KOCHI: The death of a Class X student of Kaprassery has raised concerns over online gaming and its disastrous impact on the participants, especially youngsters.
The addiction to certain games and life-taking tasks or challenges faced by the participants has always been a hot topic, but the issue fades into oblivion after a few days of discussions.
Fire Fairy, Blue Whale, Cinnamon Challenge, and Choking Game are some of the dangerous games that gamble with the lives of participants.
Among these, the Blue Whale, a suicidal game that demands players to complete bizarre tasks in 50 days, has once again triggered fear across the whole world, and it remains a big challenge to guard participants against its nefarious outcomes.
Russian link
As per reports, Philipp Budeikin, a 21-year-old Russian, was arrested for allegedly being the mastermind behind the game, Blue Whale, and he was charged with abetment of suicide of at least 16 schoolgirls. This itself points to the dangerous portents of online games.
According to Advocate Jiyas Jamal, a cyber law expert and founder of Cyber Suraksha Foundation, though multiple suicides following gaming and online addiction of children are reported across Kerala, the real perpetrators are never caught. He said that several accounts on social media platforms promote such online games. “Police have initiated online de-addiction programmes for children in the state. But that is not enough to prevent such deaths. People who create such dangerous games and those who circulate them should be identified and nabbed. Sadly, we don’t have even a single case in which people behind the stage were arrested. The investigation concludes just by identifying the reason behind such suicides. Not just children, even elders are becoming targets of these online games,” he said.
According to him, some games give free tokens for children to start playing. “Later, they start charging money. Some even ask children to send their photographs, which are later morphed and circulated on illegal websites. Some online game operators chat with children and extort money from them. Under severe mental pressure, children are forced to end their lives,” Jiyas said.
Arun B Nair, who worked as professor of psychiatry at Thiruvananthapuram Medical College, said that despite numerous suicide cases, a number of children continue to play dangerous online games.