Mind those monsters! Now shopping centre puts in Pokémon lane
IT has caused two people to walk off a cliff and triggered a search to rescue four teenagers stranded in a cave. Now the Pokémon Go craze has led a Scottish shopping centre to set up ‘safe lanes’ for for people absorbed in playing the game on their smartphones – to stop them bumping into other customers.
Glasgow Silverburn general manager David Pierotti said yesterday: ‘We noticed an uplift in footfall since the craze kicked off a few weeks ago and wanted to ensure the safety of both players and non-players while shopping in the centre.’
The lanes, marked by lines running for more than 250 yards through the centre’s main thoroughfare, are intended to allow players to roam without interruption as they search for virtual monsters lurking in the mall. The Pokémon Go smartphone app uses real-life maps to create a computerised playground in which the monsters, known as Pokémon, lurk in hiding places called PokeStops.
Players wander around trying to ‘zap’ hundreds of different Pokémon that flash up on their screen. But the game’s makers have already been accused of a deplorable lack of judgment and taste after using some of the most sacred spots on earth as PokeStops – including the Holocaust memorial in the US and the site of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
Last month, West Lothian Council requested that Whitburn Cemetery be taken off the Pokémon Go virtual map after 28 gravestones were toppled, causing more than £8,000 worth of damage.
Last month, two men in their early twenties were badly hurt after falling around 90ft down a cliff in Encinitas, California, while playing Pokémon Go – even though the app warns players to stay aware of their surroundings.
Days later, mine rescue experts and firefighters came to the aid of a group of teenagers who became hopelessly lost in Wiltshire caves while searching for Pokémon Go characters deep underground.
A spokesman for Silverburn said it had not imposed the lanes in response to any incident, adding: ‘There has not been one problem but we have noticed an increase in footfall because there are two PokeStops in the centre.’
Meanwhile in Aberdeen, the Union Square shopping centre has expanded its customer service by providing two special charge points to rescue players suffering from waning mobile batteries.
General manager Ryan Manson said: ‘We felt this added service would further assist our shoppers.’