go and driving at the same time. Two teenagers were shot at by a man who wasn't amused at the teens trespassing his property at night while hunting for Pokemon.
Another teenager was hit by a car because she was shooting invisible balls at an invisible monster on her phone in the middle of a four-lane road, while a driver caught a tree head on instead of the Pokemon he was aiming for in the game.
All these accidents, if I can call them that, happened in the last week or so, and it has become pretty apparent that this is just the beginning.
Where am I going with this? Well, I'm not trying to suggest a 1984 level of rules and regulations, but it's pretty clear to me that the peeps in charge of government laws should probably do something about Pokemon Go until it becomes as much of a nuisance as drunk- or text-driving.
Drivers are already prohibited from using their phones while driving in most countries, but Pokemon Go is used by pedestrians, cyclists, and bikers as well. On top of its, most rules are meant to be broken or bent, and the police cannot directly enforce a person to stay out of an app on their smartphone while driving or crossing the street as a pedestrian.
The easiest thing to do would probably be for legislators to make Niantic Labs change a couple of details in the way Pokemon Go works. For example, if the smartphone on which it is played is carried at more than 6 mph (10 km/h), it would most likely mean that the person carrying it is using a vehicle for locomotion, thus not paying attention to the road.
To better care for the mindless zombie pedestrians that are risking life and limb to catch that Pikachu across the street, maybe the game could automatically pause when the phone's GPS detects that a street is being crossed by the gamer.
Third of all, perhaps who or what is in charge of spawning those dreaded pocket monsters all over the place could be more selective about it. I realize that it would be pretty hard for the game to “know” if a rare Pokemon has appeared behind a fence, a recently erected building or in one that's about to fall down, but that doesn't mean that spawning could be programmed to be a bit more location specific. Open spaces like parks, public squares and such are good enough.
In conclusion, I don't want to sound like a “get off my lawn” old geezer, especially since I haven't even experienced playing the game, but all those accidents are apparently happening because of Pokemon Go, and millions of new players are starting to “catch them all” every week. Soon enough, it may even turn into a worldwide outbreak. Catch your Pikachu or whatever, just make it safe for you and everyone else.
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