In a first in Kashmir, a 19-year-old youth died while playing PUBG Mobile online game on his mobile phone in Jammu and Kashmir’s Srinagar district, police sources said on Friday. The incident took place when Asim Bashir of Kanipora area had gone to his friend’s house on Thursday in Chanapora outskirts of Srinagar city.
“The family of Asim’s friend was waiting for him in the morning for breakfast, but he had reportedly fallen unconscious while playing the game during the night intervening July 25 and July 26.
“He was taken to a nearby hospital where doctors declared him dead on arrival,” sources said.
PUBG Mobile: Deaths, Ban and Everything Else
Police has registered a case in this incident and investigation has started. The incident further raises concerns about these online battle royale style games. There have already been complaints that these games can be addictive and affect the cognitive ability of a person.
Early this month, a report claimed that a 17-year-old boy has committed suicide in Jind, Haryana. The boy committed suicide for not being allowed to play PUBG Mobile. Nepal, China, Iraq and Jordan have already banned PUBG citing negative effects. The game was also briefly banned by the states of Gujarat and Tamil Nadu in India. There have also been an increased call to ban PUBG Mobile in the classroom and in schools around the country.
Tamil Nadu’s Vellore Institute of Technology was the first to issue a ban in the university campus. The creators of PUBG Mobile recently confirmed that it has 50 million daily active users. The online game has also surpassed 400 million downloads since its debut on mobile platforms. The number of reports citing death due to PUBG Mobile has only increased in recent times.
There was a report back in May where a 16-year-old was pronounced dead after a 6-hour session of PUBG Mobile. The game itself has introduced new digital wellbeing-style features inside the app. It has started reminding gamers to take a break between long sessions of gameplay. However, deaths arising from this online gameplay needs more research and psychological reasoning than ban on the game itself.
(Written with IANS inputs)
