[roby_dk]

Sharing my experience with a famous online game PUBG. For people who don't know about this game please read below quoted post(Source wikipedia).

PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds (PUBG) is an online multiplayer battle royale game developed and published by PUBG Corporation, a subsidiary of South Korean video game company Bluehole. The game is based on previous mods that were created by Brendan "PlayerUnknown" Greene for other games using the film Battle Royale for inspiration, and expanded into a standalone game under Greene's creative direction. In the game, up to one hundred players parachute onto an island and scavenge for weapons and equipment to kill others while avoiding getting killed themselves. The available safe area of the game's map decreases in size over time, directing surviving players into tighter areas to force encounters. The last player or team standing wins the round.

The game was released for Microsoft Windows via Steam's early access beta program in March 2017, with a full release on December 20, 2017. That same month, the game was released by Microsoft Studios for the Xbox One via its Xbox Game Preview program. A few months later, it was localized and released by Tencent Games in China, while two mobile versions based on the game for Android and iOS were also released. The game is one of the best-selling of all time, with over fifty million sold across all platforms by June 2018. In addition, the Windows version holds a peak concurrent player count of over three million on Steam, which is an all-time high on the platform.

Battlegrounds received several positive reviews from critics during both its early access period and on final release; reviewers found that while the game still was not fully finished and had some technical flaws, Battlegrounds presented new types of gameplay that could be easily approached by players of any skill level and was highly re-playable. The game received several Game of the Year nominations among other accolades, and is considered by Greene to be the defining game of the battle royale genre. Several other video games, following in Battleground's success, added battle royale-style modes, while a number of clones, primarily out of China, also appeared. PUBG Corporation has run several small tournaments and introduced in-game tools to help with broadcasting the game to spectators, as they wish for it to become a popular eSport.

Well it started when I saw my younger brother playing this game on his mobile phone and he kinda forced me and my wife to download this game. It is around two months back my wife developed some good tactics and started to land in top ten position most of the time while playing. Till this time I just played this game once or twice and got myself terminated quite soon compared to them. The squad was further joined by my younger cousins in family.

After sometime I started feeling a bit left out and apart from reading TBhp forum and watching TV I had nothing much to do compared to them. I then took a plunge to join this super addictive game and soon I found myself on phone most of the time. To achieve the same level like them I was playing like anything. This was further aided by my WFH job and serving notice period with my current organization. My wife also share the same routine like me as she also do WFH in IT company. So the show will start everyday as soon as we get up and finish our breakfast and will end only before we go to bed. Our two year's little one was also confused that we both were busy with our mobile phones most of the time. I stopped picking phone calls, WhatsApp, Facebook and hanging out. Somehow after the recent upgrade with new war mode introduced and spending enough time, I lost interest in this game and finally stopped playing it a week back.

Ok now coming back to why I created this thread I experienced something in this game which I can relate to social media threats like Blue Whale challenge, Kiki Challenge, Momo Challenge etc. where one can dominate other person specially teens and kids who gets influenced easily in life. This game supports voice chat with all playing members or your squad. We can easily make friends after playing several matches together and adding people with whom we wish to play in future to our friend list. A typical match usually last for around 30 minutes if you or your team is able to reach in top 10 positions out of 100.

I experienced something weird one day while I was playing in a 4 person squad match. I was joined by one kid maybe 10-12 years of age who poked me to turn on my voice chat. The other two players were unknown to us and we started our game. I usually keep my voice chat off as while I play I turn on the video songs on TV for my kid who stay busy after doing so. After listening the songs this kid started a conversation with me while playing. All conversation was in English and he sounded from a good family.

The conversation:

Kid: Turn off this music in background.
Me: Sorry, is that bothering you. (I switched off the TV but at the same time my lil one started screaming)
Kid: Who is there with you I heard a crying baby.
Me: Ya its my boy, he is feeling bad as I switched off the music.
Kid: Sorry uncle please turn on the TV we should let him enjoy as we are doing the same. (Uncle, I am not that used to this word as I just crossed 30 but anyways I accepted that with a smile).
Kid: Uncle, Please take care of me while playing we will play together in this game. You are playing really nice. (After I killed 2-3 opponents)
Me: No I will play my way, it is your wish if you want to follow me in game. Anyways will help you or revive you at times.

After few more conversations he was a bit overwhelmed by my responses and he started asking personal questions from me.

Kid: Thanks Uncle. Where do you stay.
Me: Sarcastically, At my home.
Kid: Please tell, uncle I stay at xxxx place with my parents and grandparents. (I can hear voices of his parents telling him to go to bed.)
Me: I too stay in xxxx city. BTW lets focus on game.
Kid: Yeah, but where do you work, what do you do and at what time you come online. I will add you to my friend list we can play together daily.

I answered few questions here and there as I was lost in game and in the mean time we both knowingly or unknowingly kept on sharing more and mo information with each other. He revealed almost everything about himself and his family in a very short time. So basically today I know where he stay, in which standard/school he study and other personal information about him.

I gave it a thought later and found it quite disturbing like the way that poor soul shared his personal info with me and maybe he is doing the same with other players in the game. Who knows some criminal mind can take advantage of such situation and can plan something really terrible or unexpected against his family members. Before deleting the game from my phone I told him not to talk to strangers and share any information on social platforms.

I know this is nothing new as we have lot of other applications on mobile where we have such features to talk and share things. But I still feel we should keep an eye on our kids or family members around us and try to educate them.

Thanks for reading, other members can add their experience if any.

[blackwasp]

Originally Posted by roby_dk

Thanks for reading, other members can add their experience if any.

About 7-8 years ago, used to play Travian (travian.com). However, after about a year or two playing solo (1 user per id), I shifted to multi user (2-3 people per id). Must have played for about 3-4 years and my team used to end up in the top 50 users easily. I'm close friends with another guy from India and one from USA. We stopped playing 2 years ago as we got serious in our RL (real life) and got busy with work and family.

Today, the 3 of us are still in touch with each other. The game made us friends for life. While I admit that I times I used to stay up late making sure at least one of us was online at all times, it is a part of life I wouldn't want to do otherwise.

My take on this is this:

• You are always in control. If you can't stop when you want, time to seek help.
• Good people skills, we used to discuss / talk with a lot of unknown people playing along with us in one server (Games used to last 3-4 months or even 9-12 months in case of slow servers).
• Foresight - Most times, we had to think our moves in advance and required to think about the future.
• Seperation between online and offline lives, and keeping our privacy intact.
• Mutual respect for others.
• Going through the ups and downs of life and seeking support at times from the guys closed to you.
• A medium to vent your frustration (tough assignment in college, work troubles, etc.) and getting good advice.

[wrongturn]

Originally Posted by roby_dk

Thanks for reading, other members can add their experience if any.

FPS games are such stress busters. On a bad day I play CS:GO to let out some steam. It's so effective, only down side is that you end up sitting for 2+ hours.

PUBG is no different, and PUBG mobile is way better than PUBG PC for Indians due to distant locations of servers, plus you will find mostly chinese on PUBG PC. That said PUBG PC is far far better and involving than PUBG Mobile. I stopped playing PUBG Mobile after it became kinda too obvious and easy.

Coming to social media threat, it definitely exist. But, in this day and age I don't think there is any platform that is absolutely safe in this regard. Bottom line, be discreet, you are responsible for your own safety.

In CS:GO players get robbed of merchandise that's worth lakhs, yes you read it right. It's a good thing to be limited to mobile gaming, PC gaming will eat away your time like nothing else, also it's a very expensive hobby and you will never be able to build a perfect machine, sigh!

That said, gaming is for fun, from what I have read in your post, you are taking it too seriously because you are competing for ranks, that really don't matter. You won't be able to perform at your best until you let go of the pressure and stress. You don't have to be really honest to your team mates while playing, just cook up stories and identities, make it funny and have fun yourself. It's called a game for a reason, it's not a punishment. Laugh when you die, make stupid mistakes while playing, get some team kills, get deranked and kill noobs like a pro and don't share your personal info, like ever.

Happy Gaming.

[deathwalkr]

I believe his point was that a kid shared his personal details to the OP willingly.

[roby_dk]

Correct the initial rant was just to give a background of how I started playing this game and later found a possible threat. At times parents will be thinking that their kids are just playing another game but look how critical information can be passed easily to any negative element in society.

[_nitink_]

I definitely agree that this game is a great threat. Just came across a news article.

Source: digit.com

[roby_dk]

Link to full article:
https://www.digit.in/article/amp/int...-problem-is-it

[typlo]

I started my car addiction with an online game called CrazyKart (then launched in India by Zapak.com). Although all by itself it was just a waste of time, it introduced me to several other players in India, the gaming culture and most importantly, the Forum culture. We created our own forums, had our own clans and spent precious money on the the game to get an edge over others. Good times they were. The game was eventually shut down.

The forum culture prevailed and I went on to become a part of several other forums and groups which had and will continue to have a deep impact on who I am.

The social impact of these games is obvious. So is the impact of accessibility of technology (and its commercialisation). Kids aren't spending much time outside. Neither am I.

About Pubg: Never bothered with it. Not interesting enough, I guess.

P.S: Cannot forget about those Counter Strike 1.6 moments we had at school and college too

[roby_dk]

The PUBG Problem - Bengaluru Schools Warn Parents About Kids Getting Addicted To The Game

The craze has reached South India too and some schools in Bengaluru have begun to warn parents about the ill-effects of playing the game for hours after cases of addiction were reported to the National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences, reported Deccan Herald.

SOURCE: https://www.indiatimes.com/trending/...me-358041.html

[androdev]

as a parent a big chunk of my time goes in dealing with these stupid 1st world problems but the solution is very well known.

spend time with kids and be a big part of their life. if you are missing, then someone else will take your place.

never say NO to something directly, always treat them like equals, discuss and offer an alternative that is better than what they want to do. it requires the usual bonding and gaining their trust but that's how it works.

never be the uncool Mr No dad, that's setting up for a disaster

if there is vacuums of people and idle time, then it will be filled by unwanted people and undesirable activities.

[phamilyman]

Originally Posted by roby_dk

Sharing my experience with a famous online game PUBG. For people who don't know about this game please read below quoted post(Source wikipedia).

Thanks for reading, other members can add their experience if any.

I agree. I am very worried about it as a father of a 7 year old. He installed PubG and Fortnite himself. We never play these games at home. He picked it up at school/daycare/neighborhood kids.

The neighborhood kids have formed a team of their own.

I didn't know they can play in voice chat. This is disturbing. I guess we will have to totally restrict the iPad to Youtube Kids/ Prime Video / Netflix age restricted stuff very soon.

[roby_dk]

Gujarat Has Banned PUBG After Finding That School Kids Are Addicted To It

SOURCE : https://www.indiatimes.com/news/indi...it-360914.html

[aargee]

Just stumbled on this thread; I've nothing great to contribute, but probably my reply could inspire or motivate someone to help who're struggling to overcome their addiction with mobile phones.

Our kids DO NOT use mobile phones, reason being simple, as parents we almost don't use mobile phones in front of them or atleast we've given up our addiction towards social media including WhatsApp & Facebook which are the only 2 places where we have accounts. Any new trending software - sorry, we refuse to open an account although we keep updated on what those new software are about.

One of the most scariest statement that we came across was, children follow what the parents do. Once we observed that, we are terrified than encountering a ghost. That statement made us to think a lot & we started living the way that will be beneficial for our children rather than what we like to do. Over the time we learned its much easier to live this way than to live with social media addiction.

We learned that the best way to get an instant dopamine is to spend time with kids, physically play with them, talk to them & show the real world in form of shops, street, engaging ourselves into their lives. It's quite amazing to see how much we can learn from them & how their empty brains works better than our full cups

We still use social media & smart phones for the greater benefits it offer, especially during travel to stay better communicated & keep in touch with friends & relatives away from home, otherwise, we really don't need them.

It was hard at first to get over the addiction of WhatsApp & FB even after understanding about their ill effects, but once we shifted our attention towards reality, we don't think its an addiction anymore.

[roby_dk]

In a statement, DAK spokesman quoting Doctors Association Kashmir (DAK) President and senior paediatrician, Dr Suhail Naik said that addiction to PUBG is dangerous than drug addiction and students who are playing this game have developed behavioural, sleep and psychiatric disturbances.

SOURCE : https://www.indiatimes.com/news/indi...it-360814.html

[roby_dk]

What more to expect, children committing suicides due to PUBG.

After Parents Refuse To Buy Him A New Phone To Play PUBG, 18-YO Mumbai Boy Commits Suicide

PUBG has taken everything by storm across the country and the addiction has already claimed many lives. In the most recent case, an 18-year-old boy in Mumbai allegedly committed suicide by hanging himself after being denied a smartphone worth Rs 37,000, to play the game.

Source: https://www.indiatimes.com/trending/...de-361563.html