Pokemon will celebrate its 20th birthday this year. Since 1996, 721 pocket monsters have come into creation, 73 different video games can possibly be played and 21.5 billion trading cards have shipped globally. Nintendo released “Pokemon Go” two weeks ago, and the free game has added $7.5 billion to Nintendo’s market value. The game has already surpassed Facebook and Twitter in daily active users. Nintendo’s newest creation satisfies the yearning for the nostalgic days wasted on Game Boys. However, as the new game can no longer be played sitting in the corner, walking around with a phone glued to one’s face yields some danger.
Although fervor and opposition for the newest Pokemon game seem to match one another pound-for-pound, no one can deny that this video game does what almost all other video games prevent: getting out of the house, something some traditional players aren’t used to.
Distances traveled have led to many users complaining of sore legs and intense sunburns: common symptoms associated with the phenomenon that is exercise. The easy prescription for potentially negative consequences of exercise includes light stretching and sunscreen, but there are health dangers that aren’t as easy to mend.
In the same way selfie stick-related injuries and deaths made last year’s news, “Pokemon Go”-related injuries will likely fill headlines throughout the coming months. According to The Washington Post, just days after the release of the game, numerous accounts of injuries surfaced from players slipping and falling from not paying attention to their surroundings. In the past week, two men chased Pokemon off a cliff in San Diego, California, and a 15-year-old girl was hit by a car after the game took her across a busy Pittsburg street. It’s easy to get caught up in this new game, but players cannot forget: No game is worth endangering their lives.
Some Pokemon dangers even go beyond the control of gamers themselves. In O’Fallon, Missouri, armed robbers lured “Pokemon Go” users by setting up a Pokestop within the game. And right here in Florida — of course — two teens were shot at when playing the game outside a person’s house. According to USA Today, the homeowner mistook the gamers as robbers when he thought he heard one of the teens ask the other, “Did you get anything?” In actuality, the teen asked the other, “Did you catch him (the Pokemon)?”
Adults often wave their fingers in disapproval at youngsters for sporting their phone apps over more traditional activities for leisure time. Instead of picking up a newspaper or learning more about the world around them, Generation Z strives to become experts of fabricated worlds. Even I am one to chastise those who know more about game worlds than the real world.
However, it is no coincidence that an augmented reality game catches the hearts of millions during a period of shock and tragedy. The rift between police and civilians has never been greater, last month’s Brexit gave the international economy a serious jolt and, of course, there’s the Republican National Convention: Does anyone know who Republicans are even nominating?
“Pokemon Go” gives gamers a mental break from the harsh reality around us. They should just play with caution so they don’t become a part of the news cycle.
Joshua Udvardy is a UF mechanical engineering sophomore. His column appears on Thursdays.
