Veterans Memorial Park in Winona, Minnesota is a wide open, tranquil green space where area residents could enjoy a day in the sun and also reflect on local veterans’ contributions to the U.S. Armed Forces. Once Pokemon GO launched, however, it became one of the city’s unexpected hotspots of gaming activity, with players of all ages congregating on the grass hoping to catch and battle Pokemon while at the same time replenishing their item counts.
This didn’t seem to sit so well with a handful of local Vietnam War veterans, who apparently didn’t take kindly to the fact that the memorial park was being taken over by gamers 40 years their junior congregating to capture an Eevee.
In a profanity-laden video shot by YouTube user Brxdon, we see the two generations clash—sometimes physically—over a Pokemon Go event held at the park.
Since its July 29 upload, the video has been viewed over 65,000 times and has made the front page of Reddit’s r/videos subreddit. Tensions got just as heated in the respective sites’ comments sections, with some users vehemently defending the players and others just as agitated as the grizzled war veterans.
“This is disrespectful,” wrote YouTube user Connor Guyman, simply.
“Those veterans died for those kids right to play Pokemon Go wherever they want. Also they should be HAPPY that they are visiting the memorial, I have never considered visiting and I’m sure these kids haven’t either before the game. Seriously, we show reverence by being alive, not by treating a piece of land like a holy site,” wrote redditor SC_Druggie.
If one city ordinance passes this week, however, both the veterans and players alike may no longer be using the park as an impromptu battleground—in real life or otherwise.According to the Winona Daily News, a hearing is scheduled for August 1 that would limit Pokemon GO activity in the park. Additionally, the game’s creators themselves are actively working on an ability for unwilling Pokemon GO locations, be they PokeStops or otherwise, to “opt-out” of the game, leaving them of little interest to the player passing by staring down at their phone.
VIA - forbes.com
0 comments:
Post a Comment