French Education Minister Wants Niantic to Remove Rare Pokemon From Schools

[Lizzy Finnegan]

French Education Minister Wants Niantic to Remove Rare Pokemon From Schools

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The French Education Minister plans to meet with Pokemon Go developer Niantic to discuss removing rare Pokemon from schools throughout the country.

The Seattle Times is reporting [http://www.seattletimes.com/business/pokemon-just-go-france-doesnt-want-creatures-in-schools/] that the French education minister, Najat Vallaud-Belkacem, is requesting that Pokemon Go developer Niantic remove rare Pokemon from every school in the country.

At a press conference yesterday, Vallaud-Belkacem said that she intended to meet with the developer to discuss the removal of Pokemon, specifically rare ones, from schools throughout the country, with the specific intent of deterring non-students from entering the grounds in order to attempt to catch them.

Earlier this month, the mayor of French village Bressolles decried the "anarchical settlement" of Pokemon creatures in the village [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/168194-French-Mayor-Decries-Settlement-of-Virtual-Pokemon-in-His-Town]. "When a cafe or a restaurant owner wants to open a business in any French town, they have an obligation to request prior authorization to the mayor," he said. "The rule applies to all people wishing to set up an activity or occupy a space on a public property. So it applies to Niantic as well, even though their settlement is virtual."


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[Lunar Templar]

and probably to keep the students on task to.

I can see "FUCK YOU MATH! THERE'S A TYRANITAR TO CATCH" being something that could possibly be disruptive in class as well.

 

[CrazyCapnMorgan]

and probably to keep the students on task to.

I can see "FUCK YOU MATH! THERE'S A TYRANITAR TO CATCH" being something that could possibly be disruptive in class as well.

That'd be funny to see - a bunch of students look at their phone and then, all of a sudden, half the class has to "go to the bathroom".

Makes me wish we had this when I was in high school.

 

[Neverhoodian]

What's with French officials having a hate boner for Pokemon Go? The way they're banging on about it, you'd think the 1940 blitzkrieg was spearheaded by Aggron panzers and Skarmory dive bombers (which admittedly would be kind of awesome).

 

[gigastar]

and probably to keep the students on task to.

I can see "FUCK YOU MATH! THERE'S A TYRANITAR TO CATCH" being something that could possibly be disruptive in class as well.

Actually im betting its more to deflect unwanted outside attention.

Its known that rare mons appearing are followed by horde encunters of humies.

So imagine what might be going through someones head if they saw a school being raided by dozens of man children. France being the way it is at the moment im not sure if the first word to come to mind would be terrorist or peadophile.

 

[RaikuFA]

What's with French officials having a hate boner for Pokemon Go? The way they're banging on about it, you'd think the 1940 blitzkrieg was spearheaded by Aggron panzers and Skarmory dive bombers (which admittedly would be kind of awesome).

With Voltorb and geodude grenades.

 

[Baresark]

Wow, are people so dense? You remove rare pokemon from the schools so you don't have large amounts of complete strangers hanging around your schools... it's a safety issue, it's not about the French governments hate of digital creatures. And can we stop pretending that people making these requests is them being unreasonable, you are just being children at that point.

 

[weirdee]

What's with French officials having a hate boner for Pokemon Go? The way they're banging on about it, you'd think the 1940 blitzkrieg was spearheaded by Aggron panzers and Skarmory dive bombers (which admittedly would be kind of awesome).

With Voltorb and geodude grenades.

the aggrons wouldn't even have to fire anything, after rock polish it would move too fast to stop

 

[The Enquirer]

What's with French officials having a hate boner for Pokemon Go? The way they're banging on about it, you'd think the 1940 blitzkrieg was spearheaded by Aggron panzers and Skarmory dive bombers (which admittedly would be kind of awesome).

This one is actually kind of fair. Half the class staring at their phones and the other half needing to go to the bathroom would be incredibly disruptive. Not to mention the fact that given all the terrible things that have happened in France recently, random people milling around outside of the school could easily be see as a security concern. Even without all the horrible things happening recently, it'd still be pretty damn creepy.

 

[Quellist]

While the Mayor of Bressolles is clearly mad as a box of frogs, this makes sense. It's the perfect cover for Paedophiles, terrorists and just about anyone else who shouldn't be on school grounds

 

[Scytail]

Wow, are people so dense? You remove rare pokemon from the schools so you don't have large amounts of complete strangers hanging around your schools... it's a safety issue, it's not about the French governments hate of digital creatures. And can we stop pretending that people making these requests is them being unreasonable, you are just being children at that point.

Seeing as how Pokemon Go has released in ALL of North and South America, ALL of Europe, SOME of Southeast Asia and Australia, WHY is this an issue for JUST France?

But you are right about one thing, this isn't about France's hatred of digital creatures, it's about their hatred of Muslims and refugees. They're afraid that human beings that they've marginalized and treated like second class citizens for centuries will use this app to start scouting schools for targeting under the guise of playing the game.

 

[Newage]

Seeing as how Pokemon Go has released in ALL of North and South America, ALL of Europe, SOME of Southeast Asia and Australia, WHY is this an issue for JUST France?

But you are right about one thing, this isn't about France's hatred of digital creatures, it's about their hatred of Muslims and refugees. They're afraid that human beings that they've marginalized and treated like second class citizens for centuries will use this app to start scouting schools for targeting under the guise of playing the game.

Nice generalization there mate. Thanks for telling me I'm racist and shit, I didn't know.

 

[Baresark]

snip

Seeing as how Pokemon Go has released in ALL of North and South America, ALL of Europe, SOME of Southeast Asia and Australia, WHY is this an issue for JUST France?

But you are right about one thing, this isn't about France's hatred of digital creatures, it's about their hatred of Muslims and refugees. They're afraid that human beings that they've marginalized and treated like second class citizens for centuries will use this app to start scouting schools for targeting under the guise of playing the game.

Just because it first happened in France doesn't mean it won't happen anywhere else. The game is still basically brand new.

Also... how are you going to turn that into hatred for Muslims and refugees? That is kind of nuts. Declaring the whole French government racists and bigots seems to me to be a huge stretch, and then using Pokemon Go to back that idea up?

 

[visiblenoise]

They should put all rare pokemon exclusively at the Marianas Trench

 

[MerlinCross]

I mean on one hand it makes sense. Do it to keep older strangers from approaching schools.

On the other hand, shouldn't there be people to actually be on the watch for anyone approaching schools in the first place?

Yeah doing this removes the really dedicated players who wouldn't think twice but it's not gonna stop those you actually should be worried about.

 

[busterkeatonrules]

While Mayor Beauvois pretty much just came across as a bit of a bozo, this guy has a pretty decent point.

(Kinda funny how it's still France, though.)