PUBG Ban in Pakistan – What makes it a wrong decision?

As we all know Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) recently placed a ban on PlayersUnknown’s BattleGround (PUBG) in Pakistan. This is an online multiple shooter that has been blamed for inciting violence in kids leading them to commit suicide.

Recently there were two cases of teenager in Punjab who commited suicides and their parents, including the Punjab police blamed the entire matter on the PUBG requesting a ban in Pakistan for the multiplayer game.

Read more: PTA temporarily bans PUBG in Pakistan.

PUBG Ban in Pakistan – Opinion regarding the decision

Now, this post is about our own opinion on the matter and why we think that the decision taken by the Lahore High Court and Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) is wrong in many ways.

Although, it is extremely sad and gut-wrenching to hear of the suicide cases and how hard it must be for the families, it still doesn’t justify placing a ban on PUBG in Pakistan.

First of all, you can’t just blame the game for the cause of suicide as there can be multiple underlying reasons over why those teenagers decided to end their lives. Though it is sad to even think about what happened, it is the hard truth that blaming or banning a game is not the solution to the problem.

Mental Health

In today’s society, mental health has become a real problem and many people are the victims of depression. That isn’t the only problem but our society has made mental health such a taboo topic that people suffering don’t speak up or ask for help.

We live in a society where the majority believe that there is no such thing as depression for a Muslim and all one needs to do is pray and get closer to God, completely ignoring the fact that someone might actually need professional help which is also a sensitive subject since someone getting help from a a psychologist or psychiatrist is labeled as Pagal (Psycho) is a completely wrong way.

Hence, mental health victims tend to avoid speaking up about their problems or seeking out help which leads them to deal with issues alone and they end up taking such measures when they’ve had enough.

Now, PUBG ban is Pakistan is the result of two teenagers committing suicide when they were told to not play the game and automatically the blame fell to the game without anyone even trying to look at other possible reasons.

There can be multiple reasons why a person is driven to take such a decision of ending their own lives. A teenager can be depressed due to problems in their own homes, pressure from parents to get good grades and many other reasons but all those are overseen when it is much more simple to just put the blame on a game and get on with our lives.

Why only Ban PUBG in Pakistan?

If we are going to blame a game like PUBG and ban it in Pakistan for causing depression, inciting violence and leading to suicide then we need to take other drastic measures as well such as banning the entire education system in the country.

Why am I talking about the education system? There have been multiple cases every year of students committing suicide after getting bad grades because they were afraid of how their parents will react. Now when you say it out loud it makes to realize that education system wasn’t entirely to blame. Although, the education system in our country puts unnecessary pressure on students, the parents in such cases of suicide are also to blame since they instill so much fear into their kids that they end up taking their lives.

Car accidents cause many people to loose their lives everyday but should we go ahead and ban roads or cars to protect the kids of this country and their futures. That doesn’t sound like a solution because it isn’t a solution just an action made without properly collecting facts.

There are cases of minors getting raped yet, no strict laws come into effect and these kids never get justice but we are going to ban a game because two kids out of thousands in the country committed suicide.

PUBG Ban in Pakistan (A Bad Idea)

Lets talk about why its a bad idea to place a ban on PUBG in Pakistan. The simple answer to that is livelihood and gaming careers. Yes! that’s a thing now. Its 2020 and people are actually making a living playing video games so it can’t be categorized as a waste of time anymore.

Lets talk about ESports which is basicall a form of sports competition but involves video games. Tournaments are held all across the world with players from different countries competing for a prizes worth millions and PUBG is one of the games that has really given Pakistan a place in the International Gaming Community with many Pakistani PUBG players competing in tournaments representing the country at an International level.

Arslan Ash who has obtained the title for Esports Player of the Year competing amongst players from around the world at Tekken Tournaments made a name for Pakistan and has shown how gaming could open up opportunities for so many youngster in the country.

However, the people making big decisions don’t understand the bigger picture and made an irrational decision that could cost so many people their livelihood as a lot of people in Pakistan were actually making a living off PUBG before a ban was placed in Pakistan.

There were so many players making YouTube content from PUBG gameplays making a career out of it and speaking of YouTube content I think it’s important here to mention the fact that Pakistan is still behind when it comes to YouTube content creators worldwide since there aren’t that many big Pakistani YouTubers compared to other countries and the only reason behind is is the fact that Pakistan is five years behind everyone ever since the YouTube ban that lasted years.

While countries are progressing and the gaming industry has turned into a billion dollar business, we are banning games because we THINK they have a negative impact on kids without any proper research because we need an escape goat so we can avoid working the real problems.

Remember last year when a 17 years old teenager Kyle Giersdorf (Bugha) from the US won $3 million dollars at the Fortnite Worldcup because gaming is actually a thing there and teenagers are actually supported to make careers out of it rather than being the other way. By the way, if you need proof you can check out this link.

Millions invested in Pakistan

Millions have been invested by companies as Esports gaming is acutally becoming a thing in Pakistan and many companies are actually investing in tournaments in the country but we are too blind to see that and end up placing a ban on the game that actually made this possible and gave the country some traction in the International Gaming Community.

The reason why this is happening is because people making the laws don’t even know about gaming or how it can be a good thing. They make their decisions based on what they hear and that’s it.

Also, we didn’t just ban PUBG mobile which the game that was blamed for the suicides but we ended up banning all PUBG games including the PC variant which is a paid to play game and entirely different from the mobile variant.

This is the incompetency of Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) and their action of banning the game without having any knowledge of the game. PUBG is just one of many similar games. What is the Government and PTA going to do now? Ban them all? Why don’t we just ban the internet and even mainstream media while we’re at it? Lets go back to the dark ages.

PUBG Rated 18+

It is important to mention that multiplayer game PUBG is actually rated 18+ in most countries while some places it has a rating of 16+. Now its the job of parents to monitor their kids and control them. I’m sorry to say this but it is a fact that if parents fail at their job, they don’t have the right to demand an entire game be banned as many people are actually benefiting from the game.

Affects of Gaming on Children

Now I know that many might disagree with me and are still saying that there are negative affects of games like PUBG but people saying that don’t actually have any hard facts but I’ll entertain you guys too as I actually did some research before this.

Now, according to the American Psychological Association (APA) gaming including violent shooters can actually benefit “learning, health and social skills” according to their research. If you want to know more you can read the whole article HERE on the APA’s own website.

Conclusion

We have made it pretty clear that we don’t agree with the decision and so does our argument. At least we think so and over a thousand other people we asked and here are the results. Here are the results: 7.7 percent of people approve the ban on PUBG. That’s an alarmingly low number and even I was expecting it to be a little higher. However, there are 92.3 people who don’t agree with the ban. You will have to vote to see the results until voting finishes.

Read more: Pakistani Rupee rises against US Dollar.

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