PUBG has a huge fanbase in India, and the craze seems never-ending. In a way, the game has united people, players from different sections of the society come together to play. People don’t acknowledge their religion, social status or native place; what matters is talent! Any player talented enough can achieve wonders. This is the power of PUBG.
On the other hand, the game has become an addiction for many. People get stuck to their phone and charger for hours without even realising it. The insanity goes beyond explaining when people forget their real surrounding! There were instances when people met with accidents while playing the game. So, in short, the intentions of the game was always good, but the misuse has made it dangerous.
In a recent case in Punjab, a 17-year-old boy crossed his level of addiction when he spent almost Rs.16 lakhs on PUBG Upgrades. Allegedly, he tricked his mother and father to use their bank accounts to make online transactions and later deleted the SMS records to stay safe.
The boy’s father, who is a government employee, was understandably shocked and was quoted saying “I had saved the money for my medical needs and my son’s future. During the lockdown, I was staying at the place of my posting, while my son was staying with my wife here. He used her mobile phone to make all transactions and would delete the message regarding amount debited from the account”.
The money spent on the Game App may not come back as it was spent willingly by the user. However, his father found an amusing way to teach his son the value of hard-earned money. As said by the father, he engaged him in a scooter repair shop after taking away his phone, so that he learns the value of hard work and gets to know how difficult it is to create a saving as huge as Rs.16 Lakhs. The exact lines of the father said: “I just can’t let him sit idle at home and cannot give him a mobile phone even for studying. He is working at a scooter repair shop so that he realises how hard it is to earn money.”
Not The First Time
Notably, this is not the first time that children have gone out of their way to be a champion and win games on this platform. There are many other incidents to prove that the game has become madness among the youths of India, and they need to caution themselves from it.
On 3rd March 2020, a 12-year old boy was reported to have stolen Rs. 3 Lakhs from his parent’s house in Kutch, Gujarat after he lost a few PUBG Games to his friends. The minor boy was an addict of the game and had to steal the money to fulfil the losses or bets he lost while playing with his friends.
2nd January 2020 witnessed a case involving a 19-year-old priest from Hyderabad who resorted to stealing Bicycles to meet his monetary needs required to make his PUBG Game better. He stole nearly 31 bicycles, and most of them were geared ones.
Another incident on 11th March 2019, records a 15-year-old boy from Jalandhar, who stole Rs.50,000/- from his father’s Bank Account to make purchases on PUBG Mobile.
These incidents prove that addictive games like PUBG can bring havoc if not played with caution. It can even degrade the player’s mental health, and addiction can lead them to get involved in unwanted activities. We can not blame the makers of the game entirely but its the responsibility of the user to keep a limit to his use. Everything that we use in our daily life seems good until it’s used to an extent, but once it goes beyond the right level, good things can turn bitter as well.
We urge parents to guide their children in using technology the right way; you cannot restrict them from the growing technology or the trend. Restricting will only create more desire for the thing. Instead, they should focus on teaching them how to use it wisely without affecting their mental and physical health.
