Pokemon Go is sweeping the nation. With over 26 million daily users you’d be hard-pressed to find someone who doesn’t at least know someone who doesn’t play the massively popular game. For those of you that are unfamiliar with the game; Pokemon Go is a a GPS-based hide and seek style smartphone game. Players use their GPS signal to located hidden Pokemon that appear at various locations throughout the U.S. National landmarks and monuments have been turned into “Pokestops” where players and load up on gear and in-game items. Unfortunately, the game has become so popular that the hordes of players are becoming a nuisance for businesses and locations where chasing imaginary creatures simply isn’t appropriate. One such location is Arlington National Cemetery. The Untied States military ceremony was forced to issue an official “Pokemon Go” and cell phone gaming policy in response to the heaps of disrespectful gamers roaming the cemetery in search of elusive digital creatures.
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Being laid to rest at Arlington is one of the highest honors that can be bestowed on a fallen service member. Approximately 20-30 military families are forced to bury their recently departed family members at the cemetery every weekday. After of lifetime of military service and sacrifice service members and their families are due a certain level of respect. Unfortunately, some gamers have trampled on this honor by engaging in raucous “Pokemon hunts” while funeral services are taking place. The prospect of insulting the honor of fallen military members has become so worrisome that the cemetery has created an official anti-gaming policy and shared it over all their social networks. The following note was posted on Arlington National Cemetery’s official Facebook page on July 12, informing gamers that the hallowed grounds of Arlington are no place for digital gaming.
Officals at Arlington shared their stance on their Twitter and Facebook pages as posts as well.
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The cemetery hopes that a formal warning will be enough for visitors to put their aspirations of becoming “pokemon masters” on hold long enough to pay respects to the men and women that have sacrificed their lives for America’s values and its people.
