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Pokémon Go app: Players find landmarks ‘insensitive’

| Jul 14, 2016 05:09 AM EDT

A man holds up his phone as he plays the Pokemon Go game on July 13, 2016 in Melbourne, Australia. The augmented reality app requires players to look for Pokemon in their immediate surroundings with the use of GPS and internet services turning the whole w

Pokemon Go players have reacted to the use of landmarks in the app on Tuesday.

The popularity of the app was struck with negative feedback from fans and critics following a playing sequence where New York's 9/11 Memorial and Washington's Holocaust Museum were used as landmarks. The places not only have historical importance but they also have sentiments attached with those associated with the tragedies directly or indirectly.

The sequence featured a large purple monster, Koffing, at a reflecting pool of the memorial. Not only this, but the sequence also displayed the named thousands of those who were killed in the 2001 tragic attacks. The monster at the landmark had a skull as well as belly crossbones. The players are assigned the task of finding the monsters and training them.

"It's quite rude. This is a place to mourn innocent people who died because all of these politics, not for games," the New York Post quoted a New Brunswick resident, Jung Kim. "It makes me feel so sad."

Pokemon Go has been grabbing the attention of the players since its launch. However, its controversy has somewhere hurt people's attention.  The Verge reported that the gathering of Pokemon trainers at the NY's 9/11 memorial, Washington's US Holocaust Museum as well as Arlington National Cemetery was acknowledged on Twitter on Tuesday.

Moreover, in the sequence, the museum requested the players to be "respectful of our role as a memorial." On the other hand, the cemetery asked the visitors not to play Pokemon Go on its grounds as it did not fall into "appropriate decorum."

One of the players, 24-year-old Kyle Goguen, appreciated the popularity of the Pokemon Go app. He called it "insane," according to Courant. He added that around 20 to 30 players gathered Main Street libraries outer space in Manchester on Monday and struggled to fit into the same rare Pokemon. Goguen said that some players came on bikes and few on scooters. He said he had a great experience as he got an opportunity to talk to strangers.

Pokemon Go is a good work of technology where players see a map on their smart device and a GPS tracker identifies their real-life locations. The smartphone maps show the players as 3-D players and makes the process thrilling and enjoyable. 

New York Daily's video shows how players gather at the 9/11 Memorial and Holocaust Museum.

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