First, let it be known that I am a Pokémon Trainer and a proud member of Team Mystic! I have several favorite Pokémon including Jigglypuff, Snorlax, Eevee, and Jirachi. I have been a huge Pokémon fan since I was younger than seven and I have several stuffed Pokémon still in my possession. The point being, is that I love Pokémon and the new game Pokémon Go, but at the same time I am a little concerned about the violations of privacy that the game could cause and I'm not the only one who thinks so.

For those of you who don't know, Pokémon Go is a new free interactive app that allows its players to capture "pocket monsters" that are "hiding" in the real world. The game uses your GPS location and you have to walk around and explore different locations in order to catch new Pokémon, go to Pokéstops, and go to Gyms in order to battle other Pokémon. When the app first came out a week ago my inner child squealed at the thought of catching my very own Pikachu. Because let's face it, Ash Katchum and his Pikachu are adorable together. I walked (mostly drove - but that's a topic for another writer) all over my town and places catching Pokémon until I reached level five and could finally battle other players at Gyms! I wasn't at all concerned that I was pulling over into people's yards to catch the ever elusive Psyduck! Or that I was creeping around the block in my car at five miles an hour to trick the game into thinking that I was walking in order to hatch my Pokémon eggs. Oh no! I wanted to evolve my Paras into Parasect, my Weddle itnto Beedrill, and my Pidgey into Pigeotto (see how into Pokémon I am).

I wasn't at all concerned about these things until I reached level five and wanted to compete in my first gym battle at the local Pokémon Gym. You see, the game uses prominent locations in the real world to be spots for Gyms and Pokéstops. For example these can include post offices, monuments, cool statues, and historical places. However, one of my local Gyms just happens to be at my church. And as I was driving around town I noticed that other churches were also locations in the game. So you know that the first thing I did was drive right up to my church and I sat in my car, in the parking lot, until I finally won my first Gym battle. I didn't think anything of it until while I was there I noticed two other people walking their dogs and staring at their phones while on church property.

Now keep in mind that I'm not trying to say, "Oh they aren't members of my church so they can't be on the property." This isn't like that. This is about the invasion of privacy that this game is causing and these two dudes hanging around my church just happened to give me the idea for this article. It's not the fact that it was my personal church or that they looked like really unsavory characters. It's that hot spots for Pokémon activity will also become areas of high human activity. I'm not trying to say that these guys were up to no good around my church because they were clearly playing the game. However, church is a place for worship and fellowship, and when you're hanging around church clearly not doing any of those things, it becomes a problem. Church is a place where everyone is welcome to come and socialize. But when you're just standing outside being creepy on a Sunday there is the potential to cause a disturbance that interrupts someone else's worship.

Okay, more than likely the worst thing that can happen is that two people get in a fight because Team Valor's water type Pokémon beat Team Instinct's fire type and now the Gym has been taken over by the opposing team. But the point is that Niantic (The Pokémon Company and creators of the game) didn't ask for permission of anyone (at least to my knowledge, and trust me I've done research) before setting up these places to be Gyms and Pokéstops. So what you have now are private cemeteries being hotspots for Ghost Pokémon like Haunter, and old historical private residences being Pokéstops and places where you can collect Pokémon eggs, Pokéballs, and powerups. Other prominent locations are Air Force bases, police stations, national monuments... hmmm I wonder if you can catch a Legendary Pokemon inside the White House or the Pentagon. Sure I exaggerated on that last one, but are you catching my drift?

I love this game and by no means want it to end, but this could've been thought through a little more. The game has already caused traffic accidents because people are driving and playing. Soon there will be reports of trespassing on private property and large gatherings of suspicious activity near churches and national landmarks. My point is that in you quest "to be the very best, like no one ever was" and as you "travel across the land, searching far and wide" that you aren't visiting imaginary places in a game. This is the real world and trespassing on private property has real consequences and an excuse like "But officer I was just trying to catch a Charizard" won't be a valid excuse for your actions. Happy gaming and remember, arrive alive and don't throw Pokéballs and drive!