Digital Discourse Database

Number of Posts: 13
Posts 1 - 10

Als die Server zusammenbrechen, fliessen die Tränen

(As the servers break down, the tears start )

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Newspaper | Tages-Anzeiger
Date | 27.7.2017
Language | German
Country | Switzerland
Topic Tags | game, smartphone, threat, virtual reality
Summary | Pokémon Go is a hugely popular smartphone video game that lets players catch virtual Pokémons in their real surroundings by means of augmented reality. A huge public Pokémon Go event was held in Chicago with 20'000 attendees. At some point the inevitable happemned, the servers collapsed and the app would not work any more. Many players became very upset and Pokémon Go reimbursed all attendees who paid to be at the event with a rare Pokémon.
Image Description | An image of a park with Pokémon, a screenshot of a Pokémon Go map, and a hand holding a smartphone with Pokémon Go open on the screen.
Image Tags | hand(s), smartphone

Mother's horror after sick perverts target her six-year-old daughter through online gaming app for young children

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Newspaper | Mirror
Date | 26.1.2017
Language | English
Country | UK
Topic Tags | childhood, game, pornography, privacy, threat
Summary | Using a popular mobile gaming app (Roblox), perverts have been sending kids explicit and inappropriate messages. They've been trying to lure kids and ask them for their addresses. Jemma Casey is the mother of 6-year old Morgan, who was sent indecent messages. Other children have also been targeted.
Image Description | Photograph of a mom and her daughter, screenshots of inappropriate messages, and photograph of a mom and her son.
Image Tags | female(s), male(s), text

Pokemon Go: What is it, how to play it and everything you need to know

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Newspaper | Telegraph
Date | 26.7.2016
Language | English
Country | UK
Topic Tags | game, smartphone, threat, virtual reality
Summary | The augmented reality game Pokemon Go is now available in the UK. Users can catch Pokemons in real life thanks to their smartphone. Pokemon Go is a popular game around the world, but playing the game can be dangerous; there have been robberies, shootings, and car accidents because of the game.
Image Description | Screenshot of Charlotte Nice's tweet, two videos about the game, two photographs of hands holding a smartphone displaying the game Pokemon Go, four photographs about accidents and injuries linked to the game.
Image Tags | game, hand(s), smartphone, Twitter

'Snowden' filmmaker Oliver Stone warns Pokemon Go is creating a totalitarian world filled with robot-like people

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Newspaper | Mail Online
Date | 22.7.2016
Language | English
Country | UK
Topic Tags | game, privacy, smartphone, social media, threat, virtual reality
Summary | The game Pokemon Go has become so popular that it has overtaken major social media in number of active users. Oliver Stone spoke about the smartphone phenomenon as 'a new level of invasion' that could potentially lead to totalitarianism and a culture of surveillance. Internet giants are tracking everyone's online behavior, especially through the game Pokemon Go.
Image Description | Photograph of Oliver Stone, photograph of three male children looking at their smartphone, photograph of actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt, and photograph of Edward Snowden
Image Tags | male(s), smartphone

Pokémon Go boom puts Occoquan on the map

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Newspaper | Washington Post
Date | 14.8.2016
Language | English
Country | U.S.
Topic Tags | game, smartphone, threat, virtual reality
Summary | The smartphone game Pokémon Go is becoming popular among teenagers, mothers and sons, couples, or middle-aged government workers. The game's augmented realited has brought those people to the small town of Occoquan (Virginia). The town is a hotbed for the game, and the town's popularity has been good for businesses. The game allows people to catch Pokémon creatures in real life. Why is Occoquan a good location for the game? It is situated on the banks of a river, so people can catch both land and water Pokémon creatures. Occoquan is also filled with historical buildings which can house many Pokémon creatures. People have been concerned about the popularity of the game. For example, players' distraction has led to an increase in robberies.
Image Description | N/A

Darum ist Pokémon Go bei Muslimen verpönt

(This is why Pokémon Go is frowned upon by muslims)

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Newspaper | Welt
Date | 6.9.2016
Language | German
Country | Germany
Topic Tags | diversity, game, law, politics, privacy, threat
Summary | Many muslim authorities in varioius countries such as Saudi Arabia and Malaysia have declared Pokémon Go as wildly inappropriate for muslims. It references othher religions (with symbols) which allow for multiple gods along side each other, it propagates Darwin's theory of evolution, and most importantly: it constitutes gambling which is prohibited by the Qur'an. This does not mean that the state in Malaysia enforces that religious advice as a law. Non-muslim people are also worried about Pokémon Go but not because of ideological issues but because it can be seen as a surveillance scam and so a privacy breach hazard.
Image Description | Men playing Pokémon Go and portraits of a few male experts mentioned in the article.
Image Tags | game, male(s), smartphone

Böse mitgespielt

(Foul play)

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Newspaper | Welt
Date | 21.8.2016
Language | German
Country | Germany
Topic Tags | childhood, game, law, pornography, sexting, threat
Summary | All children learn that they should beware of dangerous men on playgrounds but few parents include the same warning about digital playgrounds. Multiple cases are known in Germany where children were contacted by paedosexuals online through chat functions in online multi-player games and coaxed into sharing information, nude images, and meeting up resulting in sexual abuse.
Image Description | N/A

Kopfschuss: Glatte Eins!

(Shot to the head: A+!)

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Newspaper | Die Zeit
Date | 18.5.2017
Language | German
Country | Germany
Topic Tags | game, gender, school, threat, youth
Summary | A school in Norway is offering a course in E-sport, i.e. playing online team sports in shooter video games like Counter:Strike. The course is very popular among the male students (only one female student has taken the course) and has shown that students at risk of failing the year tend to do better in school overall when they are in a video game class. They get boosts of self-confidence because they can hold presentations about something they are passionate about. The school wants to reflect their students' reality in their curriculum and video games are a passion of many students and a future job for some of them. Shooter games are less stigmatized in Norway than in Germany.
Image Description | Image of male students playing video games.
Image Tags | game, male(s), school

So fressen Apps ihr Geld auf

(This is how apps eat your money)

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Newspaper | Welt
Date | 24.7.2017
Language | German
Country | Germany
Topic Tags | childhood, game, marketing, smartphone, threat
Summary | Many seemingly free gaming apps off in-app purchases after being downloaded. This is dangerous when unsuperised children use the app - some parents have already received in-app purchase bills of several thousand euros. It is best to either supervise children when playing game apps or to only let them play offline games which do not have pop-up advertising for in-app purchases.
Image Description | A PacMan head.

"Wir wollen die Menschen aus ihrem Zombiesein aufwecken"

("We want to wake people up from their zombie existence")

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Newspaper | Die Zeit
Date | 3.3.2017
Language | German
Country | Germany
Topic Tags | game, smartphone, threat, virtual reality
Summary | Pokémon Go is an augmented reality game. It is different from virtual reality in that it uses the real topography around the player as the site of the game which is virtually enhanced with Pokémon which can be "caught". It was designed to make people engage with the outside world and each other while playing, to lead people into parks they never went to. The most effective way to do that nowadays is to create an incentive with the smartphone.
Image Description | Getty image of Pokémon Go players at night and a portrait of the interviewee.
Image Tags | male(s), smartphone

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