While the augmented reality-based mobile game ‘Pokemon Go’ continues to be all the rage, state legislators have expressed concerns over children’s safety and demanded that the state government issue a
While the augmented reality-based mobile game ‘Pokemon Go’ continues to be all the rage, state legislators have expressed concerns over children’s safety and demanded that the state government issue a precautionary advisory for this application.
Senior Shiv Sena legislator Neelam Gorhe raised the issue on Friday. She claimed that children become so engrossed while chasing the virtual creatures that they might end up in unsafe places. “Pokemon Go is being played by lot of kids in Maharashtra. In order to play the game, one needs to constantly keep the GPS on and keep on wandering to track Pokemon. Due to this, there are chances of them getting injured. To catch the Pokemon, children keep on wandering even at midnight. This may land them at unsafe places,” she said.
Pokemon Go allows players to capture, battle and train Pokemon, who appear on device screens as though in the real world. The game has quickly became one of the most used smart device apps, surpassing the record held by Candy Crush Saga.
Ms Gorhe also gave some examples of the hazards of playing Pokemon Go: “In Indonesia, a gamer reached an army base, whereas in Kuwait the government has banned downloading the gaming app because it can cause important information to leak. In Guatemala, two children were fired upon as they reached a desolate place. In Arizona, a medical school has issued instructions to its students about taking precautions while playing the game. On these lines, the government should also issue on advisory to all students in the state,” she said.
Taking note of her demand, council chairman Ramraje Nimbalkar directed the government to take serious note of the issue raised by her.
