Personally, I don’t play Pokemon Go. I don’t care if other people play the game. But I do care when playing the game becomes disrespectful or downright dangerous.
I don’t have all the facts, but according to the articles I have read many places have requested that the location be removed from the database as an available PokeStop. Places like: the National Holocaust Museum, Arlington National Cemetery, and the Vietnam Memorial in Washington, DC; the Melbourne Cemetery in Melbourne, and the site of the Nazi Concentration Camp Auschwitz in Poland.
These places are worthy places to visit, but not the kind of places where a game of this sort should be played; certainly not a game with the tagline “Catch Them All.”
I blame the players for not being aware enough of their surroundings to realize playing the game could be considered disrespectful. Then again, I have noticed that people in general are less and less aware of their surroundings. And I’m not even talking about players who have nearly caused accidents by walking across streets without considering traffic or falling off curbs or down stairs.
But I really blame the developers of the game. According to numerous articles/sources, the GPS database used for this game was created by and for players of another, similar game, probably with the intention of using that information for this version. During the development of the database in the previous game, the questionable locations issue was raised. Players and officials objected specifically objected to Auschwitz being used as a “battle ground” in the previous game. And while it’s not an official battle ground in this version, it is a PokeStop.
There is absolutely no excuse for the developers of the game to leave the possibility for some locations to be used as part of the game. I’m not saying they should do a check of every possible GPS location, but when issues with certain locations being inappropriate for game use were raised, there is no reason they should have been left available.
To make matters worse, the developers are only considering disabling certain GPS locations, if and only if, they are dangerous — for example if the locations are in the middle of train tracks or off the end of a pier. They are not entertaining the idea that other locations may be inappropriate for other reasons. This is completely inexcusable. What possible reason cane there be for disabling particular GPS locations for being “dangerous” but not for being inappropriate. It can only be a monetary decision on the part of the developers. Leaving in “dangerous” locations opens them up to lawsuits, especially in the overly litigious US. Leaving in inappropriate locations only garners the game more press. There is no other legitimate reason why some locations can be disabled for one valid reason, but others cannot for equally valid reasons.
After giving it thought, I decided the game developers would not even have to disable particular locations. All they have to do is re-write the code to have those locations penalize players for playing there. Those are there kind of consequences that will make game players notice and respond. Most will stop playing in places whereby doing so they will lose points or coins or lives. It won’t even have to cost the developers money to make particular locations off limits. If they know how to turn off locations for being dangerous, surely they can figure out how to make other locations undesirable in the game.
Then again, I’m not a player of the game. And I’m usually aware enough of my surroundings to be respectful. So maybe I’m the problem.
Nah, it’s the developers.
