With Pokemon Go, Nintendo exploded into mobile gaming and reminded us all why we fell in love with Pokemon in the first place. Well, except Milwaukee County.
While many health experts have unified to endorse Pokemon Go’s positive approach to getting gamers off of the couch and out interacting with each other in the real world, Milwaukee County is holding developers Niantic responsible for damages caused to their local parks.
According to a report on Mashable, the Milwaukee County Board of Supervisors approved an ordinance on February 2, 2017, that places permit requirements on alternate reality games in public spaces. This is as a result of increased levels of litter and the number of groups congregating in locations identified as PokeStops and Gyms in Milwaukee parks.
Under the new law, Niantic will need to seek approval from the local government if they want to have active PokeStops and Gyms in a Milwaukee park or public area. This is despite the fact that the PokeStops themselves are virtual locations placed in the physical world.
The ban doesn’t just impact Pokemon Go; the implications will be felt by all current and future location-based augmented reality games.
