Bilal Bhat
Games are a source of recreation and pleasure for all your stress and tiredness of the day. But as usual it is said that ‘anything is good upto some limits’. And so is this source of recreation. We have experienced wide sort of changes since last few decades. Outdoor games have been replaced by attractive and addictive video games which are destroying the future of younger generation.
One of the dynamic introduction of a game popularly known as PUBG i.e. Player Unknown’s Battlegrounds, a multiplayer game launched in 2017 and surprisingly has made it to the list of best-selling games. PUBG is a considerably realistic compendium of several aspects such as land navigation, orientation, strategy, tactics, communication, skill mastery, planning, inventory management, tool usage and a X factor or two. The mobile version gets more people hooked because of the accessibility. Despite of covering a lot of space in the device i.e. 1.6GB people install it as per the craze the game has created in the minds of people. Though the age limit setup by the administrators is ‘sixteen years’ but still lots of people are glued to it ignoring all other works and activities essential for human beings.
The game is reportedly causing mental illness among students and is creating the space of addiction deteriorating their sleeping cycles while increasing stress levels. According to Dr. Manoj Sharma, Professor of Clinical Psychology, there were just three to four cases of PUBG addiction related to mental health in the initial months, however, the count has increased to 40 cases a month.
Sharma highlighted the fact that students are playing PUBG overnight to compete with players from different time zones and there is a 19-year-old engineering student who starts playing PUBG at 12 midnight and continues till 4 am which has completely destroyed his sleeping cycle.
With the increasing popularity of player unknown’s Battlegrounds, a debate has also started around the world where people are worried about addiction to the online game and the kind of mental Illness people are creating for themselves. Whenever the game is logged in almost dozens of people can be seen online irrespective of the time of the day.
So what is this game? Basically the basics of game play. Battle royale AA basically means all against all, bit like the hunger games where you start with nothing and have to scavenge and collect weapons and equipments. The game is ultimately a battle to the last player standing, with 100 players. There latter letting you team up with. It’s feature of presenting online players whether for the team of two or four or either solo. Each is a little different with various pros and cons, the big pro of the team play being that have people to support you, revive you and bring an elements of cooperative tactics to the game. Its various attractive effects and animations have set the familiarity of the game to the high skies. Either sound effects or lighting effects or the places on maps everything seems as accurate as a video games seems to be. Collection of weapons, med kits, or other such essentials. Even the kids now have learnt about the weapons and other destructive items with the help of the game. All these things can affect the thinking and interests of the individual especially if it’s from a teenage.
Recently “The Indian express” reported on October 12, 2018 – Delhi teen, who killed his own family, was addicted to this online game. So we can imagine how much this game affects on the minds of the younger generation and demolishing the young minds.
Of course it must not have been introduced for such destructive measures but it doesn’t take much time for the fire to spread through the forest. We must need to be aware about the limitations. Many educational and governmental institutions have banned the game in their premises.
It may work as a stress buster for some people but while being indulge in the game we forget about the passing hours. We have forgotten about the significance of meeting people in person whereas we prefer to isolate cutting off the contacts from the real world.
The game has become more important than the people around us. A similar case was reported from the city of Jammu, where a health trainer became addicted to the game and continued playing it for whole 17 days! And this led to his mental disturbance following violent bouts of anger and injuring himself after completing a round of game. If trying to avoid the addiction to the game one must also stay away from video suggestions of PUBG on youtube and social media ,otherwise it may drag you back on the same track. Self care is one of the most important things to do for the survival of fittest. We should be attentive towards our mental health just like we care for our physical health. We ourselves are the best protectors for ourselves. We should promote the healthy habits in the environment rather than being involved in a habit and becoming its slaves.
The author is social science student at Aligarh Muslim University. He can be reached at Bhatbilal1715@gmail.com
