Moral Combat: The Video Game Debate

"Take cover, we're being shot, throw the grenade right inside the room and kill him! The enemy has reduced my health so much, I could've died,” 12-year-old Muhammad Ali screams at his teammate while playing the popular first-person shooter PUBG. His fingers fervently running on his mother’s cellphone, He hasn’t moved for the last six hours.

“This game should be completely prohibited in Pakistan, it will kill more children if they don’t,” says Ali’s mother Sumaira Ashraf. “My son became extremely hyper while playing this game. On one occasion, he started screaming and then suddenly lost consciousness. We immediately took him to the hospital where the doctor claimed that his brain got numb due to continuous exposure to the screen and he was also sleep deprived as he has been playing this game since several hours,” she claims.

Last year, the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) suspended the popular game after three cases of suicide were reported in the country within a span of two weeks. Though later overturned, it reignited an age-old debate surrounding video games and violence in the country.

A new kind of addiction

Ali has been playing PUBG for over two years. The 12-year-old loves winning against his friends but does not like to be on the losing end. “I get fed up and feel humiliated in front of my friends when my character gets killed. They make fun of me,” he says.

Like Ali, his brother Anas too is ‘addicted’. “I can play consecutively the whole day if no one stops me,” he said. Three years older than Ali, Anas at least notices it is not a productive pastime. “I have noticed a change in my behaviour. I am a little dull now, I don’t understand anything the teachers say in class,” he admits. “Now that we have online classes due to lockdown, I am not able to focus when the teachers are explaining. I keep waiting for the class to end so that I can start playing PUBG.”

Asked what he thought of the ban last year, Anas’s thoughts were “What Ban?” According to him, he could play it regardless using a VPN. “Although there is a risk of my PUBG account being banned for 10 years, I don’t care, at least I can play right now,” he added.

Another 14-year-old gamer Muzammil Sajjad said that he hates when the Internet gets disconnected while he’s playing PUBG. “Once I got so furious that I smashed my phone against the wall,” he said.

However, a 21-year-old BS Psychology student said that playing PUBG calms her down. “I used to be very cranky and moody, I was in that phase of my life where my mental health was extremely deteriorated but then my friend introduced me to this game and it has improved my attention span and always relaxes me,” she said. “It’s a stress reliever as well.”

Parental concerns

Syma Pervaiz, on the other hand, believes her 14-year-old son has gone into isolation because of the game. "As a mother, I'm completely against PUBG," she told The Express Tribune. " I can't say if it is violent but there is certain aggressiveness to it. I'm a social researcher, who was studying around the same subject as well. There are certain traits that children who play such games express. They are more prone to isolation, would want to stay home rather than going out."

Talking about the ban, Syma feels it's useless. "Not for a single minute of the day after the ban the kids switched off the game. They have 100 other ways to access it still.”

Lahore-based lawyer and mother Ayesha Rajput shared her two boys are completely enthralled by PUBG. "Their reaction to the ban was a little worrisome since they did sulk a bit too much,” she said. Ayesha complained that the game wouldn't let her boys be productive even during the time they have been home due to the pandemic. "They have been home and barely did anything other than being on their phones and laptops all the time.”

Zubia Shahid, too, is in complete favour of the ban. "This game has been way too harmful for the kids! It's so violent. There's nothing good or appealing about this."

Celebrities, too, had a say in the matter. Adnan Siddiqui believes that "as a parent, I feel it’s very important for us to personally monitor and control how our children are spending their time balancing between studying and recreation.”

Aijaz Aslam also had a similar stance as Adnan about parental control. However, the Cheekh star isn't in favour of the ban. "I don’t know much about the game but my point of view is different. If an app or game has parental control instructions, then parents should control the kids and keep a check on children. It's a digital age, we can’t just keep banning the apps and games," he shared.

Experts weigh in

Psychologists from various Pakistani institutes have reported severe introversion among children who suffer from gaming addiction. Dr Tahira Yusaf said that gaming might only give temporary pleasure while causing permanent damage to the brain. “They are using this game as a drug, for short term relief from their pain,” she claimed.

According to Yousaf, when a child is playing in the game he/she also comes under the peer pressure to win or kill someone in the game. “The gamer goes into the virtual world and when their minds are inside that world they do not get hungry, they do not get sleepy, they are completely disconnected from the real world.”

“Mostly adolescents commit suicide because they become impulsive, they want to achieve everything,” she added. “So when they lose in the game and their opponent is winning, they are not able to stand that humiliation,” she continued.

According to International Islamic University, Islamabad Vice President Academics Dr Tahir Khalili, parents are solely responsible for this. “They need to look after their children and those below 12 years should not be allowed to play violent video games,” he said. Dr Tahir added that if a child is an introvert he/she will internalise that violence and harm themselves, but if he is an extrovert he/she will harm others.

However, the Aga Khan University Hospital Associate Clinical Psychologist, Vardah Bharuchi said not all children who play online games commit suicide. “There are other factors as well, especially if they do not get emotional support from their family they feel lonely and become violent,” she said.

Spending five hours or more daily on video gaming or other non-academic computer use is associated with increased mental problems among youngsters, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) of the US.

However, several international studies have failed to conclusively prove a link between aggression and violence in games and among youth in the real world. “Neither video game violence exposure, nor television violence exposure, were prospective predictors of serious acts of youth aggression or violence,” stated a 2011 study titled Video Games and Youth Violence: A Prospective Analysis in Adolescents. Another study from 2008 suggested family environment and innate tendencies, rather that video game exposure, more strongly predicted violent behaviour. “Results indicated that trait aggression, family violence, and male gender were predictive of violent crime, but exposure to violent games was not.”

Jumping the gun

A 14-year-old gamer, Umair Habib, who has been playing in PUBG mobile tournaments with ‘Proscrimms Pakistan’, stated that banning was not the solution. “I recently participated in the PUBG tournament and 120 teams from Pakistan had participated in it,” he said. “I was an efficient player in my team and we were on the 7^th number among those 120 teams; now they have banned the game in Pakistan so we can’t play,” Habib added.

A 20-year-old LUMS student Sheheryar Isani spoke about the positives of PUBG and said, “I do not think its bad for the mental health of children. If anything, tactical games like PUBG teach you how to think and analyse situations much quicker.”

Another 29-year-old Engineer in Federal Service, Sanaullah said banning PUBG is not a good decision. “Online gaming is also contributing to the economic activities, it is a huge industry,” he said. “Many gamers earn from it by live streaming and uploading videos on different platforms like YouTube, Facebook and Twitch” he added.

Speaking about the suicide committed by children, the engineer maintained that excess of anything is dangerous. “It doesn't mean that a specific game is responsible for the suicide,” he said. “PUBG has a child lock system to prevent playing for more than 3 hours, if your child is under 18, it is the responsibility of the parents to keep a check on their children,” he remarked. “If a child commits suicide because of failing in exams, will the government also ban exams?” asked the engineer.

A Karachi University student Sidrah Zahoor who did thorough research on PUBG and uploaded a video on Facebook said that the government and authorities are being irresponsible by linking suicide with PUBG. “The government should work towards improving the mental health of children rather than banning games which are outlets through which we can relax ourselves,” she said.