Scary monsters and very real dangers

After initial hesitation, the government has sanctioned the import of the Pokemon Go mobile-phone application. It has for more than a month been generating joy, giddiness and thrills for users around the world, along with fear and consternation for the guardians of public safety.

The online pastime, which involves roaming around cities hunting for augmented-reality targets on handheld screens, can be seen as either a perfect fit for fad-mad Thailand – or the very last thing we need. Players here will almost certainly achieve another collective high ranking for embracing the game, having gone crazy for Facebook, Twitter, Line and Instagram, but social media are one matter and the social disorder that Pokemon Go threatens is entirely another. It has all the ingredients to create social and legal nightmares.

The game has become a global sensation since first appearing in the United States a month ago. It was downloaded more than 100 million times before reaching Thailand. Augmented Reality (AR) and the Global Positioning System (GPS) lend a hi-tech edge to the tracking down of virtual monsters that appear in actual environments.

Safety concerns arise from the fact that players can become so immersed in their phone screens that they bump into very real objects at best and, at worst, inadvertently walk into the path of oncoming vehicles or even play while they’re driving. Among the famously self-disciplined Japanese, 36 road accidents were blamed on Pokemon Go within three days – all involving cyclists being too attentive to the game. Taiwan has seen 350 traffic fines issued since the game’s launch there on Saturday, with most of the offenders astride motorcycles.

Authorities have already warned that motorists caught playing the game will be fined, but of course we’ve already heard crackdowns threatened against drivers talking or texting on phones. This fact alone injects a dose of reality into fears about the augmented-reality game. Our streets are already full of motorists and pedestrians breaking the law every day, and yet the laws aren’t being enforced. 

Some countries have banned Pokemon Go outright as a hazard to public safety. Here, the National Broadcasting and Telecommuni-cations Commission wants True Corp, which owns the marketing rights, to specify gaming zones so that players won’t be wandering into hospitals, private property and sites such as the Grand Palace in Bangkok. True Corp would have to request such specific design changes from the game’s Japanese creator. 

The commission is also worried that players might be lured into spending extravagantly on game enhancements, but of course the only solution to this is better education. 

Taking the optimistic view, the Department of Health has pointed out that the game can be beneficial in getting citizens out walking around for an hour or two each day. As long as the players are attentive to their actual surroundings, there’s no denying this. But there is still plenty of room for worry.

Thais are quick to embrace every new gadget that comes along – so quick that they don’t always recognise the downside of the technology. Perhaps, with Pokemon Go, the government is being magnanimous in letting us have our fun, or wily in giving retailers a chance to pull in customers with promises of monsters lurking within. Either way, it too ought to be better prepared for potential harm. Having failed to alert people to the inherent risks in playing, it might end up shutting the stable door after the horse has bolted.