The Pokemon Go Craze

[Kyriakos]

This tech has interesting connotations, at least re artistic plots.
Eg, some similar tech used, supposedly as a harmless game, to track down "demons" 'in real life'. Only the end was somewhat different, and people start to die
You have just found a rare Slenderman.

 

[Zelig]

If you're using premises to reach a conclusion, that's called making an argument, not asking questions, and that's something a person who (by their own admission) is uninformed should probably not do. Especially when that person has already claimed they were actually asking questions to perfect their knowledge.

Still mixing them up. That, or willfully misinterpreting. I offered no conclusion to how game design would be improved by removing microtransactions.

 

[SS-18 ICBM]

I'm mainly interested in the trouble people land themselves in playing this game.

I know. The problem is that games like this only contribute to the problem. We need to be encouraging people to look up from their smartphones more, not giving them even more reasons to lose themselves in it.

Maybe give bonuses for having the phone in lock mode.

 

[Gucumatz]

Honestly this seems like a lot of fun. I can't play it due to having a cheap windows phone, but this thing will probably stick around for some time. This is only the original 150 something pokemon - there are like another 600 of them that can be released over time, plus assorted features. Nintendo's stock has more than doubled in a month due to this and therefore they will have plenty of incentive to keep this craze going.

I don't think Go is going to leave us any time soon

 

[AlpsStranger]

Eh, my job currently exists in a freakish wonderland of Pokemon. Stops and lures everywhere, all damn day. I sneakily catch some when nobody is looking

 

[Kaitzilla]

I'm mainly interested in the trouble people land themselves in playing this game...

Saudi Arabia banned Pokémon Go.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2016/07/20/top-saudi-clerics-ban-pokemon-go/87330916/

Indonesia is also having trouble with the game.
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2016/07/20/world/asia/ap-as-indonesia-pokemon.html?_r=0

Indonesian officials have banned the playing of "Pokemon Go" from the presidential palace.

Hastily printed warnings that say "Playing or hunting Pokemon prohibited in the palace area" were put up around the palace complex in Jakarta on Wednesday.

"This is the office of the president, not a playground," said Bey Machmuddin, chief of the palace's press bureau.

Last week, Cabinet Secretary Pramono Agung said he had captured a number of Pokemon at the palace. But some officials have expressed worry the game could be a security risk.

Police have been banned from playing the game while on duty, and local media reported that Defense Minister Ryamizard Ryacudu had warned that the game might be used by foreign countries to detect sensitive information.

"Pokemon Go," which uses Google Maps and a smartphone to overlay reality with Pokemon creatures, has been a blockbuster hit in the U.S. and other countries where it is available. It has not been officially released in Indonesia but is already popular here.

On Monday, Indonesian police briefly detained a Frenchman after he trespassed on a military base in a West Java town while hunting for Pokemon creatures.

 

[SS-18 ICBM]

Yeah, that's the stuff.

“This game makes people look like drunkards in the streets and on the roads while their eyes are glued to the mobile screens,”

I...can't really disagree with that.

Last week, Cabinet Secretary Pramono Agung said he had captured a number of Pokemon at the palace.

 

[Kaitzilla]

Pokémon Go is still more popular on Google Search than porn, but it's finally falling.

Spoiler :

 

[sophie]

Until they get banned for being huge safety issues. I mean, there are already a plethora of stories out there of people injuring/killing themselves or others due to the lack of attention being paid to their surroundings. You get a hundred other games like this out there, and the "accidents" caused by it increase greatly, and you will see a government effort to ban such games.

All it's going to take is one successful lawsuit and these games will go bye-bye.

Lots of people boat. Some people get really drunk while boating and hurt themselves and others. Guess we should ban boats then.

 

[Zelig]

I don't think requiring Pokemon licensing is really needed though.

 

[sophie]

I don't think requiring Pokemon licensing is really needed though.

You don't need a license to drive a boat. You just need a boat.

 

[Zelig]

You don't need a Pokemon license to play PoGo, you just need a phone.

 

[sophie]

You don't need a Pokemon license to play PoGo, you just need a phone.

?? I...know?

 

[Zelig]

I'm not sure where the joke ran out... you do need a license for boating in most North American waters.

 

[Commodore]

Lots of people boat. Some people get really drunk while boating and hurt themselves and others. Guess we should ban boats then.

No, but they are regulated. You do actually have to get a license to boat, and there are numerous regulations that carry pretty hefty penalties if you are caught in violation of them. Boats are more regulated than cars, it just seems like they aren't because those regulations are usually poorly enforced.

I don't think mobile games should be banned, but I do think they need to be regulated. I also think staring into your smartphone while crossing the street or during some other potentially unsafe act while in a populated area should be a ticketable offense. It should carry the same fine as texting while driving.

 

[Zelig]

Texting and driving is an offense because it's dangerous to others.

 

[Evie]

Considering the sheer amount of people who have the game (I believe it's past 30 millions in the US alone by now - I know it was 26 a few days back), and how we are hearing, what, a couple hundred stories at the very most, PoGo is far less dangerous than driving (whether car or boat) by any sane evaluation. Don't mistake media hyper-repetition for actual danger - the media are always going to make the "new thing" sounds dangerous.

Especially, as Zelig point out, since the vast majority of incidents we've heard about have resulted in injuries only to the PoGo player, not to others.

 

[Commodore]

Texting and driving is an offense because it's dangerous to others.

So is staring into your phone and not paying attention while you are walking in a populated area.

 

[FriendlyFire]

No, but they are regulated. You do actually have to get a license to boat, and there are numerous regulations that carry pretty hefty penalties if you are caught in violation of them. Boats are more regulated than cars, it just seems like they aren't because those regulations are usually poorly enforced.

I don't think mobile games should be banned, but I do think they need to be regulated. I also think staring into your smartphone while crossing the street or during some other potentially unsafe act while in a populated area should be a ticketable offense. It should carry the same fine as texting while driving.

Boats dont kill people, people kill people !
Someone is going to be killed playing PokemonGo eventually, the huge number of players is likely to have a few idiots.

If people can be punched in the face for jaywalking, then being fined for staring into smartphone while crossing is pretty sensible.

 

[Evie]

A (very small) fine, perhaps, and that only for actual *staring* (as opposed to glancing).

The same fine as texting while driving (an act that represent a clear and lethal danger to *others*) is freaking ridiculous.

I mean, I hate to break it to you but being rammed into by a multi-tons metal machine going at 50 or 100 km/h and being rammed into by a 200lbs (generously assuming a big one) pedestrian at maybe 5km/h if pushing really hard are not even close to being in the same league, risk-wise. The idea that inattention should carry the same penalty in both situtations is laughable.