Pokemon Go servers crashed today, leaving millions unable to play the augmented reality game, or leave their homes.
On Sat. July 16th, group of online cyber-terrorists called PoodleCorp took down the Pokemon Go servers through a denial of service (DDOS) attack.
This resulted millions of users experiencing an inability to access the game, & constant freezing of the game.
Economists state that the latest crash has already begun to hurt businesses and economic growth
Pokemon go which encourages users to explore has been beneficial for small businesses in attracting customers. The augmented reality game makes real life monuments/business “Pokestops” which offer in game perks for visiting in real life. This in turn, has increased visits and revenue to these businesses.
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The server crash however removed the newfound incentive for users to leave their homes. As a direct result: causing a drastic downturn in cash-flow.
Harvard Technology Specialist April Collins explained how this decrease in PKGo could affect local business revenue. “Unfortunately in our modern digital age people make spending decisions on digital information.
“Without the incentive offered by PokeHunting, Users no longer have reason to make decisions necessary to select one business over another.”
Local Player Carlan Luong complained, “I used to go to Dunn Bros due to lures it would set up, now I don’t know what coffee shop to go to, I think I’ll stay home and drink this gallon of Arizona Ice Tea.”
The news isn’t all bad. Some businesses have shown increases in productivity since the App has gone down. However, that may be confounded with the fact that there’s less customer traffic.
Areas Unaffected by the PokeMeltdown include rural sectors who’s economies do not revolve around the fictitious character catching simulator.