'Pokemon Go' Player Charged For Violating COVID-19 Lockdown

The absence of vaccines for the deadly pandemic COVID-19, triggered almost all countries all over the world to embrace the draconian method of locking down its borders. This is one way to flatten the curve and to starve the novel coronavirus from finding hosts and spreading the infection. But, for the love of the game, a “Pokemon Go” player was charged for ignoring the COVID-19 restriction.

Italy now has the most number of deaths caused by the COVID-19, and it is enforcing stricter guidelines to prevent the spread of infection beginning Mar. 09, 2020. Comicbook recently reported that a 31-year old “Pokemon Go” player was recently charged for violating the country’s lockdown rules. He was caught playing the augmented reality game outside of his house in Italy.

During the lockdown, residents are restricted from leaving their homes and are only allowed to do so for specific reasons like purchasing necessities. Despite the danger of contracting the novel coronavirus, authorities fined over 43,000 people caught violating the country’s rules. Leggo, an Italian news outlet revealed that the 31-year old “Pokemon Go” player is a resident of San Fermo and was playing the augmented reality game with his daughter when he was intercepted by the authority.

“Pokemon Go” earned its popularity because it is the first game to allow players to go outside, travel places, and personally interact with other players in an actual real-world setting. It offers exciting features like Raid Battles that encourage players to go out and play together. But, the current COVID-19 pandemic just makes it difficult for players to do the things that they enjoy doing in the augmented reality game.

Niantic recently postponed several in-game events in “Pokemon Go” to encourage players to home quarantine or self-isolate. Moreover, the game developer made some changes to the game like making incense more affordable, so “Pokemon Go” players could lure pocket monsters to their location. Pokemon Eggs are now easier to hatch, which could now be accomplished by just making a few footsteps.

The COVID-19 pandemic has, by far, changed the way we do our day to day activities, and Italy is not an isolated case. Most countries practice total lockdown to prevent the spread of infection. “Pokemon Go” players might find it hard these days to enjoy the popular augmented reality game, but the risk of contracting the novel coronavirus far outweighs the joy of playing the game.