Pokemon game poses dangers
LOS ANGELES — Beware: “Pokemon Go,” a new smart phone game based on cute Nintendo characters like Squirtle and Pikachu, can be harmful to your health.
The “augmented reality” game, which layers gameplay onto the physical world, became the top grossing app in the iPhone app store just days after its Wednesday release in the U.S., Australia and New Zealand. And players have already reported wiping out in a variety of ways as they wander the real world — eyes glued to their smart phone screens — in search of digital monsters.
Mike Schultz, 21, a communications graduate on Long Island, N.Y., took a spill on his skateboard as he stared at his phone early Thursday. He cut his hand on the sidewalk after hitting a big crack.
“I just wanted to be able to stop quickly if there were any Pokemons nearby to catch,” he says. “I don’t think the company is really at fault.”
The game was created by Niantic, a San Francisco spinoff of Google parent Alphabet that previously became known for a similar augmented-reality game called “Ingress.”
To play, you fire up the game and then start trekking to prominent local landmarks — represented in the game as “Pokestops” — where you can gather supplies such as Pokeballs. Those are what you fling at online “pocket monsters,” or Pokemon, to capture them for training. At other locations called “gyms” — which may or may not be actual gyms in the real world — Pokemon battle one another for supremacy.
Naturally, the game has also induced people to post pictures of themselves on social media chasing creatures in all sorts of dangerous situations.
Twisted ankles, mishaps with revolving doors and walking into trees have been among the painful results.
As an upside, players get more exercise than usual and can learn more about the historical landmarks incorporated into the game as Pokestops. Digital signposts describe their significance in the real world.
