Niantic faces a class action lawsuit for encouraging trespassing on private property:
When Niantic released Pokemon Go, it randomly placed Pokémon, Pokéstops and Pokémon Gyms all over the world. Players of the game wander the real world and use smartphones to capture Pokemon, buy items and fight Pokemon Gym leaders.
"To create that immersive world, Niantic made unauthorized use of Plaintiff's and other Class members' property by placing Pokéstops and Pokémon gyms thereupon or nearby," said Jennifer Pafiti in the lawsuit. "In so doing, Niantic has encouraged Pokémon Go's millions of players to make unwanted incursions onto the properties of plaintiff, and other members of the class, a clear and ongoing invasion of their use and enjoyment of their land from which defendants have profited and continue to profit."
Due to the randomized placement of the Pokémon, Pokéstops and Pokémon Gyms, they have turned up in some unwanted locations such as in houses, cemeteries and museums. According to Jeffrey Marder, a man living in New Jersey, he received at least five unwelcome visitors that wanted access to his backyard to catch Pokémon within the first week of the game's launch.
"Plaintiff and other Class members have all suffered and will continue to suffer harm and damages as a result of Defendants' unlawful and wrongful conduct. A class action is superior to other available methods for the fair and efficient adjudication of this controversy," said Pafiti.
(Score: 1) by Francis on Thursday August 04 2016, @03:47AM
They did remove the pokemon from the Holocaust museum after the complaint, but if they're verifying locations it seems incredibly insensitive to put any pokemon there, especially that one.
I think the deal with the cliff was that the algorithm they're using doesn't do a good job of dealing with the relative inaccuracy of the devices. So, if they put something next to the road, it can appear in the road or over the fence on the other side of the sidewalk.
(Score: 2) by curunir_wolf on Thursday August 04 2016, @04:20AM
I am a crackpot
(Score: 2) by cykros on Friday August 05 2016, @02:46AM
While they're verifying locations for pokestops and gyms, they're not verifying locations for where pokemon spawn, which appears mostly based on cell phone usage density (much the same as where XM spawns in Ingress). Though it wouldn't surprise me if the stops and gyms were at the holocaust memorials as well, because they're literally exactly the same locations as the portals are in. Incidentally, Ingress players making use of these locations has never been disruptive (we tend to travel solo or in particularly small groups), while it doesn't surprise me to hear that the pokemon crowds were less than welcome. Between the average sense of common courtesy being lower as well as the way gameplay actually works, it's a fairly big difference, but otoh it's not surprising to hear that Niantic didn't think about that considering the millions of portals they already had around the world that they were converting to use in a completely different game. That they're quickly responding to complaints in a reasonable manner seems adequate to me.