In India, there is currently a huge debate about PUBG Mobile. The game is described as “addictive” and reports from the Indian press are increasing about how young Indians die due to their addiction to the game.
How did people die in India? In the latest incident, two Indians were hit by a train. They are said to have been playing PUBG Mobile near the train tracks, according to Indian media. This cost the lives of Nagesh Gore (24) and Swapnil Annapurne (22).
It is said that both players were so engrossed in PUBG Mobile that they did not notice the train.
In another incident, an 18-year-old boy from Mumbai reportedly committed suicide in February 2019 because his parents refused to buy him a new phone for PUBG Mobile.
Consumed acid instead of water
What other reports are there from India? In early March, a report circulated in the Indian media that a 25-year-old Indian had been seriously injured because he reached for acid instead of water, drank the acid, and severely burned himself.
Here too, PUBG Mobile was blamed. The man had reportedly been playing it in his garden and became so engrossed in PUBG Mobile that he did not notice the difference and drank acid instead of water.
He survived the incident because he was quickly taken to a hospital and operated on there. But even during treatment, he reportedly continued to play on his phone, according to media reports.
Another report from October 2018 tells of a 19-year-old man who was said to be addicted to PUBG.
The 19-year-old murdered his father, mother, and sister. He stabbed them to death at night and ransacked the house to make it look like a robbery.
The Indian media say he had skipped school frequently, preferred to play PUBG for 11 hours a day, failed exams, and had conflicts with his parents over this.
Violent and addictive
This is the mood in India regarding PUBG: Many articles in the English-speaking Indian press cite experts explaining that PUBG is violent and inherently addictive.
Incidents are cited regarding how destructive the addiction is. The cases are described as “shocking.” Parents are concerned about their children.
This is what PUBG itself says: The game is quoted with a statement that while it strives to provide the best possible gaming experience, it also believes it is very important to act responsibly.
Therefore, they work with parents, educators, and government authorities, listen to their feedback, and do what they can to improve the mobile experience.
This is how India reacts to the news: In some parts of India, PUBG is now banned. People are even being arrested for playing it.
The public outrage over the game is apparently great.
US site expresses doubts about media reports
Are there also doubts? At the US site Dotesports, there are doubts about the report regarding the death of the Indians who were reportedly run over by a train while playing PUBG Mobile:
- It is unclear how a mobile game player could be so engrossed that they wouldn’t hear a train.
- It is also unclear why PUBG Mobile is particularly singled out in this incident.
- Train fatalities are widespread in India – alone in 2012, 15,000 people died while crossing railway tracks.
Here, it is believed that the press reports could lead to heightened sentiment against PUBG in the country, and more people may demand that the game be banned. Dotesports suspects that some officials in India would likely welcome such a ban.
Mobile addiction is also an issue in China and Europe
This is what lies behind it: PUBG Mobile runs on over 200 million devices in India and is said to have about 30 million players logging in daily. It is a massive deal in India.
Comparable incidents and reports have occurred repeatedly whenever mobile games created such hype.
- When Pokémon GO exploded in summer 2016, horror stories emerged about players playing it while driving or falling somewhere because they weren’t paying attention to their surroundings.
- In Europe, during the peak of the Fortnite craze, there were horror stories about the “Fortnite addiction” of children, especially in England.
- The debate in India, however, resembles the situation in China even more. There, there were fears that the country’s youth could fall victim to the mobile game “Honor of Kings”. Here too, horror reports about addicted players hit the headlines.
Developer Tencent then announced its own regulations in China to limit the gaming time of teenagers.
Ultimately, however, the Chinese government intervened and imposed bans and penalties.
