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Pokémon GO Madness

OneWingedBird

Beloved of Ra
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Aug 3, 2003
Messages
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I'm forseeing a lot of upcoming 'sat nav disasters' type stuff with Pokemon GO, as people try to get in places they would be better off not to as part of the game.

It sounds a lot like the 'enhanced reality' from the anime Robotics;notes where objects in the virtual world are overlaid on the real world via phone/computer.

This lady got a bit more than she bargained for!

A teenage girl who was attempting to find virtual reality Pokémon characters in a smartphone game instead found a dead body floating in a river near her home. :eek:

Shayla Wiggins, of Riverton, Wyoming, was using the augmented reality app Pokémon GO, in which players hunt down animated mutant characters in real-world locations while looking through their smartphone's camera.

Didn't seem to occur to this lot it might be a bad idea to search inside a police station!

Police in Australia were forced to make an official statement about the game on Friday after users kept trying to get into a Darwin police station to capture the character Sandshrew, who was apparently inside.

Independent
 
Looks like some wally nearly caused a traffic accident trying to catch his pokemon

Even though the game warns you to pay attention there are some people that seem to believe that their dreams of being a Pokémon master come above their safety and the safety of others. 26-year-old Lamar Hickson was playing the new game as he was driving when he spotted a Pikachu. Hickson decided to stop his car in the middle of the highway in order to catch it, having admitted to the act to the police saying that “if you wanna catch them all you gotta risk it all so I put my car in park and started tossing these balls”.

Eteknix
 
It does rather sound a bit hazardous.
Possibly hazardous too for ordinary people encountering such people - I hope no more people drive around while in the game.
 
It's not clear to me if the game involves taking photographs, I guess even if people think you are in the wrong place, it's an opportunity for an unpleasant misunderstanding:

“Playing it just for 5 mins, i left for my office. Now this is where i screwed up. Employees of my company are allowed to use smartphones inside the premises BUT using camera is strictly prohibited as we have access to clients personal data. you can guess what happened next… i encountered a wild ZUBAT! i instantly went into Ash mode and started throwing Pokeballs… then came voice from behind ‘excuse me sir, are you clicking photographs?!’ and next thing i knew was my iPhone getting confiscated. I tried to post this yesterday but it got removed because security dept [had] yet to reply back to me.

Gamerrant
 
Oh dear.
It can only end badly.
 
So... has the virtual world become more real for the players than the real world? Is this game messing with their consciousness? Pokémon cartoons were responsible for that Japanese mass hysteria a few years back, too, this sounds like a variation. Also sounds like a parody of what internet overuse can do to the mind, only it's actually happened.
 
Today I saw 2 couples (4 individuals) doing that thing in my own neighborhood!
It's closer than you might think :eek:
 
So can the local pub or coffee shop become a pokestop of whatever it is they are called? I'd imagine it would be good for business.
 
Amazing how much hassle this game has caused already.

I remember all the fuss Daily Mail types used to make over GTA and how it would turn us all into car jacking serial killers.

Now it seems the apocalypse will be brought about not by an ultraviolent gangsta simulator but by the incessant quest for cute critters.
 
Reading about, the critter found at the Westboro Baptist Church has been branded a sodomite by their publicity department. And of course the CTs have decided the company behind Pokémon want to harvest our details for their own shady reasons (possibly our organs, too).
 
Reading about, the critter found at the Westboro Baptist Church has been branded a sodomite by their publicity department. And of course the CTs have decided the company behind Pokémon want to harvest our details for their own shady reasons (possibly our organs, too).

More info for the curious :

http://kotaku.com/pokemon-go-fan-trolls-westboro-baptist-church-church-f-1783449276

http://blackbag.gawker.com/pokemon-go-is-a-government-surveillance-psyop-conspirac-1783461240
 
By the time we got this far, Niantic released a statement that confirmed they had far more access than needed:

We recently discovered that the Pokémon GO account creation process on iOS erroneously requests full access permission for the user’s Google account. However, Pokémon GO only accesses basic Google profile information (specifically, your User ID and email address) and no other Google account information is or has been accessed or collected.

https://blog.trailofbits.com/2016/07/11/why-i-didnt-catch-any-pokemon-today/
 
It’s unclear whether Michael Baker is the very best Pokemaster, like no one ever was, but he might be the most dedicated. The 21-year-old was stabbed at 1 a.m. while looking for Pokemon, but refused medical attention because he wanted to keep playing.

Baker was in Oregon’s Forest Grove when he came across someone he thought was another player. He issued a challenge to battle. He got stabbed in the shoulder.

“I saw him go by and asked if he was playing Pokemon Go. He was like “what?”. I guess he wanted to battle because he came up at me with a knife,” he said. So, yeah, a different kind of battle.

“I basically risked my life,” he adds, and who are we to question that? After risking his life, this brave man decided to continue looking for Pokemon and go to Plaid Pantry to get chips and beer. He has since had eight stitches.


http://gizmodo.com/pokemon-go-maniac-refuses-to-go-to-hospital-after-stabb-1783572211
 
The United States Holocaust Museum has requested not to be a collection point for Pokémon GO anymore. I understand it could be a distraction. To put it mildly.
 
The United States Holocaust Museum has requested not to be a collection point for Pokémon GO anymore.

*speechless*

Well it is in the UK now..

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-36793610

"An NSPCC spokesman said: "It's deeply troubling that the app's owners have ignored many warning signals and well documented child safety concerns."

Well the main thing is that they are making enormous piles of cash.
 
It’s unclear whether Michael Baker is the very best Pokemaster, like no one ever was, but he might be the most dedicated. The 21-year-old was stabbed at 1 a.m. while looking for Pokemon, but refused medical attention because he wanted to keep playing.

Baker was in Oregon’s Forest Grove when he came across someone he thought was another player. He issued a challenge to battle. He got stabbed in the shoulder.

“I saw him go by and asked if he was playing Pokemon Go. He was like “what?”. I guess he wanted to battle because he came up at me with a knife,” he said. So, yeah, a different kind of battle.

“I basically risked my life,” he adds, and who are we to question that? After risking his life, this brave man decided to continue looking for Pokemon and go to Plaid Pantry to get chips and beer. He has since had eight stitches.


http://gizmodo.com/pokemon-go-maniac-refuses-to-go-to-hospital-after-stabb-1783572211

I don't know whether to admire his tenacity or consider him a pathetic tosser with no concern for his own safety.

Hang on. He's 21 and looking for imaginary animals in the park at 1 am, and thinks that this is more important than getting a stab wound seen to. I've made my mind up.
 
A right-wing Christian pastor warned on his radio program that the Pokémon GO cell phone game undoubtedly had sinister portents.

Rick Wiles, who frequently warns the apocalypse is near, called police last week after spotting a middle-aged man apparently taking pictures with his phone outside his “TruNews” offices — but officers told him the man was playing the augmented reality game, reported Right Wing Watch.

That freaked Wiles all the way out, and he let his imagination run wild.

“These Pokémon creatures are like virtual, cyber-demons,” Wiles said. “What this man, Friday, was trying to find was the Pokémon demon that had been placed inside the ‘Trunews’ office.”

Wiles worried that terrorists could use information harvested by the app to target Christians.

“What if this technology is transferred to Islamic jihadists, and Islamic jihadists have an app that shows them where Christians are located geographically?” Wiles said. ...

http://www.rawstory.com/2016/07/end...tians-with-cyber-demons/#.V4eBj4vvsVQ.twitter
 
A right-wing Christian pastor warned on his radio program that the Pokémon GO cell phone game undoubtedly had sinister portents.

Rick Wiles, who frequently warns the apocalypse is near, called police last week after spotting a middle-aged man apparently taking pictures with his phone outside his “TruNews” offices — but officers told him the man was playing the augmented reality game, reported Right Wing Watch.

That freaked Wiles all the way out, and he let his imagination run wild.

“These Pokémon creatures are like virtual, cyber-demons,” Wiles said. “What this man, Friday, was trying to find was the Pokémon demon that had been placed inside the ‘Trunews’ office.”

Wiles worried that terrorists could use information harvested by the app to target Christians.

“What if this technology is transferred to Islamic jihadists, and Islamic jihadists have an app that shows them where Christians are located geographically?” Wiles said. ...

http://www.rawstory.com/2016/07/end...tians-with-cyber-demons/#.V4eBj4vvsVQ.twitter

Only demons and terrorists? With a little effort I'm sure he could add homosexuality, Obama and the End Times to his statement.
 
“What if this technology is transferred to Islamic jihadists, and Islamic jihadists have an app that shows them where Christians are located geographically" Wiles said...
I'm pretty sure Jihadists have already worked out you can locate Christians geographically in those old buildings with the pointy spires every Sunday morning.

In other news Pocket Monster Go isn't compatible with my aging Samsung phone. Oh well.
 
A right-wing Christian pastor warned on his radio program that the Pokémon GO cell phone game undoubtedly had sinister portents.

Rick Wiles, who frequently warns the apocalypse is near, called police last week after spotting a middle-aged man apparently taking pictures with his phone outside his “TruNews” offices — but officers told him the man was playing the augmented reality game, reported Right Wing Watch.

That freaked Wiles all the way out, and he let his imagination run wild.

“These Pokémon creatures are like virtual, cyber-demons,” Wiles said. “What this man, Friday, was trying to find was the Pokémon demon that had been placed inside the ‘Trunews’ office.”
Is he admitting there are demons making themselves at home in his office? Because it sounds to me like he's admitting demons make themselves at home in his office.
 
Only demons and terrorists? With a little effort I'm sure he could add homosexuality, Obama and the End Times to his statement.

Too late, Pikachu just got jihadded :eek:

jihad%20pikachu_zpszaelfe3y.jpg
 
2 California men fall off edge of ocean bluff while playing 'Pokemon Go'
On Wednesday, firefighters rescued two men who fell several stories off the crumbling sandstone bluff in Encinitas, according to authorities. The men, who were in their early 20s, were playing “Pokemon Go” at the time and likely were led to the cliff when they were trying to catch characters, said Sgt. Rich Eaton of the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department.

One man fell 75 to 100 feet. As firefighters rescued the man, they found the second man unconscious 50 feet down the bluff, said Battalion Chief Robbie Ford of the Encinitas Fire Department. Both were taken to area trauma centers and suffered moderate injuries, he said.
http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/...abbed-fall-off-cliff-20160714-snap-story.html
 
A reddit dealing with unresolved mysteries (crimes, earth mysteries, etc.) has a sub-reddit on DB Cooper (whose files is being closed by the FBI). the second post jokingly says 'They'll find him while looking for pokemon', to which someone also joking replied that pokemon go could be a great help with unresolved murders. It seems that a few bodies have indeed turned up. Details here:
https://www.reddit.com/r/Unresolved...is_closing_the_db_cooper_case_due_to_lack_of/
 
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