Game of addiction

Mona

If you suddenly hear Revive de, revive de, Kahan reh gaye tum sab or Pochinki pahunch at a high pitch and see folks behave frantically with phones in hand, you have possibly reached Erangel — the make-believe playground for PUBG! Yes, this is the game that led to a 16-year-old committing suicide in Hyderabad, his parents having scolded him for playing too long, or a boy from Jalandhar to steel 50,000 from his father to buy PUBG skins! 

Under the skin

For the uninitiated, the ‘skins’ are the sheaths for the weapons for this battle game that’s winning everyone over, right from primary school children to professionals alike. Winner winner chicken dinner’ is one tough temptation to beat... ask actor Abheyjiit Attri, who played like 12 hours straight through the night to have one or Tanya who broke up with her boyfriend because his constant calls disrupted her game! 

Now how bad could a game be? It’s not Blue Whale that culminated in suicide or PokemonGo that had crazy gamers hold phones in hand and walk-drive in an attempt to net Pokemons. PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds aka PUBG, fondly referred to as PUBG ji for the reverence it enjoys in the world of gaming enthusiasts, has won over the world in the last year.

Online web

“It’s like hanging out with friends only, we all at different places connected on phone while enjoying a game too,” says Jasdeep Singh Pannu.  No, he doesn’t play that much now. “Phone battery was becoming an issue,” reveals this computer science student. 

Tanuj  Kumar Thakur, another engineer to be from tricty had his parents worried, as they heard him scream aloud on phone . “Tempers run high as one gets close to winning.”

This bonding and fighting over the game is not restricted to students alone, we have Abheyjiit Attri hooked with his fraternity over the game. “When you see your royal point right high, it sure is an ego booster,” says the Patiala boy, who goes by the user name of Patiala Peg. 

Big lure

The lure is rewards–outfits, skins for you weapons or vehicles to aid you stay ahead in warzone. “Even on days I am like trying hard not to give in to temptation, I get a message from Sachin Joshi ji — Aaja Patiala Peg, 2 khelte hain,” he laughs. That his gym schedule is off and he’s started to get late and is also guilty of showing up disarrayed at shoots is another issue. In fact, he is all set to delete the game from the phone and play only on tab or laptop to restrict the number of hours spent on playing it. 

Flip side

Many PILs have been filed in various states to ban the game and some cities like Rajkot in Gujarat have actually banned the game. Smita Gupta, mum to a nine-year-old Prabh is exasperated, “I have restricted mobile hours for my son. Even in those two hours at the weekend, he goes around screaming rather violently; I am frightened.”

The craze has spread in public spaces too. Like last weekend people woke up to a poster ‘This place is reserved only for PUBG game players’ in Thane! The police had to intervene to get it removed and counselled the youth. Banker Digvijay Sharma is devoted PUBG fan too, but fails to understand the mass hysteria. “Gaming has always been addictive. Agreed, PUBG is way too thrilling, convenient on phone, but it’s on individuals to control it.” 

As for the game, it comes with a series of instructions not to play too long, to stay hydrated, to be weary of vision issues... but would the gamers with eyes set on ‘winner winner chicken dinner’ listen?  

mona@tribunemail.com

Know the game

• PUBG — PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds — is an online, multiplayer battle game that got released in December 2017 by a South Korean Company. Extremely convenient to play on phone along with on tabs, laptops or gaming consoles, it has each player go solo or in groups of two or four with the premise that there are 100 of them that trooped down on a fictional island in the Black Sea. They must garner weapons and eliminate others to win. 
• The game, which has garnered most awards, including Action Game of the Year  at D.I.C.E. Awards and  Mobile Game of the Year at Golden Joystick Awards, had crossed 200 million mobile downloads by the end of 2018. 

Mind it 

• Games like PUBG that have become mass hysteria; we need a mass movement to create awareness and beat its negative impacts.
• Parental supervision is a must when impressionable minds have access to games where other online gamers can reach out to them.
• One must be weary of long-term effects, playing violent battle games make one less empathetic. 

— Punita Singh, counsellor