It may come to a surprise to many but the battle royal game PUBG (PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds) is VERY popular in India. While many players feel that the game has become a, “been there, done that” experience. Many even scoffed at the mobile version of the game when it came out, but in mobile-loving India, it’s the greatest thing ever!
Why is PUBG such a hit among players? As mentioned above, India loves mobile technology. Mobile users in the country range in the hundreds of millions! Another reason why the game is popular is the use of in-game voice chatting which allows players to communicate with one another if they’re playing in a squad. This has led to many players to befriend their virtual squadmates in the real world.
India, like many other countries, loves to be competitive in any way possible and that’s not limiting to the world of competitive gaming known as E-Sports. Also in a culture that bases a person’s worth on their success, a leftover view from bygone eras, personal successes like winning with a team or being the sole survivor of a match gives the same boost of confidence and feeling of great success.
Unfortunately, with the rise in popularity also rose up controversy. The game is banned in Goa, a state in the west of India where the game is referred to as “Demon in every house.” Last week 16 people were arrested in the city of Rajkot for playing the game which was banned in the municipality. The ban notice claims that the game is causing violent attitudes in younger players.
The game has even caught the attention of India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who when being told by a concerned mother about her son’s online gaming addiction he asked her, “Is he a PUBG player?”
There have been widespread reports of “PUBG addiction” across the country and a month ago there were reports of an 18-year-old that took his own life after finding out he would not be getting a new cell phone that would allow him to play the game. Also, there have been six cases of self-harm in relation to the game last month.
So is PUBG really causing players to become violent? In a past article, I explored gaming and violence were the culprits in many cases came down to three factors, personality, environment, and mental health. Someone with an addictive personality would be in danger of becoming addicted to a game and play it for hours and become irrational when that fix is taken away.
The human mind is designed in a way that it gets addicted to things that give us a sense of accomplishment or achievement, which is how you may feel while gaming, but we can’t blame or single out PUBG as the reason behind such addictive behavior,” says Dr Rajiv Sharma about the growing cases of gaming addiction.
This leads to my next point, the environment in which these players are in. As mentioned before, in India there’s stress being put on people to be the best because that’s all there is and if you’re not, well too bad. To be fair, this way of thinking is everywhere, not just in India. You look at a culture that judges you by your success and you get emotionally beaten down no matter how hard you try, a victory in a video game is better than nothing, even on a personal level.
