Declaration of War Against Pokémon

The widespread popularity of the video game "Pokémon Go," which allows enthusiasts to play anywhere with their mobile phones, has sparked severe and widespread protests. According to a report by AFP, complainants say that the game is disrespectful in memorial and religious sites and have called on all countries to ban it. But is banning this game, where participants hunt cartoon creatures using their mobile phones in certain locations, truly feasible? Which places have declared war on Pokémon? These include private properties, government buildings, historical and tourist sites, and memorial and religious places. The Auschwitz death camp museum, the Holocaust memorial museum in Berlin, and the Hiroshima memorial museum in Japan all complain that a group of visitors, instead of paying attention to significant historical events at these sites, focus on their mobile phones searching for the cartoon creatures of this game, "Pikachus." The governments of Iran and Saudi Arabia have completely banned this game. Iran banned it just a few days after its release because Iranian officials believe the app can identify real addresses and could therefore be used for espionage. However, young people are using VPNs to conceal their identities and continue playing. In Saudi Arabia, the highest religious authority has issued a fatwa banning the new version of the Pokémon game, stating that it resembles gambling and appears to be designed based on the theory of evolution, which contradicts Islamic teachings. In other countries, warnings have been issued that participating in this game could endanger lives. For example, in Bosnia, people have been warned not to enter areas that were mined during the Yugoslav civil war. Apparently, many of the locations marked on the Pokémon game map are near mined areas. How are the play locations determined? One of the main attractions of "Pokémon Go" is that its cartoon characters, resembling fish or dragons, suddenly appear virtually around users and show themselves on their mobile cameras. This game also encourages subscribers to explore famous and notable places marked as "PokéStops" or "Gyms." Players can identify their targets and send them to battle at these locations by purchasing and collecting items provided by the game. The locations marked in this game are determined by its designer company, Niantic, in California. This company used field data from an old game called "Ingress," where participants can identify desired points in the city using GPS maps. Niantic has expanded the initial list of desired locations based on player suggestions. Pokémon can appear at any moment and at any point on the participants' mobile screens. The cartoon characters of this game appear without any rules, but their appearance is usually related to the location you are in. For example, fish-like characters typically appear around rivers and lakes. Can a location be made immune to Pokémon access? It depends on whether that location is designated as a "PokéStop" or "Gym" on the Pokémon game map and whether game creatures have appeared there. Requesting the game designer company to remove points from this list is impossible. The creators of Pokémon cannot quickly remove specific points from the game's map. However, when the game application is updated, they can remove some points or add new ones to its map. In the latest map update of this game, the Hiroshima memorial and the Holocaust victim museum in Berlin were removed from its list of locations. However, preventing the appearance of the game's cartoon creatures in places that demand a Pokémon ban is much more difficult. This requires fundamental changes in the game's algorithm, which is a cumbersome task for its designers. The Japanese company Pokémon, the commercial owner of these popular products, announced that Niantic is working to improve the game's algorithm. In this context, the game "Pokémon Go" has been filtered in Iran, and Iranian security agencies are deciding on the release of "Pokémon Go" in the country. Pokémon Go generates $1.6 million a day. Protests in Israel against the Pokémon game next to the Western Wall and Auschwitz.