Nepal last week banned the PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds (PUBG), a 16+ age-rated mobile battle royale multiplayer shooter game, following a court order. Reasons cited: its contribution to violence in children and their consequent lack of interest in studies. And oh, apparently, ‘psychiatrists’ were consulted.
“Stupid decision obviously. Addiction? I blame the parents. There are dozens of similar games. What will the government do about them?” asks Nischal, 19, an IT student in Kathmadu. He says he’ll use a VPN or DNS to bypass the ban.
“I loved playing PUBG but I had my SEE as well. My parents guided me through the process and helped me concentrate on my studies,” says Sweksha, 17, a recent SEE graduate. “Parents give their small children smartphones, which is too early for their age. And obviously there will be consequences,” she adds.
She recalls how the multiplayer interactive game helped her become more social and open up to new people. “I made many new friends through the game. My friend Mayank, who’s from India, and Faisal, who’s from Pakistan, really care about me,” she adds. She says the game has also helped them learn each other’s cultures.
“We’re just using our right to entertainment. Unless we’re doing something illegal, the government doesn’t have any right to interfere,” says a furious Pratyush, 18.
After reports of addiction to the game surfaced in India last month, Tencent, the company behind the game, started experimenting with time restrictions on the game in the Indian market. Reportedly, they are planning to enforce a six-hour daily limit.
Video game addiction is a major health problem and should be tackled like any other addiction. While our government throws around the word addiction as a rationale for the ban, it completely overlooks the consequences for the ‘addicts’ in question.
Addiction isn’t treated cold turkey. A cigarette addiction is treated by slowly limiting the amount of cigarettes or offering alternatives like e-cigarettes.
Why do I bring this point? Because, apparently, psychiatrists were consulted before banning the game. Were they qualified, I wonder?
How do we expect children to cope with their addiction by putting a blanket ban on their favorite pastime?
And like everything else, video game trends are dynamic. Today PUBG is big. Five years ago Candy crush was—and who knows about the future! There are already dozens of PUBG alternatives in the market right now. As the market for them grows, more games will sprout up. What will the government do then?
The only sure way to control video game addiction is to ban video games altogether. Just like the only way to solve road accidents is to make everyone walk on foot.
