Despite a warning to players to be alert of their surroundings at all times, people are very predictably starting to hurt themselves playing Pokemon Go. Really, it was only a matter of time. They may as well have called the game “Pokemon Go Play in Traffic,” if we’re being honest here. Anytime someone is walking, driving, or engaged in some other mode of transportation while distracted and not looking at the immediate ground before their feet, it’s pretty much a recipe for disaster.
The Associated Press spoke to a few Pokemon Go players who have experienced injury while playing the game, but thankfully it seems like bruised egos are the worst of it so far.
Mike Schultz, a 21-year-old communications graduate on Long Island, New York, took a spill on his skateboard as he stared at his phone while cruising for critters early Thursday. He cut his hand on the sidewalk after hitting a big crack, and blames himself for going too slowly.
“I just wanted to be able to stop quickly if there were any Pokemons nearby to catch,” he says. “I don’t think the company is really at fault.”
I have to agree that the company is probably not at fault for someone riding their skateboard while simultaneously playing a video game. Another player, 22-year-old freelance web designer Kyrie Tompkins, took a spill while on the hunt in Waterville, Maine, last Thursday night.
“It vibrated to let me know there was something nearby and I looked up and just fell in a hole,” she says. Her parents had to drive her and her fiancé home.
In Asheville, North Carolina, 23-year-old waitress Lindsay Plunkett has taken to parking twice as far away from her job so she can get more Pokestops along the way.
She’s still nursing a bruised shin from the previous night, when she and her boyfriend spent hours wandering downtown in the rain. She tripped over a cinder block that had been used as a doorstop at a local women’s museum.
Likewise, many on Twitter are reporting game-related injuries; everything from trip and falls to sunburn to car accidents.
I can tell u one thing, riding a bike while playing pokemon go is not a good idea. I fell. 😰
— enri (@gxldsworthy) July 12, 2016
https://twitter.com/nyst_glamz/status/752284414500081665
https://twitter.com/lilygrace32/status/753237026955227136
https://twitter.com/kwoffert/status/752285982158835712
https://twitter.com/nolanciaga/status/753247921802350592
https://twitter.com/JulieDiCaro/status/752595655034478593
My brother just got in car crash because he was playing PokemonGo…no one was hurt but the Squirtle got away
— Jorden Christensen (@jordenchristen) July 10, 2016
accidentally fell down an elevator shaft trying to catch a pokemon again today
— huntigula (@huntigula) July 11, 2016
https://twitter.com/cupcakelindsay/status/751292173518274560
Since Pokemon go came out, I've walked 14 miles, caught 46 types of pokemon, got a rash on my thighs, and got a terrible sunburn
— godzilla supporter (@drakejdixon) July 10, 2016
Today Gene fell off his bike and injured himself because he was hunting for Pokemon. This is my boss.
— Alexis (@OctopusMudSlide) July 9, 2016
VALARIE FELL DOWN MY STAIRS PLAYING POKEMON GO HAHAHA
— hvt (@hannah_valdez) July 13, 2016
Stay safe out there, Pokenerds.
(Via Associated Press and BroBible)