
Ten people arrested in Gujarat for allegedly playing banned game PUBG - karambir
https://www.news18.com/news/india/10-held-in-gujarat-for-playing-pubg-game-on-mobile-phone-2066777.html
======
Gonzih
> 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.

~~~
SkyBelow
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
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](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crime_in_the_United_States)

~~~
atomi
Yeah no kidding. All of my friends and I grew up on Wolfenstein, Doom and Duke
Nukem. None us grew up to be the least bit violent.

------
srean
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.

~~~
NullPrefix
>many fall over themselves to please

fall over themselves to please someone in power

~~~
srean
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.

------
jstanley
It's illegal to play a _video game_? What world is this?

~~~
divs1210
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.

~~~
nindalf
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.

~~~
sbmthakur
From the article, it looks like the local police banned PUBG after locals
complained about its addictive nature(in the exam season). Not saying that
this is legit, but I don't think Modi would've called the local Police chief
and said, "hey bro, please ban PUBG because kids won't do well in exams in my
state".

As for the sites ban, I couldn't find any Government order banning these
sites. For all we know, it might be the courts issuing these bans.

~~~
nindalf
I don't mean that Modi personally signed the order banning PUBG. I meant that
Modi and the BJP have ruled and continue to rule over a state where policemen
think they are a law unto themselves. They think they can ban perfectly lawful
activities, then arrest anyone who violates their idiotic ban. The policeman
thinks the ends justify the means. I am asking why the policeman's boss agrees
with that.

------
viraptor
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?)

~~~
winningcontinue
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.

~~~
viraptor
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)

~~~
winningcontinue
That's not how you control the behavior of a population. You'd post the entire
number of people caught, warn the violators and make them pay a small
indemnity. Having a small number of people reported caught makes enforcement
seem ineffective in finding the culprits.

------
calvinbhai
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.

------
HHalvi
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.

------
modi15
Its Indian version of tabloid news. AFAIK some local enforcement agency passed
a rule banning PUBG near to school exams.

~~~
kranner
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](https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-47238545)

~~~
youeseh
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.

~~~
kranner
I think 16 people being arrested for playing a banned video game is real news
that deserves to be widely published.

Your friends' fake Facebook contest is not quite comparable.

~~~
youeseh
I disagree. This story is far too insignificant for people who are nowhere
near the incident to be alarmed about.

We have a lot to think and worry about all the time much closer to our homes.
Stories like this being reported by an outlet so far removed from the
situation on the ground don't serve the people receiving the news apart from
triggering them.

~~~
kranner
HN is a global community and if something is insignificant for you because
it's too far away or something, it's quicker to just ignore it than to go into
the discussions and tell people that are actually engaging with the topic that
it's not worth their time. A little disrespectful as well.

I can tell you why it's relevant to me: I live in India, so it's local, and
it's related to the social effects of technology. Now the front page has news
about California being drought-free. It's not of interest to me, so I will
just ignore it.

~~~
youeseh
We weren't talking about HN. How many Indian newspapers report on every little
nonsensical arrest that happens in the US?

~~~
kranner
But these are not merely nonsensical arrests otherwise unconnected to
everything.

Modi named PUBG as a problem in a recent public meeting. Then some local
police officials decide to outlaw it, and start arresting people over it,
while the courts and the government do nothing about it. The arrests are
absolutely a part of the rise of fascism in the country under the current
regime. Why should the world not be interested in the growing fundamentalist
face of India?

Multiple people being arrested because of draconian laws enacted at whimsy,
anywhere, is always newsworthy. I don't understand why you're trying to
trivialise it.

~~~
sbmthakur
> Modi named PUBG as a problem in a recent public meeting.

Any source to back this up? If you're referring to "Yeh PUBG wala hai kya",
then it was a reply to a mother who was concerned about her son's addiction to
online games. Any person who knows about online games would've pointed towards
PUBG. This is also the reason why the locals petitioned the local police about
rising PUBG addiction. Banning is not the solution but the concerns of parents
about addiction(in exam season) are absolutely legit.

> The arrests are absolutely a part of the rise of fascism in the country
> under the current regime.

Either you don't know what fascism is or you're clearly making a joke out of
it.

~~~
kranner
Did the locals also petition the police to arrest their own children?

I know what fascism is and in my opinion it is exactly what is happening in
India in the current regime.

Today a BJP MP has openly declared that if the BJP wins the 2019 elections,
there will not be a need for any more elections in 2024 or thereafter.

