Pokémon GO continues to generate some of the strangest news stories around, with the latest offering involving a complaint to police that a player had simply walked right into someone's house in search of rare 'mon.
According to the BBC, the player entered a property in Norwich, UK and when questioned told police officers it was all the game's fault.
This is just one of 19 Pokémon GO-related incidents recorded by Norfolk police during the months of July and August. Others include assaults, driving offences, noise nuisance and thefts.
One driver was reported for behaving erratically as they played the game at the wheel, while elsewhere a man's phone was stolen right out of his hand while the offender distracted him by talking about the game itself.
In the majority of these cases - recorded in King's Lynn, Hoveton, Norwich, Gorleston and Thetford - police officers attended the scene but no action was taken.
Superintendent Dave Buckley, from Norfolk Police, had this to say:
If any offences are committed whilst playing the game they will be investigated fully and offenders will be dealt with appropriately.
Have you heard of any similar reports in your neck of the woods? Post a comment below to tell us.
[source bbc.co.uk]
Comments 47
Ow, man...
What an inappropriate attitude.
There are still some morons can't control themself while playing Pokemon GO.
If someone did this around my house, I'd be pressing charges. Hey, everyone else sues for dumb things and gets money...maybe that would be my day! Entering someone's house is still 'breaking and entering' also 'trespassing'. What next, the kid was going to sit on the couch, flip on the TV and eat some food. The kid should have been arrested and the blame should not be put on the game...the blame should be put on the moron that would actually do this. He was probably going to rob the people, just was getting caught so needed a new change of plan and blamed the game
Sooner this app fades away, the better.
That's how you get shot. Kind of fun game, but please use common sense.
@KJW90
Those gamers shoud be blamed, not the Pokemon GO apps. Their brain has brainwashed into Zombie gamer, lost their awareness and respects. If we have a lot of awareness and discipline manner, we can control ourself not to do something dangerous or utterly idiot like that. And the mass media just only make the 'FIRE' become worst, disgrace someone's reputation, blamed that game was the cause all of those calamities.
This person needs to be removed from the gene pool.
I love the Peter Gabriel reference
@Equinox
Wow..!
So, Basic Martial Art techniques are required for self defense if pepper spray is prohibited ?
Not all that surprised... Norwich probably has the right balance of intelligence and stupidity for that to happen... any more intelligence and they would have realised where they were going... any more stupidity and they would probably have walked into a wall before making it into the house.
I guess he missed the Do not trespass warning when you first load the game.
"It's the knife's fault! It used my hand to stab that guy 27 times!"
@Nadroc516 Thank goodness someone got it!
Sure the game opened the house :/
Why does this even happen? You don't need to get that close to a Pokémon to capture it anyway.
If he had wondered into my house he might have gotten a nice suprise.
No software on the planet is fully sillybilly-proof. These people that are that controlled by a game are not in touch with reality and clearly have special needs. If someone walked into my house looking for 'mon they would find themselves looking down the barrel of a gun. Breaking and entering is still breaking and entering. Hope that Bulbasaur was worth it. BANG.
@Equinox That's why you learn kung fu.
@KJW90 Agreed completely. It's irritating how there's still Pokemon Go articles being posted here on Nintendo Life every day, with no option to filter them out either. I tried Pokemon Go when it came out and didn't understand why everyone was playing it, since I felt that it lacked the heart of the main series games. Sun & Moon are way more interesting to me.
As my 9 year old son pointed out the other day: one only needs to be within a certain number of metres to ping a monster on the map. Tales of people walking into private property, off cliffs and into caves only serves to illustrate gamers who need to pay more attention.
@invictus4000 Please be aware that that r-word is not allowed here. Thanks.
I'm glad when I bought my house I had a six foot privacy fence put all around with a locked gate complete with no trespassing signs. You can't reach my front door that easily.
Player walks into residence.
"[NAME], this isn't the time to use that!"
@Handy_Man well Go is honestly still incomplete, it's getting better as they add features, eventually it may be much closer to the mainline games - they're adding trading, more gens, breeding (so I hear), and I think I even heard talk of a deeper battle system eventually. It's just taking so long because it's full of bugs (and not just the billions of weedles).
Sigh. Most Pokemon Go players are fine, but there are a few very selfish players.
What an idiot. An all for an average (in my opinion) smartphone game. Some people are utter fools.
I've never had to go inside someone's home to find a PokéMon; usually if you're next to the house, the monster will appear in your radius, even if it's inside that house. I don't buy this lame excuse. This kid probably was fully aware he was breaking and entering, but as soon as he got caught, he lied with one of the dumbest lies I've ever heard. Like how people blamed GTA for speeding/violence, rather than own up to their own mistakes.
This guy was clearly doing this on purpose cuz he somehow thinks he can get away with trespassing. Idiotic.
@JLPick Actually it would be trespassing and illegal entry not breaking & entering since he just walked through an open or unlocked door. It's still illegal mind you, but it's not the same thing.
It used to be that RPG players rummaged strangers' homes in the game. Now with Pokemon Go, they're doing it in real life.
Can't believe this has to be said. Don't walk into a stranger's house to play an augmented reality video game. Even it means not catching a Dragonite or whatever. The guy was trespassing which is illegal and no it's not the game's fault. Game didn't force him to open the door and enter the house. Can't help but shake my head in disgust.
This was done with the regular sightings? Maybe using a tracking app or page?
I wonder if this is one of the reasons a new more accurate tracking system isn't being added. There is the one related to pokestops which are usually public areas that is being beta tested and that makes sense in light of this as well.
If you give people a specific tracker I think people would be even more prone to just blindly following the trail until they smack into something or step off a cliff or whatever.
This rampant clumsiness reminds me of Goofy in Clock Cleaners' climax. If you've seen this amazing, classic Disney short, you know which scene I'm talking about.
Linking Peter Gabriel to Pokémon?
You, sir, have won the internets.
Friends don't let stupid friends play Pokemon GO.
Good thing this didn't happen in Texas! This story would have had a very different ending!
@Kroko exactly! Unless they were breaking into a mansion? But then, why did they think a Pokemon was there? As soon as you can see a Pokemon in the game, you can make capture attempts!
That moron is lucky he lives in the UK. Straight up, he would have been shot or injured in America. Walking into someone's house like that is breaking and entering (although not much breaking I suppose). Just dumb. I love the "it's the game's fault" answer. Shows the person is dumb and immature. A real winner! At the very least, scare the crap out of the person by jumping out from behind your couch or something.
10 years! Send him to the colonies!
I joke, we don't want him.
So if the app lead him to a top of a cliff and told him to jump off the cliff, would he do it? No, he wouldn't.
What he did was stupid and was clearly breaking and entering. He should get fined double for being an idiot and for blaming his phone when he clearly knew what he was doing.
Well I suppose that does happen in the original games too. He got the full Pokemon experience, except this person had an issue with simply walking into their house uninvited.
I would mention something my neck of the woods, but this IS my neck of the woods!
@Nadroc516 same thought.
@Barbiegurl777
To me, Clock Cleaners is one of the must-see Disney Shorts, alongside Mickey's Trailer and... well, just about anything featured in the 16-bit Mickey Mania game.
I was overjoyed when it was adapted as a level in Epic Mickey, only for my enthusiasm to come to a screeching halt upon finding out most side-scrolling stages were not replayable.
Some people have no sense, blaming an app for this is silly.
I am sure they wouldn't appreciate it if randomly walked into his living room and made myself comfy.
@thehoppypoppy Sure it would. Someone would be in prison for killing an unarmed trespasser. You might want to brush up on self-defense law first...
Anyone who's willing to trespass while playing a game, has no respect for someone else's property regardless.
@Mahe lol
I admit I catch Pokemon in my home, but that's only because it within radius of the exact location outside.
Common sense would say the reverse situation would also be true.
Smh that most of these crazy acts are done by adults.
So I'm thinking that pokemon go needs to have a mandatory IQ test and a background check? Some of these stories are almost farfetched. No pun intended.
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