Is the game to blame for the accidents happening from playing Pokemon Go?

[Almonds]

I had a huge argument with my mother over this issue and I created this thread to prove a point.

As you may know, Pokemon Go is a huge hit worldwide and it is receiving a lot of attention from various media.

There have been reports regarding accidents happening from playing Pokemon Go. Getting involved with car accidents, walking off a cliff, trespassing someone's private property, and the list goes on. And most of them are due to people not taking their eyes of the screen because they're too distracted with the game.

So here's the question: Is the game to blame for the accidents happening from playing Pokemon Go?

My mom voted yes. Nintendo/Niantic/GameFreak (she doesn't know much about gaming so she just referred to Nintendo, but anyways) should know fully well Pokemon is a very successful franchise and that Pokemon Go would become a very popular game. They should have thought thoroughly about who buys their products, and add safety measures to the game, such as disabling GPS functions for teenagers when they're on the streets. Teenagers and young children likely lack the judgement that "not taking your eyes off the screen when walking is wrong", and they would possibly become too absorbed in the game to even think straight, which is common for kids. Therefore, the company should be responsible about their influence and protect the kids from getting in accidents due to their "overly fun" games. (No offense to teenagers or children)

I voted no. Phone related accidents happen every day. People get in accidents while sending text messages, watching videos, and playing other games on the street. It's their fault for not looking where they're going when they're walking, and it's basic knowledge to check if the light's red, or if there are vehicles nearby, or check once in a while if there's a tree or if the road ends. Teenagers and young children - with supervision and education - would be fully aware that it's dangerous to keep your eyes on the phone all the time. Those who don't bother looking up even once to see what's in front of you, despite being taught that it is a dangerous thing to do, are the ones who made the decision. The gaming company can't be responsible for every single person on Earth just because some of their consumers made mistakes while using their products.


Now I'm not saying that the gaming company shouldn't make any safety measures. A warning message like "Always remember to be aware of your surroundings" should suffice, and if someone chooses to ignore it then it's their choice.


Clarification Note: yes, I know Nintendo isn't directly related to Pokemon Go, but I added 'Nintendo' to the poll title initially because my mom referred to Nintendo because in her logic 'Pokemon comes from Nintendo'. I can't change the poll title now, but hopefully, this wouldn't be misunderstanding.

 

[Zexy]

"such as disabling GPS functions for teenagers when they're on the streets" - and how would that be possible? People can trick their way around it, too.

I'd say no. They're a company, they released a game, they put the warning sign on, it's not their responsibility if the players aren't careful. In the cases of young children it still is the parents' duty to take care of them and ensure their safety.

 

[dragon_nataku]

People are responsible for their own actions. Just like video games were not responsible for the Columbine (and other) school shootings, video games are not responsible for idiots being idiots. Like @Eye Gel said, people cause accidents and kill themselves and eachother in motor vehicle collisions/crossing the street due to merely texting, so it's not like this is a new development in the idiocy of humans. It's just now humans have something else, that is external to themselves (and therefore removes their own blame) to blame for their eternal stupidity. Most people don't want to admit they are idiots, so they prefer to blame something like a game. Dear morons: GAMES ARE NOT SENTIENT CREATURES. They can't MAKE you do anything.

This all circles back around to the old "guns are evil" thing. I don't really care one way or the other about the current American political debate about gun control, but what I'm getting at is "guns don't kill people. People kill people." Just like the game did not force someone to walk in front of a car, a gun did not force someone to murder someone. People have to be responsible for their own actions and allowing idiots to blame a non-thinking object for their own stupidity allows people to be irresponsible with their lives and the lives of others.

Also, like @Zexy said, parents are responsible for their children. That's why they are called "legal guardians." If parents want to just give birth and then toss their kids out into the world for the universe to raise them, they can't then turn around and bitch about it when their kids get hurt or killed because they weren't supervised or taught common sense. Personally I don't understand why children require cellphones (maybe I'm just too old) but my kids won't have a cellphone for anything other than "You are leaving the house for non-class reasons, this is for emergencies only" before they're in like high school. The fuck does a 10-year old need a cellphone for? Also, get off my lawn if you're not gonna mow it. *shakes cane* But my reason for this is because of things like this. They are CHILDREN. They don't have common sense. They don't understand the real-world implications and ramifications of their actions online (and sometimes even in the real world). They must be TAUGHT these things, and just tossing a cellphone at them without teaching them is irresponsible. It's things like this that leads kids to getting kidnapped, raped, and murdered; because their parents don't teach their kids how to be responsible with phones (and yeah I consider a kid getting run over by a truck from being too absorbed in a game when walking around about the same as getting kidnapped and murdered by a child predator).

Oh, one more point that I brought up to mum in a similar conversation: PokeStops and whatnot, in terms of locations, were just copy-pasted from the previous Ingress or whatever game, which, from what I understand, were all player-submitted, and you can't really expect a company to travel all over the world to double-check every single PokeStop location to make sure it's not in someone's backyard or right in front of the emergency room entrance at the local hospital (as is the case for the hospital behind my house). So you can't really hold the company responsible for these either. Again, player-submitted, so players who submitted them should take the blame for inappropriate PokeStop/Gym locations (like the stories I heard about several of them being at strip clubs, gg guys).

 

[SUP3RN0VA]

In my opinion it is completely silly to accuse anyone other than the user for these accidents. People need to learn to take responsibility for themselves, not place blame on someone else.

Is it Apple's fault if someone uses their phone to text and drive and causes an accident?

It is nothing short of foolish to place blame on a company when an individual decides to disregard their common sense.

 

[Falconwing]

Without jumping into somewhat similar political discussion in this thread, there is never a time where the tool is at more fault than the wielder. Now, you should always evaluate whether or not the tool is appropriate for the situation, but otherwise you are ultimately responsible for your actions.

Pokemon GO is a game that encourages players to go outside and socialize together. And it does that very well. There is nothing negative about that. All of the problems we have seen have been the result of players being careless or the people around them being terrible. But the app itself is innocent. It even makes an attempt to remind players to be aware. If they choose not to be, that's on them.

 

[Life]

I voted no.

While you can argue back against "it's up to the people playing it" that because the game is addictive they can't control themselves, but I think that's a little too exaggerated in this case. We aren't talking about sugar/drugs/alcohol (substances shown to cause addiction), we're simply talking about a game here which as far as I'm aware has never been found with similar results.

The only thing different with GO is that because it's new, people are more willing to place the blame on it rather then other people (especially in cases where said blamer has gotten into an accident). Unfortunately this shouldn't be the case though as people still need to be held accountable for their actions. Nothing is dangerous about GO, only the fact that it enables already ignorant people to have a fault/excuse for their already dumb actions.

 

[PikaPaz]

That's like saying the car companies are responsible for car crashes. it's the person's fault if they aren't careful when playing the game. The game even tells you to be careful. I mean stuff like finding a dead body isn't really anyone's fault but the player (and the guy who's dead body was found).

 

[~ Blazing White Yang]

It certainly isn't the game's fault, but I do think they should've been more careful with the map. Pokemon is inevitably going to draw in younger players and gamers, and some of the Stops are just questionable in light of that. The accidents and more extreme cases of dumb like walking off of cliffs or driving with the game on are on the players.

 

[Carl Grimes]

My 8 year old cousin can't pay attention to anything. He's got a tiny attention span and easily gets so absorbed in games that he can't hear people speaking to him. If my sister or myself lend him our phone to go for a walk and play Pokemon Go, he knows to watch for cars and things of that nature. (We go on said walks with him of course, but he has yet to be so enraptured that he doesn't watch where he's going.) The game is not at fault. People being people is what's at fault.

 

[ArvAl]

Certainly NO.

Mark the words : Never blame the game if you've experienced accidents after playing it.

*sigh* My Mom was so blinded by recent happenings at news, she stated the game was just a waste of time and only *ahem* idiots who wanted to play it. Of course I tried to assure her or else my GO catching mission would have to stop that night.

Niantic and Nintendo were both companies who just wanted to give fun by launching games and DOES NOT intend to harm the players. If they enters the law, that's their risk of not paying attention for their own safety.

 

[Zexy]

some of the Stops are just questionable in light of that.

That's because Niantic supposedly didn't check the Stops but rather took most of its data from Ingress and used it again for GO. If I were a parent, I'd make sure to check which Pokestops are close to my child's location to figure out if any are dangerous/inappropriate and prohibit them from going to those.

Mark the words : Never blame the game if you've experienced accidents after playing it.

*sigh* My Mom was so blinded by recent happenings at news, she stated the game was just a waste of time and only *ahem* idiots who wanted to play it.

Agreed, but unfortunately many people do that and not just for games.

"It is just a waste of time" is an argument that can be used for any game; the fact that someone uses it only for GO shows that this isn't their actual problem with the game; being afraid of it because you have to use your cellphone while walking outdoors is understandable, but "waste of time" isn't the best argument to use against GO unless that's your stance on gaming in general.

 

[ArvAl]

Agreed, but unfortunately many people do that and not just for games.

"It is just a waste of time" is an argument that can be used for any game; the fact that someone uses it only for GO shows that this isn't their actual problem with the game; being afraid of it because you have to use your cellphone while walking outdoors is understandable, but "waste of time" isn't the best argument to use against GO unless that's your stance on gaming in general.

I'm not surprised if anyone gets frustrated after got beaten or couldn't finish the whole thing. What's make me sad is there are some dudes who tries to sue the company after make it so damn unbeatable (to him). I can't believe some of them actually venting it out despite bunch of forewarns it stated and still happened.

On to "waste of time", I smiled because this:

Your strict Mom told yourself NOT spending time with games because it's useless and makes you idle.

Now we have Pokemon Go that can make yourself healthier after some few miles travel and your mom STILL won't let you play because she thinks it makes you stupid travelling around for catching Pokemon and doesn't feature any benefits at all.

I just don't understand. [emoji23]

 

[Zexy]

Your strict Mom told yourself NOT spending time with games because it's useless and makes you idle.

Now we have Pokemon Go that can make yourself healthier after some few miles travel and your mom STILL won't let you play because she thinks it makes you stupid travelling around for catching Pokemon and doesn't feature any benefits at all.

I just don't understand. [emoji23]

Most of the times the "waste of time" argument has been brought about gaming, I've only seen the useless part, not the "makes you idle" part. The latter part is invalid for GO, of course. But the former part unfortunately isn't, yet such can be said for any game.

There's also a difference between "makes you look stupid" and "it's dangerous". The later is a fair concern but we've established how people should be careful to not risk themselves. The "makes you look stupid" part mostly comes from parents who don't really like the Pokemon franchise and probably don't realize the popularity GO has achieved already (because lots of players are out there, you won't look like a lone stupid gamer wandering around with their phone).

 

[Elementar]

No. Apart from the fact that I don't believe someone walked off a cliff from playing it, it is definitely the player's fault. GO is a revolutionary mobile game in my opinion, and is much more interactive than crushing candies on your couch. The game clearly warns players and people are just as likely to be involved in an accident if they are texting. The only reason it's attracting so much attention is because it's so popular. More popular games wil obviously create more cases because there is a larger group of people for it to occur out of. I think getting out and socialising is far more beneficial than the fairly rare possibility of an accident. It's generating a far larger positive than negative.

 

[ArvAl]

Most of the times the "waste of time" argument has been brought about gaming, I've only seen the useless part, not the "makes you idle" part. The latter part is invalid for GO, of course. But the former part unfortunately isn't, yet such can be said for any game.

There's also a difference between "makes you look stupid" and "it's dangerous". The later is a fair concern but we've established how people should be careful to not risk themselves. The "makes you look stupid" part mostly comes from parents who don't really like the Pokemon franchise and probably don't realize the popularity GO has achieved already (because lots of players are out there, you won't look like a lone stupid gamer wandering around with their phone).

I knew "makes you idle" didn't sound fitting, what I meant is, you can't go anywhere and stuck in one place while playing games. Pokemon Go is exceptional, along with Ingress, which could travel almost anywhere to throw Pokeballs.

And I was real about that "makes you stupid" part. My parents were very conservative to me and I can't always play games every time I wanted to. When the news came out, they said,"Pokemon GO? Better don't install it. That game is for imaginative people. They just want to play and don't care real life."

I guess sometimes fun is taboo on minority, huh?

 

[CynthiaLover]

Absolutely not! It's not the fault of the game/company, but the person playing it. This is not just related to Pokemon GO, either, as there are countless ways a smartphone can cause an accident, such as texting. Pokemon GO is just the newest addition to the list. But the game isn't to blame. The person holding it is to blame. They are responsible for their own safety and the safety of others. I know how easy it is to get engrossed in a game, as I love games, but it's the responsibility of the person playing to be alert to their surroundings. It's reasons like this that I don't play mobile games on my phone (that and my smartphone is a cheap model that I keep around for in-case-of-emergency situations). But I know that it's not the game to blame, but the person playing the game. So I voted no, as the game isn't to blame for anything. In fact, I know that this game helps encourage people to go out and socialize, so it's actually helping people in terms of having a social life and getting out of the house more. But the fact is that people are responsible for their own safety and the safety of others, not the game itself. The game isn't sentient, it's not aware of what exists around it, it's just there to entertain. So, no, the game is not responsible for accidents, but rather the people who are playing it are.

 

[Fig]

The idea that the game should disable the GPS while on streets is, of course, just plain ridiculous - since there is no effective way of distinguishing street and sidewalk, that would limit the game to parks, and these are far too few and far between for the game to be workable.

Your mother frankly sounds like she's grasping at straws (remember: there are 26 millions copy of the game on phones in the US, and there have been, what, less than a couple hundred accidents in the United States? That's around one in a hundred thousand, or one thousandth of a percent.

The odds of dying in a car crash are WAY higher than the odds of getting in a Pokémon GO accident.

In short: there is no actual Pokémon GO accident crisis, other than the one the media are manufacturing because pretending something new and popular is a "crisis" helps move copies with all the scarredy cats.

 

[DoctorWhy]

Personally, I've gotten absolutely sick of the media blaming Pokemon Go for the stupidity of people. Pokemon Go is a great and positive influence on our society and culture. It gets people out to exercise. It gets people to interact and socialize in new and bonding ways with friends both old and new. All of the unfortunate accidents are purely products of human mistakes, such as bad decisions and lack of attention to surroundings. Pokemon Go is not to blame for any of the accidents or negative effects of people's use of the game, and the negative reputation is undeserved.

 

[The Outrage]

The news media will literally report on Pokemon GO if it is tangentially related. A news article was titled "Pokemon GO helps Marine catch suspect" as if Marines used Pokemon GO to entrap a police suspect. What actually happened? Marine Vets saw a suspect while playing Pokemon GO.

Here's the thing--Pokemon GO is actually making people come out of their houses in droves, and when the tracking feature worked, causing these people to walk around in unconventional places. When you have that many people walking around when they normally wouldn't, of course things are going to happen. For every bad Pokemon GO story, there's probably one where a random teenager rescues a child/dog/whatever.

I mean, if one day, everyone just started walking for no reason, and exploring random locations for no reason, we'd have the same news stories, except we can't pin its cause to the app.

Is Pokemon GO another reason for people to be on their phone while driving? Yes. Is the solution restricting Pokemon GO? Why don't we just have cell phone companies cause our phones to stop working when we're driving?

 

[Yuri3221]

I hope all of us are aware that there have been fake news stories circulating on the internet about Pokémon Go causing accidents. I don't know if all of them are fake, but for sure the one about Pokémon Go causing some huge pileup on a freeway was false.