REUTERS/Sam Mircovich/Illustration"/>We've seen reports of how Pokemon Go affects gamers. They have crashed cars while driving, got hit by cars while crossing the street, and robbed because they are glued to their smartphones. Now, an Italian bishop has threatened to sue Pokémon Go creators, saying the "diabolical" game turns players into "walking dead."
Bishop Antonio Stagliano, from the southern town of Noto in Sicily, said he is ready to sue Niantic to ban Pokémon Go worldwide, according to a report from Agence France-Presse. He described the mobile application as a "totalitarian system close to Nazism" that controls "thousands and thousands of young people" by getting them addicted to hunting virtual monsters in the real world.
Stagliano also said the game is a work of the Devil. Digital Trend reported the Italian bishop has spoken to two lawyers about his advocacy to ban the game.
The Bishop is not alone in his quest to stop Pokémon Go. The mayor of Bressolles village in France has ordered Niantic to stop creating Pokestops in their town. Bressolles Mayor Fabrice Beauvois says the developer has no right to create virtual stops in the area.
PokeStops function as supply center in Pokémon Go. Trainers can get Poke Balls and Pokemon Eggs in this virtual place.
Iran is the first country that banned Pokémon Go mobile game. Government officials cite security concerns about the game's use of location-based virtual reality technology. In a report from The Guardian, Abdolsamad Khorramabadi, a senior judicial official, said the augmented reality game posed a security dilemma in the country.
Pokémon Go works by using device's built-in camera to draw virtual monster's onto the camera's screen. Because of this, gamers are focused on the screen when they are hunting virtual monsters, resulting in unintended incidents.
It's been estimated that somewhere between 15 million and 25 million Americans have been playing Pokémon GO. More than a month since its launching, the game has already more daily users than Twitter, and players spend more time with it than they do on Facebook.
As of now, Niantic has not yet addressed the pleas of Beauvois and Stagliano. We'll give an update as soon as we know more.
With that being said, what are your thoughts about Pokémon Go? Let us know in the comments.
