A month ago, Belgium - the whole country, got banned from playing Pokemon Go. This happened because a person, or more like a group of people, decided to test a theory about IP bans. We reported that the dev community r/pokemongodev did the test via several burner SIM cards that launched thousands of synchronous scans on Pokemon Go servers. Unfortunately, Proximus IP, the country's biggest mobile service provider was detected and as a result, Belgium got banned from accessing the Pokemon Go servers, therefore blocking most, if not all, of the country's Pokemon Go trainers from playing the game. The issue got resolved right away, however.
Now, it seems that Belgium has yet another issue about Pokemon Go. This time, a little village somewhere along the Port of Antwerp, has forbidden the use of Pokemon Go at night. They even gave out fines for those who do not comply.
Why the ban?
The said small village in Antwerp Port is very peaceful and quiet. That is until the day Pokemon Go was launched on that area. It might have been bearable if the place didn't have great spawns. Unfortunately, the place is very abundant in wild Pokemon resulting in hundreds, if not thousands, of people going to that area disturbing the calmness of the small settlement.
Because of this, the locals started getting irritable about the disturbances and formally filed complaints that led to strict regulations.
Thanks to Redditor Sjaarboenk, who translated the sign at the said village:
Translation here:
"Nightly prohibition Pokémon GO
Temporarily police regulations on playing Pokémon GO in public space
Article 1: area This regulation applies on the following territory of the district Berendrecht-Zandvliet-Lillo, in the area delimited by Scheldelaan, Vestingstraat, Tolhuisstrat, Stroomstraat, Kazerneplein and Omwentelingsstraat.
Article 2: duration This regulation is active from this moment and will last until 31 december 2016. The regulation applies daily between 10PM and 7AM.
Article 3: prohibition It is forbidden to participate playing Pokémon GO in the article 2 established times in public space.
Article 4: sanctions Violations of these regulations will be sanctioned with administrative fines corresponding with the article 119 bis New Community law ,..."
Based on the said regulation, it seems that it is very reasonable to ban the game at night. Only 35 people are living on the said village and it wasn't banned at start. However, players have reportedly been disrespectful causing the villagers to make legal moves to reclaim the peace. At least 4 PokeStops are in the tiny village at Antwep, Belgium and are very good spawn points.
On the bright side
Aside from what seems to be bad news for the villagers, Otaku Kart has reported that some players say that the town has been lightened up by the visiting people. For instance, vendors are now popping up selling hotdogs during the day among other new opportunities created by the sudden increase in visitors.
It seems that Belgium has a lot of Pokemon Go trainers, they even have their own Pokemon Go ad as presented below:
Have you experienced any isolated bans in playing Pokemon Go? Hit us with your comments below.
