In January 2020, lawyer HC Arora filed a PIL in the Punjab and Haryana High Court against popular battle royale game PUBG Mobile, calling for its ban. “School-going children who are losing interest in studies have become addicted to the game,” he stated in his PIL. Eleven-year-old Ahad Nizam had filed a similar PIL in the Bombay High Court in 2019 that stated, “PUBG Mobile promotes violence, murder, aggression, loot, gaming addiction, and cyberbullying.”
It may seem like an overreaction to many. After all, when Candy Crush made its way into our mobiles (and minds) in 2014, it was played by parents and children alike. There were no calls to ban it nor was opinion divided over the impact of playing it continoulsy on overall health. This was also true for Angry Birds, Plague Inc, Pokemon Go, or any other viral game of recent times. But what are causing major concern are the stories of violence and even death that made headlines due to PUBG overuse. In 2019, a 25-year-old man in Karnataka killed his father who stopped him from playing the game. Another Delhi teen who killed his family was known to be an PUBG addict. A 25-year-old man in Maharashtra died of a stroke while playing the game. His autopsy cited “intracerebral hemorrhaging due to over-excitement while playing the game” as the cause of death.
Gaming addiction has become so serious that the World Health Organisation called it a “gaming disorder” in 2018. “It is characterised by loss of control, increasing priority given to gaming to the extent that it takes precedence over other interests and daily life, and continuation of gaming despite the occurrence of negative consequences,” says Dr Santosh Bangar, consultant-psychiatrist, Global Hospital, Mumbai. Players just cannot stop playing PUBG. The free online game, which is about surviving until the bitter end in a 100-person free-for-all or as a team by any means necessary, is popular among boys in the 12 to 20 age group. They are susceptible since peer pressure, loneliness as the result of being a single child, helicopter parents, academic pressure and even lack of physical activity, among other reasons, lead to stress. Gaming provides an escape mechanism. “Beating 99 percent of players in a game offers instant gratification (due to dopamine and adrenaline rush). It also gives the player a sense of superiority and self-importance. You keep going back for more to experience that similar high,” says Dr Vedika Singh, a Mumbai-based physician.
Health experts warn that spending hours on a game leads to physical and mental problems. It could cause mood changes and behavioural issues, and impact sleeping and eating patterns. It could lead to an eyesight problem, poor posture and obesity. But the habit is tough to break. “Such individuals don’t show the physical withdrawal symptoms associated with alcohol addiction. But they show the physiological symptoms such as aggression and a complete breakdown of communication,” says Singh.
And the number of people impacted is considerable. According to Statista.com, the market value of the gaming industry in India was around `62 billion in 2019. According to a KPMG report, the number of gamers in India is estimated at 300 million. By December of 2019, PUBG announced that it had crossed 600 million downloads globally.
Tulika Sharma is the mother of Anand Sharma, a 15-year-old gamer based in Mumbai. The housewife says, “Anand can spend hours playing the game Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey on the weekend of its release and then not touch it for months. Is it fair to call him an addict?”Anand, meanwhile, feels that games that require players to check in at frequently to progress or demand interaction with other players are more of a concern. “To me, it is just another form of entertainment. Would you say that reading too many books is bad for you?” he asks. Experts believe that communication between parent and child is crucial in preventing issues in the future. “Avoid using pejorative terms like ‘addict’. Rewarding the child for restricted use is a useful behavioural approach. Allow a cool-off period and encourage a variety of indoor and outdoor activities. Involve the child in family screen time. Parents can also reduce their own mobile/other device usage. In extreme cases, seek professional help at the earliest,” says Bangar.
Game on!
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