Pokemon Go isn't going anywhere. The tremendously popular and successful AR app has invaded popular culture and the real world, with roving bands of friendly trainers taking to the streets to catch them all.
It's not all fun and games, of course. As is the case with any enormous cultural happening, there's bound to be some unusual occurrences to accompany the otherwise normal user experience. Strange tales pop up more regularly than a Pidgey.
Here are 6 such unusual stories.
1. Pokemon Go Players at Risk of Landmines in Bosnia The whole point of Pokemon Go is to get players up and outside, walking around in search of wild pocket monsters. A non-governmental agency in Bosnia is warning players in the region to take especially serious the games start-up screen warning to be aware of your surroundings. The country, a central point in European conflicts for over a century, is littered with landmines left over from the 1990s. While the devices of modern war are a hazard to anyone, the agency is particularly concerned Pokemon Go players may wander into places people generally avoid.
2. Director Believes Pokemon Go Is Turning Us Into Robots Academy Award winning director Oliver Stone, no stranger to conspiracy theories, believes Pokemon Go is turning us into a "robot society" open to totalitarianism. Stone said Pokemon Go is "a new level of invasion," calling the app "surveillance capitalism" and all but pointing to the game as the catalyst that will bring an end to western society. However, the director stopped short of complaining about how the app is bringing kids into his yard where they don't belong.
3. Reporter Busted for Playing Pokemon Go During State Department Briefing State Department spokesman John Kirby called out a reporter for playing Pokemon Go during a daily briefing. The briefing, covering efforts to combat the very real threat of ISIS in the Middle East, was brought to a halt when Kirby asked a reporter "You're playing the Pokemon thing right there, aren't you?" The reporter, who CNN didn't identify, told Kirby they were "just keeping an eye" on the app, likely for control of the White House gym... which is a real thing, by the way, and a gym players have been fighting fiercely to control.
4. Artist Uses Pokemon Go to Bring Attention to the Plight of Refugees Syrian artist Saif Aldeen Tahhan created a set of images using the now-iconic imagery of Pokemon Go to highlight the suffering of Syria's refugee population. Where one might find a Pikachu on their screen pointed at a park or business, Tahhan's images instead show a medical kit on a screen pointed to a bombed-out street. Tahhan told the International Business Times UK he's not interested in the game, but hopes to use its cultural ubiquitousness to turn peoples' attention to "Syrian suffering instead of Pokemon."
5. Vaporeon Shows Up in Central Park, People Lose Their Minds It's possible to evolve your Pokemon Go Eevee into Flareon, Jolteon, or Vaporeon by giving your Eevee a certain name before evolution. But what happens when a wild Vaporeon shows up in America's biggest city? The answer is a torrent of humanity, phones in hand, descending on Central Park. Jostling for position, the sheer amount of people trying to catch their own Vaporeon is staggering, but perhaps even more impressive is the lack of any other incident. All those people, and not one report of a fight or a mugging. Just a sea of humanity, peacefully coexisting to try to catch the coolest of the Eevee evolved forms.
6. Pokemon Go Doubling Sales at Some Businesses The 3 key points to success in real estate are location, location, and location, and if you're a small business, having a location that doubles as a Pokestop or gym is the new road to riches. A Pokemon Go event at Bok Tower Gardens in Lake Wales, FL drew in nearly 1,000 participants. That's a huge increase over the 300-350 visitors who normally come to the landmark. Out of the 1,000 visitors, nine purchased annual membership packages, something director of marketing and public relations Erica Smith called a significant metric of event success.
Seth Macy is IGN's weekend web producer and just wants to be your friend. Follow him on Twitter @sethmacy, or subscribe to Seth Macy's YouTube channel.
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