"Pokemon Go" players can apparently recall during the mobile game's height of popularity that parks were the most go-to locations to hunt for the creatures. Unfortunately, it appears that most of those players who visited these locations also left unwanted garbage behind. Therefore, these actions have encouraged the local governments to employ measures such as permits.
As reported by AP, a certain Milwaukee park experienced a large incursion of gamers, who were obviously out to catch Pokemon, left a lot of trash behind in the area. County officials were reportedly worried about how they can deal with the constant crowds visiting the parks and causing challenges with its upkeep. The officials noted that the overwhelming number of players apparently led to traffic congestion, security overtime, bathrooms overflowing and too much trash for the county to handle.
A couple of months after the incident it seems the authorities have figured out a way to hopefully cut costs for maintenance due to "Pokemon Go" players. They have apparently created a proposal, which requires developers of these Augmented Reality (AR) games to secure a permit. The permit is required before these companies can include public parks in their games. The proceeds from these applications will reportedly go towards overall maintenance.
Kotaku also notes that the Illinois Legislature has a pending bill with a different approach for AR game developers. The bill reportedly instructs the software developers to omit certain spots if the local government makes the request. Some players have apparently noticed that these countermeasures have arrived a little late in the game. It is obvious that the game's popularity has sort of died down, but it seems understandable as well for the officials to want to protect their interests.
Although Pokemon Go's popularity has waned over the years, the developer Niantic and Nintendo continue to release updates for the game. The local governments and their permit proposals are probably pre-emptive, just in case a new AR-enabled game becomes popular all over again.
