Nintendo’s new augmented reality (AG) game, ‘Pokemon Go’ has everyone hooked. The new gaming app has already been downloaded more than Tinder, and will probably overtake Twitter if its figures continue to grow. According to estimates, its has been downloaded over 7.5 million times since its July 6 launch.
But despite the huge popularity of the virtual reality game, players could face dangers in actual reality. The augmented reality (AR) app uses GPS-tracking and technology that overlays a digital layer on the actual world. As crazy as it might seem, the experience is so immersive that an increasing number or instances have been reported were users have stumbled into precarious predicaments in their efforts to capture the Pokemon virtual characters. The hunt to catch Pikachu and other virtual creatures has already enticed gamers into armed robbers’ hands and has turned private properties and even religious sites into ‘Pokemon play areas’. The game has even helped to uncover a dead body in Wyoming. A woman found a dead body while searching for a pokemon on her mobile phone. Sahyla Wiggins, 19, immediately informed the authorities of her find. Wiggins found a man lying face down in the river near her Riverton, Wyoming home.
As THR explained, AR games raise legal concerns over trespassing, players stumbling across crime scenes, personal injuries and risks to minors. (The major upside? Getting couch potatoes to exercise.)
Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Capt. Chris Reed said that ‘so far we have had no reports of any crimes related to the app or players, but we’ve heard the reports elsewhere and we’re going to be sending out safety tips’.
Reed said the sheer volume of players who either are distracted or wandering unfamiliar streets could lead to crimes and accidents.
Mike Parker, the department’s tech guru, on Tuesday tweeted out a warning to motorists: ‘Please don’t #PokemonGO while you are driving. Pull over, or bring a friend’.