The booming success of Pokemon GO might be a relief to parents who want their kids to get outdoors more. But the mobile video game might not be the safest pastime.
Players have been falling over things, falling into things, and falling off of things, as well as trespassing, crashing their cars, and getting robbed.
Police departments from Australia to Virginia are warning players to pay attention and refrain from breaking the law. The game itself contains a warning against risky behaviors.
The problem is, playing a video game can be hard to reconcile with functioning in the real world.
Pokemon GO was developed by Niantic and released on July 6 by The Pokemon Company. The game scatters virtual pocket monsters—called Pokemon—at map locations in the real world. Much like in geocaching, players have to physically reach a certain location as confirmed by their phone’s GPS to collect the critters in the game.
Moreover, Pokemon only pop up on the game’s map when the player gets close to them, making the players walk around and explore the area to find them.
Local landmarks, like libraries, parks, fountains, and police stations, can be marked as Pokestops and Gyms, where players can collect in-game perks or use their Pokemon to fight other Pokemon.
From anecdotal online reports, the game does make people travel for their Pokemon—which encourages players to exercise, visit local landmarks, and even socialize more, thanks to meeting other Pokemon hunters along the way.
Also, it’s massively popular. The game, both for Android and iOS, has been downloaded over 15 million times, USA Today reported, citing estimates of research firm SensorTower on July 13.
At one point, some 21 million people were playing the game simultaneously, making it the biggest mobile video game in U.S. history, according to SurveyMonkey.
Stocks for Nintendo, the co-owner of the Pokemon franchise, have soared nearly 60 percent since the game’s release on July 6, adding close to $10 billion to the company’s value, according to CNN Money.
But some say the game is a significant distraction and perhaps more dangerous than any other.
Distracted
