One of my room-mates posted an article about a holocaust museum being flooded by Pokemon Go players attempting to catch Pokemon in the exhibits. It raised a lot interesting questions about respecting a space and deserves a longer format than a Facebook thread.
The primary issue is the idea of sanctity of space. There are physical regions that through culture have become established as somber places. Which are socially deemed to be inappropriate for play. The Holocaust museum is definitely a place I would consider to be inappropriate to play in and yet I do not think it should be excluded from the virtual game world. This sort of geo-location censorship would hide it from the public and it would be akin to hiding the Holocaust.
This premise sets out to create an interesting conflict in the integration of differing opinions. With the game exploding in popularity there are many players who may be hunting for a Pokemon which enters the physical space of the museum, their interest in the space is not sanctified. They may not be aware of the museum's purpose. Their play in such a somber space is considered intolerable. Yet this presents an excellent opportunity for curators to bring some insight to potential patrons on the occurrences of the past.
If the offence caused by the joy of others causes curators to be uncomfortable it can be worth while to challenge the expectations of how others have entered the space. Respect of a space is not inherit in the stone but in the meaning that we assign to it. Without understanding the toils that are represented in the halls of the museum a wandering player will be be able to understand what they have encountered.
In the Haggadah there is a story of the four sons; a wise son, a foolish son, a renegade and a lost son. The wandering players similar to the lost son. They do not know where they are, likely enter without malice, and do not know what questions to ask in order to understand the space. So as a curator it is important to remember to ask them questions to help them understand what they have found.
As a trainer I know there are intricacies and the drive to be the very best and overcome all obstacles to capture every monster is enthralling. Some spaces in the game world over the years have been free of Pokemon and occasionally off limits for capturing them. A curator has minimal idea about how their space has suddenly become integrated into the Pokemon World and it's important to trainers. Communicating why the pursuit of these monsters drives a trainer to enter their space. And why entering this space is important could help foster an understanding.
An understanding is a bidirectional thing, both sides must be able to speak and hear each other's perspective. The key in conflict is to find out what our opposition's perspective is, very rarely do people approach a situation with malice. I think it is important to remember that life is a mixture of joy and sorrow, learning the source of both is important. Each can have a time and place separate but the richness of life is only achieved when both are intermingled.
The Holocaust is a tragedy of immense scale, learning about it taught me some of the depths that humanity can fall to. It came from a nation divided against it self, cutting off components of it deemed un-fit to try and get healthy. It grew from pride and a blind eye. It is an important lesson is how dividing and polarizing creates rifts which can lead to self destruction.
Pokemon Go has been an interesting experience which has brought people together in many cases. Creating alliances and bringing people out into the real world to meet. It has broken down barriers because in the virtual world every one is just a trailer. It fills many of us with mirth and nostalgia.
Both joys and sorrows are important to know. I think that having a pokestop at the Holocaust museum is an interesting sign of the times. It is not culturally appropriate to catch pokemon there from a curator's perspective, yet a trainer is not seeing the physical space or it's ramifications. It does raise an interesting question about how to handle the integration of virtual and physical spaces with different objectives. Neither is inherently wrong and I think will be an interesting ongoing conversation in coming years.
original post for posterity
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It raises concerns about how visitors respect the space but it is a space that I would like people to discover if they have not been there. If pokemon is a medium that allows for more people to become aware of the Holocaust then it may be an acceptable means to that end. It does cause an uncomfortable convergence of joy with sorrow. I would like to consider it an opportunity to allow people to understand the juxtaposition of the dark and light elements of life. One of the most important components to me is for us to learn that our present has come from dark roots in places. And while a visitor may not understand the pain that built the museum it may spark some flicker of understanding....this is part of my brain flop on social engineering for positive change.
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