Gujarat Has Banned PUBG After Finding That School Kids Are Addicted To It

Online gaming addiction is claiming lives rapidly. Artificial intelligence games and challenges that force a participant to go to its very end are having a drastic impact on them.

Youth especially children and teenagers are glued to their mobile screens instead of their academic material. Starting from less harmful gaming apps like Candy Crush, Subway Surfers to more mobile games like Pokemon Go, Blue Whale Challenge, MOMO Challenge and now PUBG- have taken over the world.

These games provide millennials an escape from their daily life problems. So much so that they get trapped in their fantasy world only. The Blue Whale Challenge required people to draw a whale on their hands with blood and commit suicide in the end. The participant is led to believe that if he/she doesn¡¯t commit suicide then their family can be harmed or their lives will be made hell.

Photo: BCCL

Therefore, it was considered necessary to block any such gaming culture that might lead to irrevocable consequences. PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds popularly called PUBG has now ventured into the gaming world and anyone who is remotely social would know that it is driving the youth crazy since its release in March 2018.

Last month, Google released its annual list of Android¡¯s best applications and games of 2018 and obviously PUBG Mobile took home the award in the ¡®Best Game¡¯, ¡®Most Competitive Title' and 'Fan Favorite' categories.

However, as soon as it became an obsession, institutions became wary of it, given what gaming apps had done to students in the past. They decided to put a ban on the obsession by forbidding students to play it in academic premises. Vellore Institute of Technology in Tamil Nadu had issued a notice banning the game in their men¡¯s hostel. The notice mentioned that hostel students were "disturbing the atmosphere" by playing PUBG.

Schools in Bengaluru had also begun to warn parents of the ill-effects. Now, the Gujarat government has decided to take a step to curb the growing gaming culture. News agency PTI reported that Gujarat government on Tuesday had issued a circular asking district authorities to ensure a ban on PUBG.

The ban was recommended by the Gujarat State Commission for Protection of Child Rights. The game will be banned in primary schools. The circular said that the game was ¡°adversely affecting their studies¡±. Reportedly, the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) has also recommended a ban on the game across India.

Jagruti Pandya, chairperson of the Gujarat child rights body told PTI, "The NCPCR had sent a letter to all the states and recommended a ban on the game. All the states are required to implement it. Looking at the negative effects of the game, we had recently sent a letter to the state government recommending a ban on the game"

Given the game¡¯s detrimental effects, other states might also implement this. Reportedly, a PUBG fan spends 8 or more hours in a week on an average in India. The survey concluded that 24.3 per cent of the respondents played PUBG for 8 or more hours in a week while 52.2 percent players said that they preferred to play PUBG at night.