NEW DELHI: The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights has sought a report from the Union Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology on the steps taken to ban online game Players Unknown Battlegrounds (PUBG) that is a rage among young children.
The intervention came after the death of a nine-year-old boy in Hyderabad who was on treatment for game addiction and reportedly died due to overdose of prescription drugs. The panel had earlier issued an advisory seeking the ban in India. Developed by South Korean firm Bluehole, PUBG was released in 2017. It can be played on computers and mobile phones.
In late January, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, responding to a parent’s worry on her son getting hooked to online games of late, had quipped: “Yeh PUBG wala hai kya?” (Is it about PUBG?). A few days ago, this paper reported how a bright student in Karnataka addicted to PUBG took the pre-university Economics exam but wrote only about how to play the game in the answer sheet.
Be very wary
It’s violent and addictive, Increases aggressive thoughts
Consumes a lot of time; one game takes about half-an-hour; can’t exit a game midway
It’s an outlet for those with poor social skills; helps them interact online without the awkwardness of eye contact
In 2018, the WHO declared gaming addiction as a mental health disorder