Pokemon go and Mauna Kea

[TomK]

I'm not a player, so don't ask me for details, but pokemon go is encouraging people to visit the physical summit of Mauna Kea plus several observatories. As you can imagine, this isn't going down very well.

For some of the observatories, the use of cell phones interferes with their observations. It's why visitors are requested not to use their cell phones in the summit are. Secondly, it's likely to encourage people who are not prepared for conditions at 14,000 ft to go there anyway. Thirdly, it seems one of the locations people have to visit is the physical summit of the mountain. Not only is this disrespectful, it's dangerous.

This has been made very clear to Niantic by several organizations, but there seems to be little action by the company so far.

If anyone knows pokemon go players who have to visit the summit, please ask them to reconsider and if they still have to go, make sure they are aware of the dangers they face as well as the disrespect and trouble they are causing.

[Tink]

This "Pokeman Go!" Game is disrespectful to the Aina and it's people, as the players have the attitude that "the computer told me to go there, so it must be alright", ignoring people's privacy, and trespassing on land that they should not be on, whether it is dangerous, or just private land. As well, some have the impulse to "tag" the spot to show that they were there first, or for other selfish reasons.
It is also interesting that the movie "Nerve" which from what I gather, is a real life adult "truth or dare", more on the dare side has been released at the same time.
It will be interesting to see how this all plays out in how much of a burden their game puts on the population with emergency calls for medical help, police calls for trespassing, vandalism, etc. in the coming months until their computer generated short attention span spins them to a new extreme challenge in their quest to "be noticed".

Community begins with Aloha

[randomq]

It's just practice for when computers tell us all where to go, every day, forever. Read "Manna" free online.

But who are we to tell them where they can and can't go? Maybe they don't believe in manmade concepts of property rights or sacredness.

[SBH]

They need a Pokemon Stop! sign at the visitor's center, warning that cell phones interfere with the observatories.

[ElysianWort]

There have been a couple of close calls with the distracted players of this game getting into accidents and walking off bridges. It's just a matter of time before it claims someones life. Also the company just released a kind of "lotto" so to speak. If you sign up and pay an entry fee there will be cash prizes for those who walk around the most. The popularity is only going to increase. So will the problems arising around the game.


"Life is a test with many failures and some success"

[pahoated]

Are there Mewtwo, Ho-Oh, Moltres, Articuno, or Zapdos there? Then too late, PoGo to Mauna Kea chatter increasing, monster hunting expeditions (tourists) on the way.

These are mapped locations for Honolulu, they will start showing up for other places.
https://www.finder.com/pokemon-go-honolulu-locations

Yes, there is PoGo tourism is going on. We all know increasing tourism is good for Hawaii and that all tourists are respectful, considerate, polite, calm, patient, understanding, and half-way sane. It's all good.

*Japanese tourist on bus through Pahoa, "Is this still America?*

[Rob Tucker]

Any reports of Pokemon Go activity at the rim or caldera of Kilauea?

[alaskyn66]

I can see people blindly walking off a cliff sooner or later..

[Lodestone]

Darwin never sleeps. But, anything that gets kids outside and getting some actual exercise is probably a good thing.

[Justin]

People have walked off of cliffs in San Diego. None of them died, however.