In Pokémon GO battles for virtual gyms regularly break out. According to a trainer, such a battle escalated completely when players called the police.
What are these gym battles? In Pokémon GO, there are gyms, similar to what is known from the anime. However, the gyms in the mobile game function a bit differently. You can find them at interesting locations in the real world such as churches or historical sites. One of the three teams can hold a gym while the other two teams can attack it.
Such takeovers are often associated with frustration. As the story of one trainer shows, players tend to escalate.
2 cars prevented him from leaving
This is what happened: On reddit user darthmaclean writes in a thread that he attacked a yellow gym defended by a few players. The defenders reportedly called the police and also reported darthmaclean’s name in the game. Now he also has to change his nickname.
The user explains that he was parked with his truck in a park around 10 PM while he was battling the gym. He plays in Canada. Another car with several people was nearby, apparently containing the defenders from Team Yellow.
He was quite surprised when the police showed up. “I don’t know what they must have told them to stop me with two [police] cars from leaving.” However, the trainer believes that the callers must have claimed something “terrible about him,” judging by how the police cars rushed towards his truck.
During the time he was blocked by the police, the other car drove away. The officers did not provide him with a statement as to why they were checking him.
The player believes that the trainers from the other team wanted to punish him with the police and the reports of his name for daring to attack their gym. They seemed to be vengeful.
The consequences: The user did not reveal how the conversation with the police ended. However, the reports of his username led to him having to change his name in Pokémon GO. He received an email from Niantic explaining that his username was reset, and he now has to choose a new one.
Players on reddit suspect that his old name was indeed offensive. However, his username was “JesusEh,” explains darthmaclean. He had that name since the game was released in 2016. It is possible that Niantic intervened here because religious players might feel offended.
A confrontation between Pokémon GO players and the police can also end with an apology. A neighbor called the police on trainers, then sweetly apologized.
