Milwaukee, Wisconsin recently passed a law saying augmented reality game developers like Niantic, the creators of Pokémon Go, must have a permit in order to use parks as game landmarks. A similar Illinois bill is in the works.
The Illinois bill would give public and private landmarks the right to require game developers like Niantic to remove poke-stops from those sites and make it easier to submit such a request. Chicago-area State Representative Kelly Cassidy is the bill's sponsor. She says the idea came from a protected dune getting trampled because of Pokémon Go players. Cassidy says hundreds of requests were made to Niantic to remove the poke-stops by the dune, but there were issues with contacting Niantic directly. She says the law isn’t made to discourage game play:
“We’re not saying that they can’t do it. We’re saying that if a problem comes up, you need to be a good corporate citizen, be responsive to the folks whose property you’re using and respect those property rights.”
Cassidy says the game developer has been more responsive since the bill’s creation. It was originally introduced last August but was revived for this session.