What a stupid idea for a game

dafluff

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https://ca.news.yahoo.com/police-fo...n-risks-involved-playing-155331486.html?nhp=1

In Quebec City, police said two officers suffered minor injuries when a car they observed driving strangely reversed into their cruiser in a parking lot.

"The driver said 'I'm sorry, I was playing Pokemon Go,'" said Const. Nancy Roussel, who said police are calling on players to be aware of their surroundings.


This PokemonGo is a ridiculously poorly thought out game. For those who don't know, it is a mobile app game that allows you to "catch" Pokemon in real life. You have to walk around (or worse, drive around) in the real world with your phone, looking at the real world through it, and you can see Pokemon who are virtually placed in the world. It is just a matter of time before a kid runs into traffic, walking around while staring at their phone, trying to "catch" a Pokemon.
 
Well, it might be ridiculous, but millions are playing it. Even people who I'd normally think were pretty smart.

There will certainly be people dying from stepping out in traffic, or off a cliff, but that happens with people on cellphones already.
 
People love it, though. And it is getting kids moving around, which in the US they badly need. Plus the landmarks in the app tell you things about your environment.

The app opens with a warning message to be careful, I gather. (I haven't tried it but my son has. He likes it fairly well.)

I guess it's only available in places like the US and Canada, which is just as well. The though of thousands of Indonesians playing in Jakarta traffic doesn't sound like a good idea. I suppose it's only a matter of time, though. Does anyone know if they are planning to expand globally?

ETA: Hi Jaime C!!!! Happy to see you in our new home!
 
Glad to see you too, Puspa.

My 24 year old is playing it. She was bummed about being knocked out of the top three in her gym. She was a big Pokemon fan growing up.
 
Actually, I downloaded the app and it works here in Jakarta. I thought I'd play it with my son but frankly pokemon and all that surrounds it is torture to me. It never attracted me but I can see that it appears to many people, even adult ones. Maybe those who grew up with this game (my younger brother is one) feel a sense of nostalgia?
 
I listened to an NPR bit about the game, and they suggested that nostalgia was a big part of it - although there are also players who are too old to have been part of the Pokemon craze.
 
Well, it might be ridiculous, but millions are playing it. Even people who I'd normally think were pretty smart.

There will certainly be people dying from stepping out in traffic, or off a cliff, but that happens with people on cellphones already.

I'm not saying that people playing it are dumb! The game is very exciting, and revolutionary from a technical standpoint (the combining of real and virtual world). But the potential for accidents is high. My oldest one is starting to get into Pokemon, but I'm not going to let her play this yet. She is already super focused on everything she does, walking around glued to a HP is definitely not recommended!
 
I listened to an NPR bit about the game, and they suggested that nostalgia was a big part of it - although there are also players who are too old to have been part of the Pokemon craze.

I guess it's due to the Facebook age. It also explains the Farm Ville success I suppose.

And in response to Dafluff, the sheer number of players means that the probability of some weird stuff happening is huge. 2 people have already stumbled upon corpses while chasing pokemons!
 
Is there was ever an event useful to discredit the theory of evolution, this is it. Or perhaps I am looking at this wrong; if the game users are prone to walk into traffic with fatal results, one could argue that that outcome confirms the theory.

In the immortal words of Emily Litella, "Nevermind."
 
I reckon that the game has not made it to Manado so far. At least not that I noticed it. I suspect that the Pokemon are aware that we enjoy variety for the Minahasan culinary experience.
 
The game was just officially released here I think, but many have been playing it by installing the app from other sources.

The company that created Pokémon Go has another game called Ingress. It's similar to Pokémon Go in that you have to travel around to capture locations and such. I don't think it was super popular, just an app that had no popular characters from cartoons.

So take a boring game, add a popular cartoon theme to it, and voila!

I don't like walking around the kampung I live in as I get anxiety from all the people staring at me and kids saying, "Bule!" also, not too keen on walking around outside and getting super sweaty trying to find a Pokémon.

I don't have much faith in people, so I know people will die playing this game. It's sad and scary. Go play sports in a Controlled environment, sure. But out in the real world? Man... That's just dangerous.
 
I'm so proud of my daughter. She asked if she could install Pokemon Go, so I let her download it if she used a brand new gmail account and read this article first:

http://usat.ly/29wf7Kt

After reading the article she said she didn't like the game and didn't want it anymore.
 
I'm so proud of my daughter. She asked if she could install Pokemon Go, so I let her download it if she used a brand new gmail account and read this article first:

http://usat.ly/29wf7Kt

After reading the article she said she didn't like the game and didn't want it anymore.

That is a good article! Cliff Notes: PokemonGO collects a HUGE amount of personal data, including your contacts, camera, stored data, gps location etc. and has the right to do whatever it wants with it, including selling it.
 
My 11 year old just discovered the game. Fortunately youth and short attention spans usually are complementary.
 
I was in Kings Park, Perth last Sunday and there was quite a crowd all checking their hand phones, didn't know what it was at first, very strange sight really
 
It appears the Saudi's in their infinite wisdom have declared it haram.
 

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