The hit battle royale game PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds has been banned in Nepal and will no longer be playable by anyone in the country. Thinking of the children and how PUBG affected them, the Metropolitan Crime Division in Nepal pushed for a ban which was approved by the Kathmandu District Court. The reasoning behind the ban included some familiar claims often cited in opposition of certain games and included worries about young players becoming addicted to PUBG and more aggressive after playing.
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The Kathmandu Post initially reported on the PUBG ban in Nepal and spoke to the involved parties to confirm that the game has now indeed been banned in Nepal. Nepal Telecommunication Authority’s chairman said a letter from the crime division resulted in the organization ordering “all internet and mobile service providers to ban the game.” Reuters also spoke with the NTA and received a comment from the deputy director who said the game had been banned “because it is addictive to children and teenagers.”
Video game addiction and aggressiveness that results from games with violent themes are common reasons that are cited when a game is banned or when a ban is desired. Dhiraj Pratap Singh, the senior superintendent of police, told The Kathmandu Post that complaints were received from parents and school systems who were concerned with the game’s impact on children. Singh also said that psychiatrists were consulted during the banning process.
“Parents and schools had complained that the game was affecting their children’s studies and making them more aggressive,” Singh said. “When we consulted with psychiatrists, they also said that the violence in the game can make people aggressive in real life.”
PUBG has been banned in individual cities in different regions prior to this widespread ban, though not all the bans stuck around. Now that the ban’s been made in Nepal, the police force said it’s prepared to arrest anyone who’s found playing the game after the ban goes into effect.
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