MOSCOW, July 22. /TASS/. Pokemon Go multiplayer game is not harmful for the society, Russian Internet Ombudsman Dmitry Marinichev said on Friday. Furthermore, alternative solutions related to use of the augmented reality effects, including the national ones, will appear on the market shortly, he added.

"I may confidently say this game has no hazards. It can only be said definitely that our children will live absolutely normally and use it," Marinichev said.

The augmented reality is like invention of radio or movies, the official said. "This is just the first shot, followed by a large number of services games and programs doing the same," he added.

"The game merely demonstrated like an acid test that we are passing to a new world epoch, where we are not merely operating items and interact with them but also operate a certain essence of such items; we approached the world of Internet things or Internet devices. In other words, virtual characters like Pokemons will populate our space," Marinichev said.

Pokemon Go is an extensive multiplayer free-to-play online game with elements of augmented reality, developed by Niantic for IOS and Android devices. The game was released in July 2016. The game allows players to capture, train and fight with virtual Pokemon characters, which could be found in real world locations. The game is expected to be formally released in Russia in coming days.