Pokémon Go players fill Atlanta parks, trails

ATLANTA — The popular game "Pokémon Go" has captured thousands of users in Atlanta. Players are meeting up across the city to play the game together at local parks and other public areas.

The game, which allows you to seek out and capture virtual characters, is bringing hundreds of people outdoors to places like Piedmont Park and the Atlanta Beltline. However, not everyone is happy about the new craze.%

%

Alessandro Ramaldes told Channel 2's Rikki Klaus he enjoys "Pokémon Go," but hates what it's doing to public spaces.

“It's like madness. It's like wherever you go, you see hundreds of people running in the streets and chasing Pokémons,” said Alessandro Ramaldes.

RELATED STORIES:

• Florida man shoots at 'Pokemon Go' players
• Police use Pokemon Go to lure fugitives/404969283
• Driver rescued from fiery crash by man playing 'Pokemon Go'

Ramaldes says the main problem is that people are so buried in their phones, they aren’t paying attention to their surroundings.

On Sunday, he says several teenagers ran in front of his car on Edgewood Avenue while they were hunting a Pokémon character.

“I had to brake pretty quickly and almost hit them even doing that. They still kept going on their Pokémon chase,” he said.

On the beltline Monday, Klaus followed a group of players who met up with another group playing the game, clustered in the middle of the path. A group of bikers was forced to go off the road to get around them.

Ramaldes says "Pokémon Go" is fun and it brings people together, which is exactly what society needs.

“Especially in this time when there’s so much bad stuff going on in the world,” he said.

But he says people also need to pay more attention.

“People are really not using common sense,” Ramaldes said.

The Piedmont Park Conservancy is also asking people who come to play in the park to be aware of their surroundings.

Cox Media Group