Inside Out Of PUBG : Should It Be Banned In India?

Player Unknown’s Battlegrounds (PUBG) game became a rage with many across the world. Craze for Player Unknown’s Battlegrounds (PUBG) game increased at such a rapid pace that it resulted in the death of many kids.

Things took a grave turn when Delhi Commission for Protection of Child Rights (DCPCR) took a serious note of the growing incidents of suicidal tendencies and issued an advisory against games like Fortnite, PUBG, Grand Theft Auto and Pokemon Co.

It also asked the directorate of education (DoE) to ask schools to spread awareness about the ill effects of online gaming. Delhi Commission for Protection of Child Rights (DCPCR) registering an advisory stated “There are several games in which children can murder zombies or drive vehicles at boisterous speeds. These games are full of misogyny, hate, deceit and vengeance and it may negatively impact their brain,”

PM Modi too asked a mother of a student during his Pariksha Pe Charcha ‘Ye PUBG wala hai kya’. Coming to PUBG, Player Unknown’s Battlegrounds (PUBG) is an online multiplayer battle royale game developed and published by PUBG Corporation, a subsidiary of South Korean video game company Bluehole.

The game is based on previous mods that were created by Brendan “Player Unknown” Greene for other games, inspired by the 2000 Japanese film Battle Royale, and expanded into a standalone game under Greene’s creative direction. In the game, up to one hundred players parachute onto an island and scavenge for weapons and equipment to kill others while avoiding getting killed themselves. The available safe area of the game’s map decreases in size over time, directing surviving players into tighter areas to force encounters. The last player or team standing wins the round.

Children when stressed get addicted to the game and after the initial enjoyment, they get so much immersed that they get crazy and fter sometime cannot come out of it.,. This results in suicidal tendencies leaving all shellshocked. National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) too supported an online petition , calling for a ban on the PUBG game and after the ban police arrested 10 college students for violation in Rajkot, Gujarat. Bluehole reacting to the arrests ussed a statement criticising the ban. The organisation has said that it will try to initiate constructive dialogue with relevant authorities to explain their objectives so that the prohibition orders can be withdrawn.

Bluehole claimed that the PUBG Mobile is a game, meant merely for entertainment; and should be enjoyed in a healthy and responsible manner. However clinical psychiatrist Rahul Shidhaye said “If it affects social functioning of people then it is definitely unhealthy. Excessive involvement in any activity having no social products can be termed as addiction,”

Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR)  funded a study in 2013 and on surveying 2755 people in the age group of 18-65 in Bengaluru found 1.3 per cent people were addicted to the Internet, while 4.1 per cent were addicted to phones and 3.5 percent were addicted to social networking sites.

Dr. Radhika Acharya, a clinical psychologist in Hyderabad supporting the ban said “PUBG desensitizes young people and damages their emotional development. It is all about linking success to violence and inflicting pain. It has a very negative effect on children, adolescents and even older people,”

Achyuta Rao, president of a children’s advocacy group in Hyderabad who wrote a letter to  the National Commission for the Protection of Child Rights said “Children are addicted and it is causing psychological disturbances. Horrible images infiltrate their minds and cause adverse effects. Only a national ban will have a positive result,”

23 year old Anirudh Ishaan, an avid player said “Banning the game is a very extreme step.You can take a middle path, or a moderate step, but how can you call someone who is playing a video game a criminal? We are not doing anything illegal.”

PUBG Mobile bowed to the demands in China and installed a digital lock banning under 13 children from the game. Some feel that bans in India will pass through the legal litmus test. Karnika Seth, a lawyer in New Delhi says “If you curb someone’s freedom, you have to have logical reasoning and a legal basis. You need to support your claim that the game leads to violence and hatred with reasoning instead of this kind of arbitrary ban which deprives people of their freedom,”

Manoj Agrawal, police commissioner of Rajkot says “It’s more likely that they will be given a warning by the court that they must follow the law of the land,