PUBG and Addiction

With almost each of us possessing a smartphone, or having access to one, it is very easy to be playing online video games and not be restricted to the ones needing gaming consoles and computers. People can play an online game while doing almost anything at any point of time. 

Now, there is another game in the market which is becoming increasingly popular. Almost 400 million people around the world play Player Unknown's Battle Grounds (PUBG). (Chakrabarty,2019)

 In each game, up to one hundred players parachute onto an island and then look for weapons to kill the others without getting killed themselves. The last player or the last team standing wins the game. 

It was only recently in 2018 that the World Health Organisation (WHO) finally acknowledged the existence of 'Gaming Disorder’. DSM-5 of American Psychiatric Association states that Internet Gaming Disorder is most common in male adolescents between 12 to 20 years of age.

Gaming disorder is defined in the 11th Revision of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11) as a pattern of gaming behavior (“digital-gaming” or “video-gaming”) characterized by impaired control over gaming, increasing priority given to gaming over other activities to the extent that gaming takes precedence over other interests and daily activities, and continuation or escalation of gaming despite the occurrence of negative consequences. (WHO,2018)

For gaming disorder to be diagnosed, the behaviour pattern must be of sufficient severity to result in significant impairment in personal, family, social, educational, occupational or other important areas of functioning and would normally have been evident for at least 12 months. (WHO,2018)

Why is PUBG addictive? There is no wait to play system. People can play for however long they want. There is a new battleground every few months with a completely new design, rewards, and new weekly challenges set for the player to complete. There are cosmetic rewards which makes your on screen character more unique. You can keep on purchasing new armour, guns, explosives in order to help your character win the game. Most importantly, it’s become a social game as you play it with your friends with features like voice chatting in real time. (Fishman, 2018)

High levels of violent video game exposure have been linked to delinquency, fighting at school and during free play periods, and violent criminal behavior. Video game violence has been liked to de-sensitisation to real-life violence as well. Repeated media violence exposure increases aggression across the lifespan because of several related factors :  It creates more positive attitudes, beliefs, and expectations regarding use of aggressive solutions, It creates aggressive behavioral scripts and makes them more cognitively accessible, It decreases the accessibility of nonviolent scripts, It decreases the normal negative emotional reactions to conflict, aggression, and violence. (American Psychiatric Association, 2003)

Gaming addictions result in personal, family, academic, financial, and occupational problems that are characteristic of other addictions.  Impairments of real life relationships are disrupted as a result of excessive use of the Game.  Those suffering from video game addiction spend more time in solitary seclusion, spend less time with real people in their lives, and are often viewed as socially awkward. Arguments may result due to the volume of time spent playing.  They may attempt to conceal the amount of time spent playing, which results in distrust and the disturbance of quality in once stable relationships. Similar to other addictions, individuals suffering from video game addiction use the virtual fantasy world to connect with real people through the Internet, as a substitution for real-life human connection, which they are unable to achieve normally.  Some suffering from video game addiction may develop an emotional attachment to on-line friends and activities they create on their computer screens. (“Video Game Addiction”, n.d.)

Many cases have been reported in India where boys from age 14-18 have allegedly committed suicide because they were told to stop playing PubG. Many people are increasingly reaching the brink of addiction and some percentage of them developing a disorder.

However, “We should not mix high involvement with problematic involvement, You can have a high involvement in gaming, if gaming is your main hobby, but you can do it in a totally controlled way that will not have any negative consequences on your daily life.” (Billieux.2018)

CITATIONS

Chakrabarty, R. (2019, April 22). Why we cannot stop playing PUBG: Gaming addiction health problems and why no one talked about a Candy Crush ban. Retrieved from https://www.indiatoday.in/education-today/featurephilia/story/pubg-ban-but-no-candy-crush-ban-gaming-addiction-health-problems-1507648-2019-04-22.

World Health Organization. (2018). International statistical classification of diseases and related health problems. Geneva, Switzerland.

Fishman, A. (n.d.). Why Is This Game So Addictive? Retrieved from https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/video-game-health/201811/why-is-game-so-addictive.

(n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.apa.org/science/about/psa/2003/10/anderson.

Video Game Addiction. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.addictionrecov.org/Addictions/?AID=45.