Cities In India Ban 'PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds' Over Fears It Turns Children Into 'Psychopaths' (yahoo.com) 163
Player Unknown's Battlegrounds is facing a "ferocious" backlash in India, Bloomberg reports:
Nowhere has resistance to the game been quite like India. Multiple cities have banned PUBG, as it's known, and police in Western India arrested 10 university students for playing. The national child rights commission has recommended barring the game for its violent nature. One of India's largest Hindi newspapers declared PUBG an "epidemic" that turned children into "manorogi," or psychopaths. "There are dangerous consequences to this game," the Navbharat Times warned in a March 20 editorial. "Many children have lost their mental balance...."
What's different about India is the speed with which the country has landed in the strange digital world of no laws or morals. It skipped two decades of debate and adjustment, blowing into the modern gaming era in a matter of months. Rural communities that never had PCs or game consoles got smartphones in recent years -- and wireless service just became affordable for pretty much everyone after a price war last year. With half a billion internet users looking for entertainment, PUBG has set off a frenzy.
Over 250,000 students entered one recent PUBG competition, according to the article.
At least one local minister criticized the game as "the demon in every house."
What's different about India is the speed with which the country has landed in the strange digital world of no laws or morals. It skipped two decades of debate and adjustment, blowing into the modern gaming era in a matter of months. Rural communities that never had PCs or game consoles got smartphones in recent years -- and wireless service just became affordable for pretty much everyone after a price war last year. With half a billion internet users looking for entertainment, PUBG has set off a frenzy.
Over 250,000 students entered one recent PUBG competition, according to the article.
At least one local minister criticized the game as "the demon in every house."
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They obviously are better educated than you also.
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India is a Hindu country.
Over 20% of India's population (260 million people, enough people that the non-Hindu population alone would make India the 5th most populous state in the world) would disagree with you, no matter how hard the BJP is trying to claim otherwise.
Re: Indians can afford to play it? (Score:1, Informative)
Aside from the fact half the population still doesn't have access to a toilet, Indian "middle class" is not on par with other counties with smaller middle class populations. Even screened windows are a luxury item in India. I suggest you actually spend time in India rather than browsing Wikipedia.
Re: Indians can afford to play it? (Score:1)
In India, we Hindus cherish peace of mind more than money. Have your big box dollar stores and mansions given you peace of mind? Have they now? I think not, seeing the aggression that typically spews from the western world.
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the global explosion of radical Islam
Really poor choice of words there, pal... and a case in point.
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In India, we Hindus cherish peace of mind more than money
Well sure explains why they've been fleeing to Canada for the last ~50 years, for the explicit purpose of getting more money. And why we basically have a low-scale ethnic war in Brampton, Ontario between Indian Hindus and Pakistani Muslims, more so with the current crop of 2nd generation kids who are muslims who think that bashing some Hindu's on a Friday night is the height of fun. Which I'm sure makes plenty of sense, not so much over here. The funny thing is, money(wealth) can create an amazing amount
Re: Indians can afford to play it? (Score:1)
Wow, aggressive and threatening. Please, conquer your own mind and leave the world as it is. Nobody needs you saving it.
Re: Indians can afford to play it? (Score:1)
Ooos, did i say we dont need you saving the world? I meant exploiting s/saving/exploiting
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Ooos, did i say we dont need you saving the world? I meant exploiting s/saving/exploiting
Funny, it sure looks like you need the Americans to do that for you. You can't even keep ships safe from pirates in your own territorial waters, and go running to either Japan, S.Korea or the US who all have a regional defense agreement with each other to cover the that type of stuff.
But, exploiting hmm. Well, considering westerners were using sanitation 500 years ago and you're still dumping untreated shit and piss directly into the streets. I'd say you should be happy that someone is taking care of the
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Wow, aggressive and threatening. Please, conquer your own mind and leave the world as it is. Nobody needs you saving it.
If you think that was aggressive and threatening, you don't know much history. That was stating of reality, I mean in your case these days I'd be more worried about China and them back-channel arming Pakistan.
Re: Indians can afford to play it? (Score:2)
Caste is as bad as socio economic oppression, racial bias etc. Hinduism is not all about caste as your media/mind may have you believe. Dont believe everythink you think. Think twice before you judge, moreso before you type. Google is your friend. http://www.ece.lsu.edu/kak/cas... [lsu.edu] . Spock out.
Re: Indians can afford to play it? (Score:1)
I should have said: Casteism is only as bad as Racism.
s/first sentence/with above/post above
I don't think its the game guys... (Score:5, Interesting)
I don't think its the game turning people into psychopaths... it looks like power-tripping is doing a much better job of that, maybe they psychopaths in government like to be an inclusive club, no 3rd party imitations allowed?
Re:I don't think its the game guys... (Score:5, Insightful)
The more modern leanings on that subject are psychopaths are born not made, born with genetic cerebral defects, that are sufficient in nature to define them as a parasitic sub-species, they preys upon human society rather that contributing to it cooperatively. Sociopaths are made as a result of abuse, most often by psychopaths. All PvP attract psychopaths, it's the gaming style as well as narciccists, they also much prefer, PvP as purse vs purse, where they can pay to beat free players who are basically there as smarter than cheap AI targets (in fact in future, smart PvP game developers will alter AI players to act like real players and pretend to be real players, basically just targets, cheaper that providing free network service to free to play targets).
The games do not create psychopaths, they only attract them and start with a high population and the normal ratio being about 1 in 100 being pyschopaths, start with a billion and that is a lot of psychopaths and that game whilst not creating them, certainly could trigger them. For the rest of the population, honestly PvP is not that popular, they generally much prefer coop gaming, PvE, where they work together to defeat an AI enemy.
The problem is profitability of PvE vs PvP. PvP will always generate most of it's profit by creating a environment where you must pay to win and target that at psychopaths and narcissist, those who accept cheating as winning and hence are content to buy game legal cheats in order to beat those who would beat them, playing upon an equal basis, their disturb genetic nature, forces them to win by any means, fair competition undesirable to the extreme and they will pay and pay through the nose to feed their ego, to abuse others and win.
In PvE, by far the majority prefer equal game play and when you win, another person does not necessarily lose, those sometimes they can. The majority have no interest in buying game legal cheats because why play the game if you need to cheat to win. The only real profit possible is for cosmetic if the free ones are purposefully ugly or in account upgrades, new maps, faster travel, AI companions, special characters.
They can never match the profit style of say Grand Theft Gaming, 'er', Auto, where the profit is based upon selling a better gun, to PvPers, so they can win against those who do not buy that gun and then selling an even better gun, to force them to buy it to start winning again and then selling an even better gun etc. basically psychopaths preying upon gullible and readily manipulable psychopaths for whom cheating is winning and they will pay to feed their ego (drawing up a new gun with better statistics dirt cheap compared to having create a new map and story line).
The problem for those companies all piling on the PvP, pay to cheat to win, yeah just a tiny percentage of the market, 1% to 3% counting narcissists and they will eat each others lunch pretty quick and of course the psychopaths will eventually wake up to reality, they are being manipulated and conned by other psychopaths, to pay for nothing but trigger by losing ego, must win, cheating is winning, paying for cheats is winning, yeah (no you sucker you are being straight up scammed and when the AI gets good enough to pretend to be real players, with pretend hurt feelings the psychopaths can abuse, it will become even more profitable to scam psychopaths, them paying to pretend they are abusing real people, it feeds the corrupted ego of psychopaths).
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I'm guessing it is safe to say you never played sports.
How about chess?
Competition draws psychopaths? Ok.
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His comment was a little rambling so I found it hard to understand, but I got the impression that he is talking about "Pay to Win" attracting psychopaths; whereas a fair fight (say games like Quake 3 where every player is equal, or indeed Chess) which is PvP, attracts normal people looking for a challenge.
Same thing with cheaters = psychopaths enjoy going on, cheating and beating other people over and over again - whereas normal people would find this fun for a few matches then deeply boring. Of course whet
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Well, how about chess? Have you read about some of the greatest chess masters? Alekhine, Fischer...
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Dangerous consequences... (Score:2)
I t certainly explains the huge number of people parachuting into the countryside and shooting everybody in sight.
Two Decades? (Score:2)
What's different about India is the speed with which the country has landed in the strange digital world of no laws or morals. It skipped two decades of debate and adjustment, blowing into the modern gaming era in a matter of months.
The modern gaming era began long before 1999. Pong was one of the earliest video games. That came out in 1972. The modern gaming era is almost 50 years old.
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The modern gaming era is almost 50 years old.
Like me! Gamer since 1976...
Re:Two Decades? (Score:5, Funny)
I'd already given up by then, too many mainstreamers.
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Re:Two Decades? (Score:4, Interesting)
What's different about India is the speed with which the country has landed in the strange digital world of no laws or morals. It skipped two decades of debate and adjustment, blowing into the modern gaming era in a matter of months.
The modern gaming era began long before 1999. Pong was one of the earliest video games. That came out in 1972. The modern gaming era is almost 50 years old.
I think the article is trying (poorly) and failing (badly) to imply that the "Modern Gaming Era" means online multiplayer and mobile-based gaming. So in that context, it's only really been a widespread part of gaming culture since around 2001 when Halo introduced the "Everyday Joe" to online 1st person shooters.
And to answer the inevitable response yes, I'm aware that there was online gaming prior to that, aware that Quake was the first massively popular online shooter, etc. but it was the Xbox and Halo that really catapulted gaming in general, and online gaming in particular, into the realm of "acceptability" to regular people. Prior to that, gamers were still widely regarded as "nerds and geeks and losers."
Anyhow, the point of the article is that for most of India, this sort of cultural shift has only recently came about, because most people simply didn't have access. And now they are, quite predictably, and somewhat unironically, attempting to "shoot the messenger." Failing to realize that the far more sinister gaming genre will be the endless parade of mindless "housewife" games which we got to first experience in the form of Flash-based Facebook 'games' and the army of shitty clones which infest the mobile App stores.
Re:Two Decades? (Score:4, Interesting)
I think the article is trying (poorly) and failing (badly) to imply that the "Modern Gaming Era" means online multiplayer and mobile-based gaming. So in that context, it's only really been a widespread part of gaming culture since around 2001 when Halo introduced the "Everyday Joe" to online 1st person shooters.
And to answer the inevitable response yes, I'm aware that there was online gaming prior to that, aware that Quake was the first massively popular online shooter, etc. but it was the Xbox and Halo that really catapulted gaming in general, and online gaming in particular, into the realm of "acceptability" to regular people. Prior to that, gamers were still widely regarded as "nerds and geeks and losers."
Mobile-based gaming didn't really take off until smart phones came around 12 years old. That was long after the start of the "modern gaming era."
Between PC, Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft, the XBox is only a portion of the overall market. Halo meant nothing and continues to mean nothing to anyone who doesn't own an XBox. It didn't matter how "acceptable" it was to anyone else. Further that first came out in 2001, years after online multiplayer had already gone mainstream on PCs.
Quake was certainly the game that popularized online deathmatch starting in 1996. That I could see as the start of the widespread online multiplayer era.
Re: Two Decades? (Score:2)
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So in that context, it's only really been a widespread part of gaming culture since around 2001 when Halo introduced the "Everyday Joe" to online 1st person shooters.
Ummm, have you never heard of EverQuest? a.k.a. EverCrack?
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Oh, you mean MU*s? The first truly multiplayer online one was available in 1978, but of course, they didn't hook it up to arpanet until about 1980....
Re:Two Decades? (Score:5, Interesting)
They weren't popular in 1978, they were niche. "Modern gaming" is some large % of kids. Most people didn't even have computers in 78. Now ~everyone has a gaming phone. Why is this so hard for you old farts?
I'm not sure you comprehend how many kids then had regular access to an Atari, Odyssey 2, Amiga, Apple II, or regularly hung out at the local mall's arcade. Videogames have been extremely popular with kids for several generations now. The first generation are now in their forties and fifties, and mostly understand the appeal, and as such aren't as scared shitless by the way kids get sucked into these games.
Previous generations of adults freaked out about Mortal Combat and the terrible influence it was having on our youth. Before that, I guess it was D&D that promoted devil worship. Hell, even Pokemon has been banned in some countries. Fortnite and PUBG are just popular right now - nothing more, so become targets. This is nothing new. Just the latest in a long line of reactive old farts being busybodies, trying to protect everyone from themselves.
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Swatting is an exclusively US problem (Score:5, Insightful)
MMO wolfpacks targeting people for real-life consequences, SWATTING, etc? That's not your grandpa's colecovision.
And isn't your {insert latest popular console or computer gaming platform here} neither, here around in the "rest of the world".
Swatting is a very specific problem of the US - a country whose police has tons of big toy that they are itching to send whenever some actions is happening.
The rest of the world doesn't even have "Swat" to begin with and wouldn't understand why sending military-like tanks whenever somebody phones in telling they "heard gunshots".
In other word, the problem aren't the games, the problem is your dysfunctional country where it is possible to send tanks at somebody else's house with a simple phone call. What is wrong with you guys ?!
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"The modern gaming era began long before 1999." No, it didn't. Pong is a 1 on 1 game at most. The "modern gaming" refers to massive multiplayer online games. You're being stupid intentionally, it's normal for here.
You're drawing an arbitrary line and assuming people agree with you. Modern gaming could just as easily be defined as any sort of video game. That's how I'd define it.
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True, but a square going "BIP! Boop!" doesn't present much moral dilemma. It took a bit over a decade and a half before video games presented anything like realistic imagery.
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True, but a square going "BIP! Boop!" doesn't present much moral dilemma.
It is very easy to dehumanize a rectangular paddle, but it is a slippery slope from there to blasting spaceships.
It took a bit over a decade and a half before video games presented anything like realistic imagery.
Once pixels depict realistic images, we need laws to protect them.
Re: Two Decades? (Score:2)
It took a bit over a decade and a half before video games presented anything like realistic imagery.
Personally, I never thought CGA graphics looked that realistic.
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Who said anything about CGA? SVGA was the key evolution there (though EGA looked good compared to CGA, it's not that great in retrospect).
Even with that, it took a really immersive game to get the player to forget they were looking at CGI.
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The modern gaming era is almost 50 years old.
... and the first moral panic about games corrupting the youth came a few months later.
Re: Two Decades? (Score:2)
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lack of respect of the eldars, etc etc etc.
Everyone knows that this is a problem and that it might let Chaos triumph, yet everyone's afraid to be accused of heresy if they dare to voice their concerns...
Not worse than some other games (Score:2)
It didn't skip them (Score:4, Insightful)
Wha? (Score:1)
The only folks who HAVEN'T been psychopaths in the western nations have been the kids.
It's all the non-game playing adults that seem to have gone bug-nutty.
That's cute. (Score:5, Funny)
Worlds biggest democracy arrests children for playing games.
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No different than some of the other stuff that go on there or in other democracies. The Land of the Free isn't so free anymore in case you haven't been paying attention. Neither is the rest of the free world in case you think I'm picking on the US.
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You see, in India they have one big exam once a year in highschool that every 10th grader and 12th grader in the whole country writes that determines their future. As you can imagine, the competition is fierce and people get rejected from their program because their GPA was a fraction of a point too low. Now, imagine being the parent of an otherwise very intelligent kid who love playing video games. It is hard enough to not tell him to do something he loves when he's the only one doing it. But all of his pr
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They're going to be working for Western companies anyway so who gives a shit?
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Worlds biggest democracy arrests children for playing games.
Well, children should not be playing it at all - it is rated K16 in most countries.
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Worlds biggest democracy arrests children for playing games.
I'm confused, what are you complaining about? That children in some countries are obliged to follow laws? How ... errr.... horrible?
There is a very simple test here. (Score:5, Interesting)
Does a dog know the difference between play fighting and real fighting? Yes. If any dog in the park crosses that line they all know basically simultaneously. Do you really think children are less perceptive of the difference between real and play? If not that kid has a problem and video games have nothing to do with it.
Re: There is a very simple test here. (Score:4, Insightful)
You know what school shootings are? Revenge acts. Nothing else.
Why do they shoot up schools? If you're after a body count, go shoot up a mall on a busy weekend. Way more people to off there. Invariably, though, they go to a school. And not just any school, but their school. And they don't shoot just anyone but very specific people.
It's revenge. And you don't influence this by computer games, movies or anything else outside the school. You influence this by fighting bullying.
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It's revenge. And you don't influence this by computer games, movies or anything else outside the school. You influence this by fighting bullying.
And also fair application of existing rules by the administration. Although, to be fair, unfair application of those rules is a kind of bullying.
Social media (Score:2)
Manorogi (Score:2, Interesting)
Manorogi does not mean a psychopath.
Mano = of the Mind
Rogi = Diseased
Manorog is a general term for any mental illness.
Indians generally have a very poor concept of mental illness. It is held as a taboo and not openly discussed. Politicians are typically ill advised and are no better than public. The only thing mental that Indians talk about is meditation, not things like depression, dependency or mania.
This is probably just India's delayed reaction to the same gaming addiction that China was handling in its
priorities (Score:4, Insightful)
good thing India has it's priorities in order.
banning and arresting people for playing PUBG is a more urgent matter then dealing with all the rape problems they're having.
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i'm not saying they stopped any of the other things they were doing, BUT they allocated resources to it, probably a reasonable amount too.
if you look at the scale of priorities, this one is pretty low i would assume, and those same resources probably would have benefitted the ones higher up the scale much more.
I feel old now .... (Score:5, Insightful)
I remember when Ozzy Osbourne music was the root of all of this evil for teens.
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Now we know (Score:2)
At least one local minister criticized the game as "the demon in every house."
Now we know where Jack Thompson retired to after he got disbarred.
Not strange at all they're reacting like this (Score:4, Interesting)
Just think about it. What if, you were minding your own business, and then suddenly a wave of relatively inexpensive, highly portable VR headsets that covered all the six senses emerged from Dubai. The kids and young adults got hooked in, arabic became the coolest language in town and suddenly you also find out that they are having huge tournaments playing jihad wargames. How would you react?
Granted, parts of the example might be over the top - but it's important to realize how these sudden social, economical and cultural changes are affecting emerging countries. As someone here already mentioned, they've never had the time to gradually adapt like we did (and even then, for us it went pretty fast -- and we still have a lot of ethic/moral concerns yet to be addressed). I can only imagine how it must be to be a parent, watching my kids yearn after something so extremely different and unknown. Seeing them adapting foreign cultural norms (that might totally crash with my own upbringing) and experiencing the feeling of having absolutely no control. Is it really that strange they're going nuts about it?
I see no one is actually from India (Score:3)
I see no one is actually from India. Porn and PUBG are the biggest bandwidth consumers in the cheap 4G market of India, and the biggest 4G provider "Reliance" is currently financing the central government. Notice how it says "western India" because western states in India are currently ruled by the same party BJP. Since they cannot directly ban either Porn or PUBG they have taken other routes such as bribing a judge to pass "ban porn" judgments and banning PUBG via flimsy "health" reasons. The older generation doesn't understand the internet, and young people aren't voting anyway.
The torch is passed? (Score:1)