As gaming trends come and go, one constant that remains is the immense popularity of Pokemon Go. Developer Niantic's augmented reality Pokemon hunter remains one of the most lucrative games on app stores, and it shows no signs of slowing down. As the player base for Pokemon Go remains high, some are not enthralled by the waves of players on the streets.
One UK based group that is not keen on the Pokemon Go phenomenon is the the Essex Police force in Rochford. In a now deleted tweet, the official Twitter account for the police unit took the time to throw shade at the Pokemon Go players starting off their 2021 with some Pokemon hunting.
The tweet was spotted by the Southend Standard who shared what the force had to say regarding the influx of players taking to the streets. While the post has since been deleted, the tweet itself refers to a growing problem police are facing on patrols where they are running into Pokemon Go players.
Whilst patrolling, our community policing team have had cause to speak with a number of different men aged 30+ over the last week, who seemed to feel it is acceptable to attend certain public places within the district, to hunt Pokémon.
Honestly, yes, you did read that correctly.
If that happens to be someone you know, please remind them of the following information shared by our partners at Rochford District Council.
The main knock to users comes from the Rochford police force's tone referring to Pokemon Go players. By specifically noting "different men aged 30+," some twitter users saw it as an implication that those stopped were too old to be playing the game. The next line reiterating that Twitter users "did read that correctly" further places weight on the abnormality of such a thing. This naturally caused pushback from twitter users who did not appreciate what could be viewed as an insult. With Pokemon Go played by many people of differing backgrounds, especially when they are willing to spend money on the app, players did not take kindly to the tweet.
A Essex police spokesman did provide further comment following the deletion of the tweet by noting that it was posted "in good faith." The tweet was posted in order to further the efforts of the UK police force to help curb the growing amount of cases of the Covid-19 within the county. With regulations in place that limit actions outside to either exercise or essential needs, the Rochford police stated that playing Pokemon Go does not fall under either category. As for why the tweet was deleted, the spokesperson noted that the tweet did not match "the level of seriousness when sharing crucial partnership and safety messages about the pandemic." While not the most notable example of Pokemon Go players breaking the law, the Rochford police still found players to not be following protocol.
While many thought Pokemon Go would falter under the lockdown measures, the game actually found success thanks in part to gameplay adjustments. The alterations to Pokemon Go won it an App Store Award for making the game more playable under new restrictions. With 2021 continuing where 2020 left off with regards to the pandemic, those gameplay measures are likely to remain.
Pokemon GO is available now on Android and iOS mobile devices.
Source: Eurogamer, Southend Standard