Pokémon GO Just Might Kill You… Or Not
Since it’s release just a few days ago overseas, and its release yesterday on North America shores, it seems like all anyone can talk about is Pokémon GO. There’s no doubt that Nintendo has a smash hit on their hands that is guaranteed to do well. The game encourages people to get up off their rears and go explore where they live as they go on a relentless hunt to catch ’em all. Geeks of the highest order are leaving the relative safety of their basements to wander into the land of the everyday person and if they’re not careful THEY JUST MIGHT DIE! Well, that’s what the internet would have you believe anyhow.
Since Pokémon GO’s release the internet has been rampant with rumors of all sorts of rumors about the loss of life and dangerous situations for unwitting players just too involved in their game to pay attention. The first one to rear up was the death of a man who was so into hunting that he walked off a bridge in Mexico. Could it happen? Possibly… I guess? There are things usually put in place to prevent that, you know, like barriers but hey, you never know. As ‘reported’ on Reddit, the masses quickly fell for the hoax until it was eventually debunked as a picture from an unfortunate drunk driving accident.
Next up, there were reports that a 17-year-old Chicago teen was so hell bent on catching a Bulbasaur or a Charmander or whatever the hell that he unknowingly wandered into a bad part of town. End result? He was stabbed and robbed of his iPhone, and left for dead in the streets. Said a bystander who saw it all happen, “This kid was just looking at his phone I don’t think he had any idea where he was at or that he was being stabbed.” Haha, wait… what? Poor Marcus Jackson was just so into catching Pokémon that he didn’t even realize he was being stabbed? That’s some high-level dedication! Another situation where it doesn’t take too long to figure out that it’s a hoax.
Still, it’s hard to ignore the possible safety issues of wandering the city with your head in a smartphone. We see it every day with people walking into traffic, falling into a fountain, that sort of thing. This is something that a police station in Darwin in the UK was aware of so they sent out a friendly warning to Pokémon trainers to be aware of their surroundings. It also may have been a response to the fact that the cop shop was a Poké-Stop for the elusive (or not, I don’t know) Sandshrew. No need to come inside the building they said!
True or not, these ‘stories’ are probably a potent reminder to aspiring trainers to keep their heads up as they wander their city’s streets looking for Pokémon.