Hey You! What's your Team!

[Mister Coffee]

So I immediately knew this was going to start being an issue with this game and lo and behold... it's an issue.
Did Pokemon GO make a globe wide set of gangs?
There has been clique behavior, insults, resentment, and (god forbid) vandalism.
I was wondering what you guys think about the likely increase of dangerous "gang-like" activity occurring from the three teams due to this game. Do you guys think this will spiral out of control, or do you think people will ease up and just enjoy the game as it is and embrace a sense of fun and tame rivalry?

My personal contribution to the issue:

Spoiler:

So I have to admit this because this is just the kind of person I am and I can't help it. I am all about team spirit. When I was in high school, I went to a lot of foot ball games. I loved the excitement, and most of all I was obsessed with the rivalry. My old high school foot ball team had a few die hard rivalries, and I used to go to foot ball games and a lot of the fun for me was talking crap at the other team. While I used to do this, it was always fun and I never ever got into a single fight due to representing my foot ball team.
I bring this up because, I've been doing the same thing with Pokemon GO. Yesterday I bumped into a member of team Mystic. I saw he was playing we both laughed, and I asked him what team he was on. When he said Mystic, I started laughing and I said "You suck."
We laughed, traded insults, and then went about our way playing with (as far as I could tell) no grudge against one another or any kind of heated fight or argument. I thought that was fine and that was how it should be, and a little bit of crap talking to promote my team is fun for me. Though I do legitimately worry if my little ribbing could unintentionally be promoting further heated and possibly dangerous rivalry. I honestly think I will keep talking a little bit of crap every once in a while until I actually think I'm becoming part of an actual problem.

This article mentions a little bit of my worries: https://nowloading.co/posts/3998714

Also if you guys haven't seen this photo yet, check it out and think real hard about it. (By the way, despite the culprit being from "Mystic" I totally do not blame the group as a whole, simply because this was done by by an individual and at this point there is no reason to blame such an incredibly large group for the actions of one very stupid individual.)

Spoiler:

 

[FireSnow]

Its unfortunate that that is becoming a thing. So far in my area, everyone has been really kind and just awesome. We all socialize and bond over our love for Pokemon while of course having some friendly competition. In my friend alone we have Mystics, Valors, and Instincts yet here we are, still having fun with the occasional playful jab.

People need to realize it is just a game. I've heard similar stories of people being absolute jerks because someone is on a different team. This game isn't life or death. Its about creating and growing an amazing community in the real world rather than inside little handheld devices and online. Its so very frustrating to see these stories. I'm all for having team pride but once in starts turning to being rude or heaven forbid criminal, there is absolutely something wrong and hopefully people will realize and clean up their acts.

 

[Meganium]

Houston has a very large Team Mystic group and one of my best friends is a leader for it. I am part of Team Mystic solely because I am a huge Articuno fan. Quite honestly I'm not a huge fan of the whole teams kind of thing. Pokemon is supposed to be a friendly thing and not a real life rivalry thing.

 

[Sirindu]

Anything this large will have anything happen.

From crime, to bullying, to cheating, whatever--you name it, it will happen. Why? Because Pokemon Go involves THAT MANY people.

My experience has been nothing but positive, from all teams involved. I can buy that there are bad apples, and I can buy that mob mentality can take over in certain situations with enough people involved. But come on. The UK calling it the most dangerous game ever?

I understand that there are going to be periodic issues. But I think that this is mostly just the media doing what the media does best: breed controversy and fear.

 

[Juno]

I have to admit, I never thought stuff like this would happen, lol. I mean I expected some friendly rivalry (the kind you mentioned - joke insults, teasing, etc.), but I guess these kinds of more "intense" rivalry is happening because PGO has attracted a vast audience, which includes people who would do stupid things like this.

Like if a person was going to vandalize something, I'm sure they would have done it with or without the excuse of "Team Mystic" - you and I would probably never think to spray paint our Pokemon Go team on anything.

But I think it will stop as the hype dies down - it's a new fad that all kinds of people are getting into, but it's likely that people who aren't long-time Pokemon fans will get bored of Pokemon Go after a while and move on.

 

[mokonasakura]

There may be a few idiots who take things to far but that happens with everything and just like every time it has happened they will go to jail and we will move on. This will never turn into a world wide gang violence and even if it for some reason did the game would be shut down immediately.

 

[Hiidoran]

Maybe it's so sad to see because this fandom is so close to our hearts; we're understandingly defensive of it. Pokémon fans are friendly and harmless, and we'd like to think all the people joining GO are likewise minded...

But, this is a HUGE fad, and the people ruining the fun by vandalizing in the name of their team are people who would have done it for some other reason anyway, sans GO. It's sad to see people take rivalry that's supposed to be fun to this level, but like it's been said, it's not necessarily the game's fault.

 

[Splishy Splashy]

I am on Team Mystic, but around here the players are pretty friendly with each other. These idiots that are vandalizing and doing other stupid stuff in their teams names is just hurting the game. Like someone said above these players who are doing this stuff are NOT the real fans of Pokemon and don't know the real meaning of the franchise. They will get bored with it and drop it and it will get to be more normal at some point. I am predicting by the end of the Summer when we kids go back to school and college semester starts up it will cool down a lo.

 

[XxBlakexX]

Teams are vandalizing stuff?? I have heard some crazy news from the game but not that yet. They do need to stop giving a bad name to the game.