Over the last couple of weeks, Pokémon GO has seemingly taken over the public, so much so that a journalist was caught playing the game at an anti-ISIS briefing with the State Department. While there have been a number of places and instances of Pokémon GO players acting inappropriately during their time out and about trying to catch ’em all, most of the gameplay is in good fun and is filled with excitement for families and friends and all types of individuals trying to meet and interact with new people. Having said that, there are certainly some places where it might not be the best decision to play an augmented reality game, and one of those places just might be at State Department briefings over a serious topic.
Despite the game probably being played at the wrong time, the spokesperson for the State Department that was at the podium, John Kirby, seemed to be fairly good-natured about the whole scenario, even asking if they had “caught one” after catching the journalist in the act. This just goes to show that you can’t always catch ’em all, and if you try when you’re not supposed to you just might be the one getting caught.
What’s more is that the journalist replied to Kirby by saying that he couldn’t catch anything because the cell signal wasn’t very good inside of the room, to which Kirby replied, “I’m sorry about that,” while sporting a rather subtle yet still obvious smile on his face. While this type of situation is bound to happen to many more people, it does serve to put out a little bit of a laugh and display that even people who need to be serious about their jobs can have a good attitude about things like this. It’s also one more instance that displays how wildly popular the game has become, as people are willing to play it while they’re working in a room with other people that are employees of the U.S. government. Whether or not you take Pokémon training this seriously or not, the game has become what seems like an iconic offering almost over night, of course, that’s all due to the Pokémon franchise and not the game itself.