Vietnam vet; Pokemon Go FY
Winona, Minnesota, Veterans Memorial Park Committee Chair and Vietnam veteran Bruce Reed told Pokemon Go players to leave the park when he saw them turn the park into a campground, according to the Winona Post;
Ever since the GPS-based, “augmented reality” smartphone game was released on July 6, players have crowded at Veterans Memorial Park. The game is played throughout the city and the country, but because there are three “Poké stops” together at Veterans Memorial Park, the tribute to veterans is the most popular place to play in Winona. Some players just stand around or walk through the park, but the grass has turned brown where others set up lawn chairs, hammocks, and shade tents.
“People can come walk through the park, hold hands, sit on the benches, but don’t turn it into a campsite,” Reed said in an interview Friday.
Reed was cited for criminal damage to property and disorderly conduct, but the city’s fathers are considering whether or not to place the park off-limits for gamers, according to Fox News;
As the Winona City Council considered a measure to ban games at the park, council member and fellow veteran Gerry Krage said using the park to play Pokemon GO was disrespectful.
If the ban took effect, people who played the game at the park could face 90 days in jail or a $1,000 fine, the Post reported.
Category: Society
Good.
“Pokemon GO FY”
BWAHAHAHAHA! Good one!
Just to be clear, we’re talking about a public, taxpayer funded, local government-owned/ Non-National/Federal open space park, and not a concentrated graveyard where vets are actually buried, correct?
By the time they go through all these gyrations of outrage and passing laws, the Millennials are going to forget about this game at Goldfish-memory speed and cops will be tackling 30-somethings for daring to check a stock quote on their phone.
I think this pokeman thing is a little silly too, but where is the line drawn in regards to this park? “No games.” Frisbee, playing catch with your kid, etc?
My understanding is that this park is not unlike the hundreds that dot cities around the US, there for folks to enjoy the outdoors. They’re not stomping on graves or climbing on memorials. The mindless pokeman idiots will be gone soon. Let it go….
It’s not even a month since that nonsense was started and they’ve destroyed the grass and probably left their trash behind, too, so I’m somewhat in sympathy with the old fellow.
But it is a public park, after all, not a cemetery. And anyway, the upside of this is that some of these people are actually stupid enough to play the pocketpet game while they are driving. I kid you not.
I think the appropriate thing to do is to make the pokeeplayers pay for restoring the grass and cleaning up the messes they leave behind, under this old fellow’s supervision, of course.
A bit of info why we are now in a world where old guys are literally yelling to get off my lawn, this game pulled it’s database directly from another, Ingress.
Imagine the article subject’s blood pressure when he finds out his park had been used for years as a virtual battleground between the green and blue teams right under his nose!
That games Draconian rules for site submission insisted on public places, memorials, churches, etc.
I once submitted a spot for an OK City bombing victims memorial and it was rejected because it was on a road that led to a school, but the other 9 spots IN said school were just fine.
Their entire submission and decision system was a mess and now you get what we got now.
There is a way in this new game to report an undesirable location, but if this has already been considered a hotspot trainer gym, good luck with that.
I helped develop this area. It’s a park in name only. It’s actually a memorial to all who served. It covers about 1.5 acres and is surrounded by over 100 acres of lakefront park. It’s funding is a combination of public and private, (the vet’s groups have raised over $600k). The game has gone far beyond Pokémon, it’s now a case of “occupy and piss people off”. Many sit on the monuments, pitch tents and hammocks, grill out, etc. They have over 100 acres right there to enjoy, but they moved into this spot.
In all fairness it’s not all the gamers, some simply play and zombie-out. But many have gone above and beyond in assholedness and actually provoke confrontations, with their camera phones at the ready. A 91 yr old Marine twice wounded Iwo Jima vet was so disrespected that the story would make you cry and/or reach for your weapon of choice.
The memorial has been extremely successful and without incident for 25 years. We’ve now outlawed the tents, hammocks, etc. (only in this small memorial area), but did not address the electronic game because it’s near impossible to enforce. Wish we could outlaw these snowflakes stupidity. We’re also doing everything we can to get the gaming company to move this area from their game.
Poke what?
Isn’t that something IDCSarc would say?
Poke a monk.
Ok…I’m 43, retired Jarhead and my 18 year old daughter got me hooked on this game recently.
I saw this story yesterday, read it, watched the video. The “tent” they set up and he knocked over is one of those things you can setup at the beach for shade…not something to go camping in. Yes…people walk on the grass…it’ll grow back. Some people leave trash..and some..like me, my kids, our friends…police it up so that all are not judged for the some.
There are 2 National sites that I have heard of that ASK players out of respect to shut the game of while they are visiting…the National Holocaust Museum and Arlington National Cemetery. Once again..ASK not require…and this request has been respected. Maybe they should try that first. There is a Holocaust Memorial here in Charleston where I live and more Pokémon Go players ask people to please walk around it out of respect than actual residents of the city…I’ve asked and educated several long time residents about it myself while playing. Perhaps Mr. Reed could try engaging some of the players in conversation and educating them about the park and it’s meaning while attempting to learn what they are doing instead of assuming it’s just a stupid game.
So this little fad game that will be gone in a months time and forgotten about actually has some of us out picking up trash..left by whomever, educating people about the memorials in their cities, meeting new people.
But I could be wrong…or an asshole…or both…it’s been known to happen.
And to top it off – more people have probably been to these memorials for the first time ever. Almost ever memorial I have been to gets you thinking, even a little bit, about people’s sacrifices. This is a great side effect of this.
This needs to go straight back to the game’s programmers. Somebody set up those sites as part of the game — time for some wallet pain!!
I don’t know anything about this game but it sounds like people use GPS to find and capture cartoon characters. (Sure, I can look it up but I don’t care to.) Anyway, what say the coordinates are set for mosques. I’m sure no one, especially on the left, would object. At all.
And I’ll bet you the price of your favorite yearly magazine subscription that NOT ONE MUSLIM SITE is a part of that game.
Challenge accepted:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/dominicdudley/2016/07/28/pokemon-go-reaches-islams-holiest-site-and-some-people-arent-happy-about-it
(Just one of many examples.)
LC. Give others from the many examples. That one is in Mecca. I was referring to mosques in the US and the American left. I don’t think there is a Saudi left, at least not among the living or unimprisoned.
The locations for ‘Pokestops’ -places where pokemon appear in the game- were (mostly) made from user-submitted locations for the developer’s previous game, Ingress. Places can ask to have stops removed (and others ask to have them added), but there wasn’t some liberal developer sitting there looking at a map of the world and placing them, carefully avoiding mosques.
Here’s an example that mentions that the Washington Mosque is a ‘gym’ -another key part of the game- for Pokemon. There aren’t too many articles simply because there isn’t any sort of targeting of locations going on.
http://www.wusa9.com/news/local/holocaust-museum-is-a-no-go-for-pokemon-go/270859119
In fact, the latest outrage I heard about is that the majority of the stops in DC (I think?) were in majority-white neighborhoods, not black ones. And someone tried to portray this as racism. Except, again, this is simply because for whatever reason, the demographics of the Ingress players skewed white. In other words, more white people played the previous game, and that’s game data was used to create key spots for this game, so naturally it has more spots in white neighborhoods.
Chances are, for the same reasons plus the additional fact that we have more churches than mosques in this country, you’ll also find more stops in churches than in mosques. But it’s statistics, not some liberal conspiracy.
“(Just one of many examples.)”
That’s a lot of words but I see no example, just a roundabout explanation for why you can’t provide one. PN was much too nice.
It’s a bit like asking for stories of legal gun-owners NOT shooting someone up. It’s so common, people don’t write about it.
If the Washington Mosque in the article I did post isn’t sufficient enough for you, I’ll ask some of the kids around here if they can screenshot their app when they go past any Mosques today. Frankly, I don’t play the game so I can’t do it myself, but they’re there.
But here, I did some very quick googling that you could’ve done just as easily:
http://ilmfeed.com/gamers-are-visiting-mosques-to-catch-pokemon/
https://twitter.com/mceclondon/status/753956728023162881
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/07/11/the-craziest-places-pok-mon-go-has-gone.html
http://www.mapapokemongo.com/stops/17b6a5b8cb3a4557a3e160b5a8cc5f6f.16
1. Not in US
2. Not in US
3. Not in US
4. Looks like a shuttered storefront in Brooklyn. Cannot tell if it’s a mosque at all.
That’s 0-4, with #4 a possible.
“But here, I did some very quick googling that you could’ve done just as easily.” Yeah, well, it’s your statement, not mine. And, by your results, it’s not so easy.
Okay LC, I owe you the subscription price for your favorite magazine. Contact Jonn to get in touch with me, and I will pay up on the bet.
The number of times I’ve had my misconceptions corrected on this blog dwarfs the number of times I’ve been able to do the same in return. Let’s call it a wash?
Besides, I’d be embarrassed to explain to people that I got a magazine subscription by pointing out that people play Pokemon in Mecca. 😉
?
WAIT = this is a big deal!!!! A conflict on the Internet was handled in an adult manner – we need to celebrate this!!!!!
Fuck that.
The best way to state your case: Bellyflop on your opponent’s tent.
Dude looks like he ate a Pokemon, and Pikachu too.
I see both sides – but the guy complaining sounds like a self-important blowhard to me. Not sure the game is at fault as much as just bad people. The players who leave trash, disrespected the older vet,etc? Probably are jerk slobs who do that anywhere. Some folks DO tend to get their back up when confronted…I have to wonder how much a more conciliatory stance like “hey, would you mind moving your sun tent over that way and picking up after yourself?” would work instead of “get the fuck off my lawn that isn’t really my lawn?” would have worked. No good guys here.
Bruce Reed is an embarrassment to all veterans, and the matter could have been handled in a civil and non-threatening manner. Instead he loses his temper, threatens kids, and destroys their property; thus giving further material and credence for the media’s ‘veterans are crazed loons’ narrative.
I’m a Veteran. I’m not embarrassed by what he did. He did what HE did. I am sick and tired of every Tom, Dick, and Harriet who served in the military as being the media’s representatives for all Veterans.
Ditto for my being a veteran. Ditto for your entire post. For all the libs who don’t really care if people leave trash on the ground at a park showing respect for veterans….tell us….would it bother you in the least if these same intellectual midgets left trash all around the wall in D. C.?
You’re right, I should go down to the Mall and beat up on the tourists wading in the WWII Memorial. Get it all on video. That’ll show em!
Of course disrespect to memorials bothers me, I’m just not a crazy jerk about it. Neither are the National Park Rangers that I’ve chatted with about it.
I think that Pokemon Go is actually good, for a video game. It gets kids outside and walking around instead of sitting in front of the TV or gaming console for hours. It attracts people to stores, coffee shops, tourist attractions and more. Our local Dinosaur Ridge has a Pokemon Go day with all kinds of activities.
That said, how is the damage to the park any different than people who leave trash and dog shit everywhere? I see it every day, regardless of where I walk/hike.
For example, the field south of our local performing arts building is some kind of Pokemon Go hot spot. I recently saw at least a couple of dozen people playing there, in the middle of the day in the middle of the week (a weekend day must be amazing!). In that same field a couple of months ago, city volunteers flagged each pile of dog shit in an effort to get people to pick up after their animals. The result? 600 piles of dog shit in about an acre of space.
Unless you want to fence off parks, control entry and police the area, there’s nothing you can do about thoughtless pigs.
I had one of these tools actually walk into my car.
He learned.
…aaaaand then he sued.
No. Not really.
I took the phone and tossed it 100 feet.
Dude had on the queef ass outfit; the works if you will.
He got mad and left.
We were out for a bite to eat in the city last night. Pleasant weather, a nice breeze, etc. All in all, a beautiful evening to be out and about.
And there were literally HUNDREDS of people walking around the streets downtown playing this Pokémon Go game. Heads down, totally absorbed in their phones, stumbling and tripping over things, bumping into one another, and paying no attention whatsoever to their surroundings. One imbecile actually stumbled directly out into traffic and only missed being hit by the narrowest of margins.
After making more than a few port calls in some of the rougher spots around the Mediterranean Sea and North Africa, I couldn’t help but think of how very successful a few expert pickpockets would have been if they could have gotten in amongst those self-absorbed idiots. Or even worse, how very successful people with more sinister intentions would have been.
No one appeared to have any situational awareness at all. None. Their only focus was Pokémon Go.
Very disconcerting. And VERY dangerous.
Situational Awareness is near zip with these folks.
And news reports pop up of folks trying to rob/harm these players…
Apparently things in Minnesota can get a little sideways when everybody’s not up to their butt cheeks in snow…
Yea. As a former resident, methinks this wouldn’t be in issue in January around there.
or even ‘an issue’. shitfuck…
Ok, what many of you non-gamer folks are missing is that you can go to the game developers website and request pokestops (the thing the players are using) either be removed from a location or changed to a different location. The game uses real life historical markers, among other things, for what are called Pokestops and Pokegyms. I have both requested stops be added at a friend’s restaurant, as well as a gym be removed from a veteran cemetery. The game includes what the stop is for with a short explanation for why the stop is there. This game is good for many that would normally just be sitting around putting on weight, I know one guy that’s been averaging walking 10 miles a day since he got the game. Yes, there are numbskulls that aren’t paying attention, but those people will learn that you don’t have to be staring are the screen the whole time, the game has a setting that dims the screen when you hold it upside down. I see whole families walking around having fun and interacting with each other in a fun way everyday since the game launched, I don’t know how that can be a bad thing.
Well, some people are playing Pokemon while driving and slamming into police cars. And they just keep driving and playing.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2016/07/20/driver-slams-into-baltimore-cop-car-while-playing-pokemon-go-accident/87333892/
I don’t frankly care whether they are gamers, Occupy Lives Matter, or a group of wounded warriors – camping out in public spaces not designed for camping out is just stupid. And those who do it should absolutely be told that they are stupid, in whatever language is protected by the US Constitution.
The current PC country we find ourselves in is too weird for words. Some people get to act ignorant, engage in behaviors that are ignorant and often illegal, and then act like the rest of us are not only supposed to tolerate them, we are supposed to celebrate and pay for the results of their willful ignorance. Enough, already.