No more Pokemon Go in Iran

Pokemon Go is a phenomenon known to everyone: the mobile phone application with a spectacular success worldwide. It also seems that the cute game, reminding many people in their 20s or 30s nowadays of their childhood, has recently gained some enemies: Iran bans Pokemon Go.

While other countries wait for the popular game to be available for them too, Iran is the first country in the world that took the decision of actually banning Pokemon Go. High Council of Virtual Spaces is behind the decision. Authorities vaguely declared that the reason which led them to this action has to do with safety and security. It seems that they also discussed the issue with the Niantic game creator (from San Francisco).

Iran has a past related to banning other Pokemon items, such as cards (in 2001), out of religious reasons: the cards contained inappropriate imagery, officials claimed.

Nevertheless, there are other countries in the world which think that the game is not as innocent and friendly as it seems. Russia, China, and Indonesia have doubts about it and wonder whether Pokemon Go affects national security. There had been rumors the Singapore would not allow the application in the country, but it has recently been released there too. Iran is still the first state to overtly ban the game.

However, it is still true that all sorts of incidents have been reported around the world. Because of the addiction to the game, players have been involved in car accidents, robbery and property trespassing.

Iranian fans have plenty of reasons to be disappointed: their favorite game is not allowed in their country anymore, and playing it leads them to a severe punishment (prison). Another problem is that the level of difficulty of the game has also increased because of recent updates, so the Pokemon are harder to catch and to keep, although the technicians promised improvements. In addition to that, they might have already learned that there is a Pokemon Go master: his name is Nick Johnson, and he is from New York – so there is no chance for them to become the next champions.

There are other fifteen countries in Asia which do allow the game, among which Singapore, Indonesia, and Thailand.

Image courtesy of: Flickr