Ten people arrested in Gujarat for allegedly playing banned game PUBG

https://www.news18.com/news/india/10-held-in-gujarat-for-playing-pubg-game-on-mobile-phone-2066777.html

by karambir • 7 years ago

89 55 7 years ago

viraptor2• 7 years ago

The interesting bit for me is: how did regular police find out who was playing the game? Were they spotted in person, or is there good enough network surveillance in India to implement filters and pass subscriber information to the police? (Or is this some kind of hoax to make more people comply?)

winningcontinue2• 7 years ago

it's 2 people, so they've gotta be two people who were caught on their screens flaunting the rules or being ignorant of it. If it was network surveilance, you'd have numbers in the thousands easily.

viraptor2• 7 years ago

I've seen some are mentioned as caught on the street. Just wondering about the rest where the situation was not listed explicitly.

If it was network surveilance, you'd have numbers in the thousands easily.

That doesn't have to be true. If you want fewer people playing the game, it's easier/cheaper to catch a small number and make it known in media than actually arrest thousands. (Unless arrests are your goal that is)

rvnx• 7 years ago

They were playing in the street

jstanley• 7 years ago

It's illegal to play a video game? What world is this?

divs1210• 7 years ago

This is Modi Kaka's New India. Many websites like reddit, alexa.com, etc. have also been banned by ISPs over the last few months.

_jgdh2• 7 years ago

Haha, Modi fans are downvoting you for pointing out that the obvious. This incident took place in Gujarat. Modi was the Chief Minister of Gujarat for more than a decade before becoming Prime Minister of India. The BJP has now been in power in Gujarat for nearly 20 years. If Modi/BJP isn't responsible for this idiocy, then I would invite the BJP bhakts (devotees) to tell us who is.

Before you speak, let me establish two facts. Modi and the BJP are synonymous since 2014. When the BJP wins an election, it's called a "Modi wave". The flipside of taking credit for everything and micromanaging everything that the BJP does is that he is responsible when they fuck up... like they have here. Second, the police ultimately report to the Chief Minister who is answerable to Modi. Now say what you have to say, without resorting to the downvote button.

saagarjha• 7 years ago

Wait, Reddit is banned by ISPs in India?

kbad10005• 7 years ago

Please, don't spread lies.

sbmthakur4• 7 years ago

Is there a Government order to ban these sites?

sarveshseri• 7 years ago

I wonder when people will start quoting "Modi Kaka's New India" for seg-faults and stack-overflows...

setum• 7 years ago

Well it's the same age old policy of banning media. Earlier it was limited to books and news media, what you see with internet & now video games is just it's manifestation in new form as these new forms gain in popularity.

Check out this list of books banned in India and tell me how many are from Modi Kaka's New India: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_books_banned_in_India

hkai2• 7 years ago

I am against banning anything like that, but I hope you also realize that some people would involuntarily waste years of their life and completely destroy themselves playing it. The addiction is real and harmful.

Yajirobe• 7 years ago

Why do you think it's a waste? And why do you think it's involuntary?

Gerardo1• 7 years ago

Let me know when India bans alcohol, high-calorie food, or any of the countless other things that can be abused.

dsabanin• 7 years ago

I would think being arrested is more harmful and time wasting, with way more serious consequences.

Whoever came up with that law is simply an imbecile or dishonest about their motives.

imtringued• 7 years ago

So the government decides that it's better that they waste away in prison and they shouldn't have any chance of improving themselves at all?

kbad10005• 7 years ago

The local government (district level) (not in all country) made it illegal for exams and in public because it is addictive.

sbmthakur4• 7 years ago

I think this happened after parents complained about the addictive nature of the game.

modi15• 7 years ago

Its Indian version of tabloid news. AFAIK some local enforcement agency passed a rule banning PUBG near to school exams.

kranner5• 7 years ago

News18 is not a tabloid website.

But just in case you're not convinced, here's the BBC reporting the same arrests:

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-47238545

youeseh4• 7 years ago

This reminds me of the time when my friends ran a fake contest on Facebook in the early days. Someone won. Then they told their local newspaper. Other small papers picked it up. Then it got picked up by bigger publications. Everyone treated it like it was a legitimate contest.

Sometimes a story is so juicy that even the big fish can't ignore it.

Gonzih• 7 years ago

the ban was necessary as these games were leading to violent behaviour among children and youth

Ah another claim that video games cause violence not backed by any sciecific data.

draw_down• 7 years ago

I don’t think I’d like this arrest any better if it came with data attached.

SkyBelow2• 7 years ago

Isn't the result more mixed? There are some studies that found no relation and other studies that found a relation, and no sufficient explanation why repeating the same studies end up showing different results?

Chilinot• 7 years ago

Considering the amount of people (myself included) that have grown up playing video games and shooters. I think we have enough empirical evidence that violent video games do not in fact raise violent people.

Im only looking at the crime rates in the US using wikipedia [1], and the crimes are going down. Im certain that this trend is similar in other developed countries that have a long history of violent movies and video games.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crime_in_the_United_States

calvinbhai• 7 years ago

Looks like a tactic orchestrated by parents-cops to scare other kids from playing PUBG, because: Exams (:rolling_eyes:)

Will certainly backfire (more kids will get onto it).

Highly clickbait news item for Indian/International media to report on this.

srean2• 7 years ago

I wish the cops had showed more interest in recovering the cell phone that was snatched from my wife recently. I wish they show more interest in the rise of snatching jewellery in than arresting kids for their questionable choice in games.

Its common practice among Indian cops to refuse to register such crimes. But when it comes to pandering to politically blessed agendas, many fall over themselves to please.

I dont think I had much choice in the matter when I had to sign up to pay for their salaries to do the job of parenting.

NullPrefix2• 7 years ago

many fall over themselves to please

fall over themselves to please someone in power

srean2• 7 years ago

Indeed ! Thanks for completing my sentence.

What is rather intriguing is the downvotes, not that I mind but curious about the point of view they are coming from.

HHalvi• 7 years ago

I am super glad that Doom, Wolfenstein, Mortal Kombat, Shadow Warrior have not got as popular as PUBG else I would have a really hard time with India.

Ten people arrested in Gujarat for allegedly playing banned game PUBG

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