Gamer finds dead body while testing Pokémon Go’s GPS features

App requiring users to walk to physical locations leads to disturbing discovery.

by Sam Machkovech

Enlarge / We wonder if Niantic is going to change this Pokémon Go loading screen after Friday's strange news.

Niantic

After the Wednesday launch of Pokémon Go, the first augmented-reality Pokémon game for smartphones, the worst news had been about the iOS and Android app's frequent crashes and connection issues. That changed on Friday when a Wyoming teenager made a disturbing discovery while trying out the game's real-world features.
According to a Friday report from Wyoming news site County 10, 19-year-old Shayla Wiggins told reporters that she discovered a dead body floating in a river near her home. She only walked to the river because she had loaded Pokémon Go on her phone.
"I was trying to get a Pokémon from a natural water resource," Wiggins told County 10. The game offers visual hints about where its characters are hiding based on users' GPS data. Characters usually hide within walking distance, with small animated "sparkles" on the map for the type of Pokemon (grass, lightning, etc.). In Wiggins' case, that meant seeing a hint of a water-based character (indicated by a splashing-water animation) on her game's map screen. Players cannot start a Pokémon interaction in the app without walking directly to whatever point is shown on the smartphone display.

So Wiggins climbed the fence near her home and walked to the river in question, where she reports she found a grown man floating in the water. Wiggins alerted authorities immediately, who later told the public that they did not suspect foul play.

Representatives for Niantic, the app's lead developer, declined to answer Ars’ questions about whether the game's physical-location requirement may see an update in light of today's news.

Listing image by Niantic