A new threat to cyclists - Pokemon GO

graeme_s-2

There's a new mobile game out called Pokemon Go that involves wandering around waving your phone about as part of the gameplay.

As I was cycling home last night a car pulled out in front of me without looking and I had to brake quite hard. The car then began to drive very slowly in front of me. I peered through the back window and could see the driver holding up his mobile phone. I yelled "get off your phone!" the driver wound his window down and shouted back "I'm playing Pokemon!"

Brilliant!

slowbike

I really don't know what to say about that ...

wolfsbane2k

Yeah, PokeMoan Go F yourself has already caused a large bunch of problems around the world - peds, drivers, cyclists all having accidents because their on their phones and not looking where they are going.

Not supposed to be out in the UK yet, but people are bypassing the restrictions, so when it finally comes to the UK, beware it's only going to get worse.

dhope

Wont somebody think of the children

wolfsbane2k

dhope wrote:

Wont somebody think of the children

They are - it's forcing them to get outside and looking around - you have to physically move between places to "train up".
Of course... people are going to drive instead of walking/running/cycling

And too late, it's already released for the UK

elbowloh

...and someone had the bright idea of using the holocaust memorial in Washington as one of the venues.

There was a story in the paper yesterday about licenced sex shop being a location too...with potentially children trying to get in looking for a toy.

guy.spartacus

It uses places of interest - presumably garnered from Google Maps - and the Pokemon themselves pop up at random.

Obviously though - serious cyclists don't have smart phones or have fun

imatfaal

elbowloh wrote:

...and someone had the bright idea of using the holocaust memorial in Washington as one of the venues.

There was a story in the paper yesterday about licenced sex shop being a location too...with potentially children trying to get in looking for a toy.

A police station in new zealand ended up putting up a sign threatening the next person coming in waving a mobile with arrest

The Rookie

The Holocaust Museum has 'asked' (demanded perhaps) no Pokemon are placed there as they feel (rightly in my mind) that it is inappropriate.

The game is apparently raking in USD1.2M a DAY. My daughter has it.

It's just harmless fun until some retard disengages their brain, hard to blame the game, they would just find something else to masque their common sense anyway I suspect.

gabriel959

Wolfsbane2k wrote:

Yeah, PokeMoan Go F yourself has already caused a large bunch of problems around the world - peds, drivers, cyclists all having accidents because their on their phones and not looking where they are going.

Not supposed to be out in the UK yet, but people are bypassing the restrictions, so when it finally comes to the UK, beware it's only going to get worse.

Sorry, just been released in the Uk today.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/0 ... -released/

graeme_s-2

The Rookie wrote:

It's just harmless fun until some retard disengages their brain, hard to blame the game, they would just find something else to masque their common sense anyway I suspect.

Oh - agree entirely - I was blaming people who are idiots, not the game.

My incident happened on University road, so keep your wits about you!

jfparis

I have been reading about this in the news since last week end and was not looking fwd to have it in the UK.

The good news is that it is going to be one of the biggest manifestation of Darwinism.
The bad things is that there will necessarily be some collateral damage

Walls82

sounds like the safest thing to be seen is dress up like a pokemon.

rolf_f

Wolfsbane2k wrote:

dhope wrote:

Wont somebody think of the children

They are - it's forcing them to get outside and looking around - you have to physically move between places to "train up".

There'll be a virtual version of it soon........

As a friend posted on FB - doesn't sound so cool when you call it "Imaginary Friends GO"!

FocusZing

Walls82 wrote:

sounds like the safest thing to be seen is dress up like a pokemon.

The Rookie

Epic!

The Rookie

Graeme_S wrote:

My incident happened on University road, so keep your wits about you!

Thanks, maybe it was the same dimwit I yelled at sitting looking at his phone at the Gibbet Hill roundabout the other day......with a 40m gap in front of him as he was oblivious to the car in front having pulled away!

thistle_

Also watch out for cars driving along normally then suddenly slamming on the brakes when they spot one.

You'd have thought Nintendo would have updated the software to exit once you are going over a certain speed to stop people doing it while driving. Presumably you know roughly where the Pokemon are so you can drive there, park up, turn the app back on and walk around to find it?

guy.spartacus

No - they appear at random

There is no map showing where they are

dhope

thistle (MBNW) wrote:

You'd have thought Nintendo would have updated the software to exit once you are going over a certain speed

That would make no sense. Children in the back of a car playing games, or being on the train. Or random GPS glitches.

This is a Daily Mail worthy thread, finding something to complain about for no reason. (fortunately very few seem to be on board/taking it seriously)

On that note.
F*cking cyclists, getting around to Pokéstops more quickly and running reds to catch 'em all. Should be taxed and have number plates stamped on their foreheads. etc etc, yawn

pangolin

elbowloh wrote:

...and someone had the bright idea of using the holocaust memorial in Washington as one of the venues.

There was a story in the paper yesterday about licenced sex shop being a location too...with potentially children trying to get in looking for a toy.

No-one had the bright idea to do that. The game uses data from a previous geo-caching style game called ingress.

What were portals in ingress (basically any random point of interest, submitted by users with a photo and a bit of info) have become pokestops or gyms in Pokemon Go.

There are dozens of these in any reasonably sized town, hundreds of thousands worldwide. They couldn't have policed each one. People can contact the developer and ask for things to be removed of course.

elbowloh wrote:

With potentially children trying to get in looking for a toy

Lets find things that have actually happened to get up in arms about shall we?

dhope wrote:

This is a Daily Mail worthy thread

+1

DrLex

wolfsbane2k

Hahahahahah.. haha... Argh :-(

elbowloh

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elbowloh

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elbowloh

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the_fuggler

I have to say it was a Godsend with three boys under 7 to entertain in town while the EPO was having her hair done. Guaranteed to diffuse any fights immediately. Another one of those where common sense rules...

Snakebite the 2nd

I didn't realise the extent of it until I walked into the town at the weekend.

Now if you are 12 and under, or looking after a 12 year old or under then it's ok.

If you do not fit into the above, then really you should be thinking about beer and girls.
(Or boys, or whatever, can't discriminate!)

veronese68

Snakebite the 2nd wrote:

If you do not fit into the above, then really you should be thinking about beer and girls.
(Or boys, or whatever, can't discriminate!)

My boy is 17 and he got it, he plays it whilst on his way to get beer and girls. Thankfully he does find the whole thing quite amusing and laughs at it and himself. I don't think there is any danger of him taking it seriously.
There was something on the One Show last night about it and the question was asked if it could be used to meet and pick up girls, the boy fell about laughing and said if that was the best you could do you really should be trying harder and be ashamed of yourself.

tootsie323

DrLex wrote:

Vorsprung duuuuuuuuuh...

keef66

I work in an office of apparently intelligent, professional people. Yesterday on my lunchtime walk I followed three of them, heads bowed, studying their mobiles, and occasionally bumping into things. And this morning at the desk next to mine, there was a bit of a gathering around a phone. Somebody seemed quite indignant that his colleague had caught a Pikachu in the car park on the way to work just by chance, and was bemoaning the fact he'd spent many fruitless hours looking for one.

These people have degrees and PhDs FFS.

I'm constantly amazed by the amount of time some people seem to devote to their mobile devices. If they have even a modest circle of friends, keeping up with Facebook, Snapchat, WhatsApp, blogs and feeds etc is nearly a full time job