Pokémon Go has only been out for a few days now and has already climbed its way to the top of the app charts while consuming the lives of players.
Even if it isn't the best Pokémon game ever released, it is still is the coolest. That's because the augmented reality game has players walking around their cities to catch 'em all. In just a few short days, it has transformed the mobile gaming scene, showing what is possible when virtual and real worlds collide.
But all the exploration may not be so safe for players who are on a quest to hunt down the best collection of Pokémon. Pokémon Go has caused players to go to many strange places such as police stations, but people are willing to go just about anywhere to build up their Pokémon portfolio.
Then again 19-year-old Shayla Wiggins was probably thinking nothing of exploring along the Big Wind River to make her next catch. The Wyoming teen went out to catch a Pokémon from a "natural water resource" in the early morning of Friday, July 8. But as she got closer to the water, she realized something was floating in the river— and it wasn't Squirtle or Psyduck.
After climbing a fence and getting a closer look the teen realized the something was a someone in the water.
Wiggins immediately called 911 to report the discovery, with local police later revealing that cause of death of the adult male found seemed to be an accidental drowning.
Naturally, the teen was shaken up by what she found.
Pokémon Go combines real-world elements to its characters, meaning that water-type creatures will be hiding near real water sources. It makes sense why the teen would walk in that direction, but goes to show that players might be finding more than what they expect sometimes.
It seems like gamers are spending every free moment hunting down these characters, whether it's searching around the house, at work, and more strange places like cemeteries and dangerous neighborhoods.
Even though it's just a game, people are taking it very seriously — to the point that Pokémon Go is causing some serious trouble in real life.
If there is a Pokémon nearby, they will stop at nothing to catch it—no matter if that means putting their lives in danger. For example, people are doing some straight up silly things in order to collect the characters in the game. This includes playing the game while driving because they are too lazy to walk around.
This might seem genius, but take a minute to really think about it. Still aren't convinced it's a really bad idea? Just take the advice from Twitter. Users began using the hashtag #dontpokemongoanddrive to remind others that it's not worth it to play and drive.
One user reported almost crashing his car when trying to catch a Geodude that was on the side of the highway. There is also a story making its rounds on social media that a player caused a major accident on the highway after putting his car in park to catch Pikachu. Even though this story is fake and published on a satirical site, there's a good chance that someone would be willing to risk the lives of others for the sake of a good Pokémon find—especially Pikachu.
It's important to remember this is just a game, so think twice before doing things like breaking into someone's property, going into a dangerous part of town, or even through a cemetery for the sake of Pokémon Go. You never know what you will find in real life.
