Impact of online Game on Youth -Shahriar Belal

Why do people play games? The answer should have been as a means of entertainment. At a time when we used to play Snake games on Nokia mobiles, this definition may be correct, but now it can be said for sure that games are not limited to this. Many people are becoming very serious about the game, forgetting the real world, the consequences of which are terrible.
The most talked about and sensational online games of recent times are ‘PUBG and ‘FREE FIRE’.
South Korean game maker Bluehole launched the first PUBG game in 2016. At first though the game was brought to market for computers and ‘Xbox’. Later in 2016, PUBG Mobile was brought to the market for Android and iOS operating systems. On the other hand, Vietnam released the game ‘Gerina FREE FIRE’ in 2016 by publishing it from ‘111 dot studio’.
Violent games like ‘PUBG and ‘FREE FIRE’ are getting addictive, we even see suicide cases like not even being allowed to play games and even killing one’s own father in various newspapers. Currently, the popularity of this game has increased several times in the subcontinent. This game can be played on both mobile phone and computer. However, in the subcontinent, the mobile version has become more popular than the computer version of PUBG.
According to reports, around 230 million people around the world now play this game every month. And about 90 million people play every day. About 15 million people are playing this game every day in the poor country like Bangladesh! In the online game PUBG, 100 people live together on an abandoned island. The player is first dropped there by parachute. They have to survive by killing each other there. Everyone has to collect and destroy all the terrible ammunition and firearms one by one. In this case betrayal is also resorted to conspiracy to assassinate.
Online friends talk to each other and discuss the massacre. How many points were scored, how many were killed, how to kill the rest – all this is the subject of this terrible game. The person or group that survives the massacre is the winner. All in all, teenagers on mobile or computer screens are so engrossed in ‘PUBG’ and ‘FREE FIRE’ that they forget about the real world and become addicted to a dangerous drug. The death toll of online games is feeling very real to them.
The popularity of this game is skyrocketing due to the easy availability of mobile phones and the internet within reach. Currently, teenagers and young people are becoming very addicted to this game. The horror of these Battle Royale games is so great that it creates a kind of agility among the users. Excessive violence causes adverse reactions among young people. And this game can make them violent in later life.
Experts on such addictions think that due to the addiction in these games, teenagers, young people are deviating from their family and social status. At some point in the game they can become violent. There is no doubt that it could even create a situation similar to that of another ‘Blue Whale’ game.
These games are not only a cause of physical harm, but also a cause of mental illness. According to a World Health Organization (WHO) study, online game addiction is a type of mental illness that can lead to depression in an athlete. Along with physical and mental illness, online games can be a barrier to social values ??on a young person or adolescent. A person playing this game cannot be very socially connected as he has to play from one place to another. And for this reason, the person has to gradually move away from the use of social values ??and social norms. Above all, they have to accept loneliness for a while. Prolonged staring at a computer or mobile screen can cause eye damage. And people who play this game suffer from sleep problems as well as eye problems. Not only that, in this age of globalization, adolescents or young people play the biggest role in improving the quality of their education to keep pace with the times. But sadly due to their addiction to these online games they are lagging far behind in the progress of education.
Internet or game play is not a taboo subject. But its harmful, irrational, excessive use affects thinking and behavior. If you use the internet, it cannot be taken negatively. It remains to be seen whether it has gone to the stage of addiction. According to the World Health Organization and other research teams, symptoms of gaming addiction should last for 12 months. However, if the symptoms are severe, then if they appear for a short time, it can also be called gaming disorder.
Basically online games are just like addiction to other drugs like yaba, heroin, marijuana, alcohol etc. The difference is that online games are behavioral addiction, and other drug addictions are chemical addictions. The part of the brain that is addicted to things like yaba or marijuana is the part of the brain that is addicted to the Internet or games. So there is no chance to look at it lightly.
According to the World Health Organization, two to three percent of those who play online or video games suffer from gaming disorders. That’s why the World Health Organization lists video game or online game addiction as a mental health problem. Gaming disorders can lead to mental illnesses such as anxiety, depression and severe stress. There is no doubt that even if you fall victim to cybercrime or get involved in cybercrime. Psychiatrists have long argued that excessive addiction to games hinders their socialization as well as their intellectual development.
In view of this, a number of countries, including the United Kingdom, have set up special clinics and started adequate monitoring, but Bangladesh has lagged far behind.
We need to understand that the companies that are making the game naturally want you to spend a lot of time playing the game. You will find that as you play different games, the game gradually becomes easier and harder and more challenging. As a result, you try harder and harder to meet the challenges without getting bored. Understanding this simple fact should not be difficult for us to understand that the games are actually made in such a way that it becomes addictive to play. How much the company is running the game, how much they are earning, depends largely on how addictive the game is. And that’s why games like ‘PUBG’ Free Fire’ have been able to gain widespread popularity because they can be addictive.
The negative aspects of these addictive online games are more obvious to us than the positive aspects. Despite this, most of the youth in our country are immersing themselves in this game. Which is very harmful for them as well as a threat to future generations. So they should know about the harmful aspects of violent games like ‘PUBG ‘FREE FIRE’ and withdraw the excessive use.
The author of this article is studying at the Islamic University kushtiya.