If there’s one thing I’ve learned from Pokemon Go, it’s that staying home and playing MMORPGs from the comfort of my pajama pants is way safer than leaving the house. For many years, the only thing gamers had to fear was the occasional report on someone dropping dead in an internet cafe after not drinking for days, or maybe that kid you stole a Lineage sword from shivving you at school.
But Pokemon Go drags us out into the real world, and bad shit happens. This week’s reminder to watch your back comes in the form of a 39-year-old North Carolina man who was jumped, severely beaten, robbed of his phone and PoGo Plus, and left for dead in the parking lot of a restaurant, according to the Winston-Salem Journal. While the Journal reports that police haven’t formally confirmed that the assault was Pokemon Go-related, his friends believe it was: The victim, Vincent Mannino, was apparently a hardcore member of the local Pokemon Go group who walked six miles a day playing the game, and the group has disclosed information about the extent of his injuries and hope for his move out of the ICU. In fact, the group has begun raising money to donate to him and his family and have planned multiple community events in his honor. To date, they’ve raised nearly $5000.
