Pokemon GO!

[April]

from what I heard, 2 people have now found dead bodies while playing the game, and there was a stabbing over one person catching a pokemon that the other person wanted.

[mjr]

Someone around here found a dead body in a creek while playing.

If I do decide to try it out I'd like to be able to use my old Galaxy S4 just for that game (nothing else of use on it, so nothing for the game to access).

People in California are now apparently calling 911 because, you guessed it, Pokemon are showing up in fire stations...

http://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2016/...p-calling-911/

[Dreamstalker]

Those people should be charged for misuse of 911, seems like the only way to get that to stop. Or for Niantic to be somehow slapped with encouraging it.

And two players were robbed at gunpoint while sitting in their parked car playing.

[BrenDAnn]

So how long before this admitted cash cow for Nintendo is deemed unsafe and shut down? Oh wait...it's a cash cow. They'll milk it at any cost. Nevermind.

[Dreamstalker]

I was wondering that too...

[Valentinian]

Someone around here found a dead body in a creek while playing.

Which you can't exactly blame on the game itself. Anyone going through there walking their dog or a kid playing ninja in the forest could have found it.

If I do decide to try it out I'd like to be able to use my old Galaxy S4 just for that game (nothing else of use on it, so nothing for the game to access).

The security 'problems' associated with the game were supposed to be that it could access all your info and files from the Gmail account you need to log into it - and they've already been debunked. It was granted a level of permissions that sounded scary (and got blown out of proportion for clickbait) but didn't actually do much, and has already been fixed.

https://www.engadget.com/2016/07/15/...-privacy-hype/

As for all the stories about people having accidents... well, the sort of person who's stupid enough to try to play Pokemon while driving is likely to be the sort of person who'll text while driving. Lots of people do that, it's just stopped being reported as a new! scary! evil! thing that technology is threatening us with. In the U.S. it's estimated that nearly one quarter of car accidents involve someone texting.

http://www.textinganddrivingsafety.c...-driving-stats

As for the guys who fell off a cliff while playing Pokemon... Googling "walk off cliff while texting" gets me about 144,000 results. People are stupid, okay?! When I was about twelve I walked into a light pole while reading a book. That doesn't mean books are inherently dangerous and need to be banned for our safety, that means I was being an idiot and not looking where I was going and needed to learn better.

Look. Pokemon Go isn't uniquely dangerous or scary. It's just new, so it's news, and "New thing is horrible!!!" makes better clickbait than "People continue to act like they always have." For crying out loud, guys, members of this forum should understand that the problem isn't with the product, it's with the sucky customers misusing it.

[Dreamstalker]

One of mom's Darkroom Photography students plays Pokemon Go, and mom says she stepped on a Voltorb in the parking lot (student said "Hey there's a Pokemon right behind you!" so mom did the spider-killing dance)

Might try it again once the servers get fixed...and I'm able to get into my Trainer Club account again (I have one of my player IDs, but no clue what my screen name was or which one they want)

[notalwaysright]

Look. Pokemon Go isn't uniquely dangerous or scary. It's just new, so it's news, and "New thing is horrible!!!" makes better clickbait than "People continue to act like they always have."

Yup, I agree. I think it's how suddenly it's become popular that's partly to blame. For example, stereo in cars. Hypothetically, what if up until yesterday, no car had a stereo or any way to listen to music. Then today, any car could have a stereo, for free. There would be lots of accidents, right?

Anyway, that's how I see it. It might fizzle out, but in the mean time, it's a fun thing to talk about. Like a tv show everyone watches.

[Sliceanddice]

so my evening pokehunt/walk lead to me seeing the ecto-cruiser in the safeway parking lot and caught an Eevee which I had been hunting for two days. it was weird/awesome

[Kheldarson]

I won a suite box for a local baseball game by controlling a gym yesterday!

[lordlundar]

Look. Pokemon Go isn't uniquely dangerous or scary. It's just new, so it's news, and "New thing is horrible!!!" makes better clickbait than "People continue to act like they always have." For crying out loud, guys, members of this forum should understand that the problem isn't with the product, it's with the sucky customers misusing it.

A fair point. I personally blame the media only putting out bad things to get views/clicks for that assumption. There have been a lot of good stories about it as well. Allowing kids in hospitals to play and interact, promoting exercise and outdoor activity, heck, the game has done more to improve racial relations and relations with law enforcement in it's short existence than anything else in YEARS. Heck, just recently people thought there was a riot in Central Park. Nope, a rare pokemon spawned there and everyone playing was flocking towards it.

As for me, I'm not a personal fan but that's mainly because I never have been a fan of the series. I will not ignore all the good that has come out of it as well as the issues with it.

[Dreamstalker]

Some random guy showed up at the doors of the store at 2AM Friday morning wanting to get in (crew lead yelled at the cleaners for trying to open the doors), and I now wonder if someone hadn't set up a Pokespot in there... I'll have to ask mom's student.

[dalesys]

... if someone hadn't set up a Pokespot in there...

I wouldn't want the public finding *MY* Poke Spot...

[Valentinian]

It's helping people with depression and social anxiety get out more:
http://madmaudlingoes.tumblr.com/pos...awr-galagomint

[EricKei]

There have also been people going out and dropping Lures at PoI's near Children's Hospitals when they can, so kids in the hospitals can more easily find pokecritters

Also, There IS a potentially relevant legal issue that players may wish to look into: https://consumerist.com/2016/07/14/p...ow-to-opt-out/