PUBG MOBILE: TO BAN or NOT TO BAN (UPDATED)

PUBG Mobile is on the verge of getting banned again in a state of India following many complaints filed by the various organisation as well as individuals. But is it really a solution? Continue reading to find out more.

 

PUBG MOBILE BAN

Playerunknown's Battlegrounds Mobile is by far the most played game EVER on any device in India. With millions of daily users and thousands of Hardcore fans, it's no surprise how even the smallest of changes in the game make it to the headlines. Released on February 2018, the mobile version of the game Playerunknown's Battlegrounds was a hit right off the bat completing 100 million downloads in a record-breaking 4 month on Google Play store. The game was praised by users for its stunning graphics, innovative gameplay and huge maps which are actually very similar to its PC counterpart. Not everyone praised it, though. As Uncle Ben said "with great power comes great responsibilities", PUBG is held responsible for poor grades of students by many parents nationwide.

PUBG Mobile is again and again accused by many for being "very addictive". According to them, it is a "distraction for students", which might affect their (students) career. Some others went even further saying, it (PUBG) is "More dangerous than Drugs", demanding a nationwide ban.

Close to completing one year on Google Play, stories started to appear on the internet about how people (mainly students) are crazy, literally crazy about PUBG. A terrifying incident occurred when an 18-year-old boy committed suicide when his parents refused to buy him a new phone to play PUBG. In another instance, a fitness trainer in Jammu lost his mind after getting addicted to PUBG Mobile and started hurting himself. The man ended up in a mental hospital where he is being treated. A month prior to this incidence, news floated around the internet about a legal notice issued by Maharashtra high court to ban PUBG. The news later turned out to be fake, but that didn't stop other states from doing the same.

List of  States in India that want to ban PUBG Mobile

Gujarat

Gujarat was the first state in India to ban PUBG Mobile. A circular issued by the state government prohibited playing the game in state primary schools. The state defended its stand by claiming that the ban was necessary as children were getting addicted to the game. "It was adversely affecting their studies" when the news got heated reactions on Twitter.
Update: On 9th March 2019 Rajkot police issued a notice which calls for a statewide ban of the popular battle Royale game PUBG Mobile. The notice states that any person found playing the game or found guilty of playing PUBG mobile will be considered an offender of the law. Strict actions will be taken against him/her on the grounds of IPC section 188. The ban of the popular game will be effective from March 9th to April 30th. So far 10 people have been arrested for playing the banned game. 6 of them are college students. The ban is in effect in Surat, Rajkot, Vadodara, Gir Somnath districts and Bhavnagar.
More states are likely to follow suit.

Photo of the PUBG Mobile ban notice issued by Rajkot police & shared by Kumar Manish on twitter.

Jammu & Kashmir

Jammu & Kashmir Students Association termed it "future spoiler" after students performed poorly in the board exams. The Doctors Association of Kashmir recommended parents to keep their students away from PUBG.

The map of India

Goa

Goa State IT minister labelled this game as "Daemonic", and the game is creating "Daemons in every house". Currently, the game is banned in the campus of some premium institutes.

Tamil Nadu

The Game is banned in the Vellore Institue of Technology (VIT) campus as well as Hostels. Though this is not issued by any state government or any officials, an image of the circular that imposed the ban went viral, bringing the issue to light. The move was heavily criticised by the students of the institute.

Circular issued by VIT

Maharashtra

Although the rumours about a ban in the state were discarded, political leaders are very eager to impose a ban on the game in "Public Interest."

Madhya Pradesh

The state government is in the talks to enforce a ban on the game before board exams to ensure there is no adverse effect on the students. The state might impose a ban as there are a considerable number of complaints regarding the PUBG issue. A political leader of the state also compared the game with the "addiction of opium."

On top of everything, the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) in a letter recommended all states to put a ban on the popular game, sources claim.

 

Official Statement Issued by the Game Developer

The PUBG mobile developed by Tencent was quick to react to the issue of the ban. In an official statement, the Company it is committed to the well being of the gamers while being a "responsible member of the gaming ecosystem" to address the various complaints lodged in the past few months.

We appreciate the support and trust given to us by our PUBG MOBILE players. While we strive to deliver the best possible gaming experience to our fans, we also believe that it is extremely important for us to be a responsible member of the gaming ecosystem. To this end, we constantly work and shall continue to work with different stakeholders, including parents, educators and government bodies, and listening to their feedback on what we can do to enhance the overall PUBG MOBILE experience.

Surely Tencent doesn't want a negative atmosphere surrounding their most popular game. Tencent later confirmed that it is ready to take all necessary steps to provide a more healthy gaming experience.

Update:

On March 15th PUBG mobile India issued another statement regarding the ban in some regions of the country. 

We were thus surprised to learn that local authorities in a few cities have decided to impose a ban on playing our game. We are working to understand the legal basis of such bans, and hope we can have a constructive dialogue with relevant authorities to explain our objectives and that they withdraw the prohibition. To PUBG MOBILE players, we want to assure you that we are on your side and we will try our best to find a reasonable solution.

They further added that no one can become a criminal just because of playing a game made solely for the purpose of entertainment and fun.

PUBG MOBILE is a game. It is meant merely for entertainment and should be enjoyed in a healthy and responsible manner. In consonance with our endeavor to continue promoting responsible gaming experience, we are working on the introduction of a healthy gameplay system in India to promote balanced, responsible gaming, including limiting play time for under-aged players.

PUBG Mobile is very popular in India and Tencent is clearly not happy with the ban issue(as well as the arresting of 10 people guilty of playing the game).

Update: 

21st March 2019 season 5 officially ended and with the new season, i.e. season 6 (read about PUBG Mobile season 6 here) PUBG implemented some restrictions. This bans underage users from Playing the game more than 2 hours at a stretch. 

A "health Reminder" pop up message 

Users will first receive a popup message after which they will get a 15 minutes temporary ban. A "hours per day" limit is also put into action. Players under 18 can't play the game more than 6 hours a day. PUBG is calling it a "health reminders", and they strongly believe that this "new feature" will promote "good gaming habits". Although it is better than any nothing, only time will tell what effects will it have on users. The 213MB season 6 in-app update being pushed to users.

Conclusion

Earlier last year World Health Organisation defined "gaming disorder." WHO describes it as "Impaired control over gaming, increasing priority given to gaming over other activities to the extent that gaming takes precedence over other interests and daily activities..." (ICD-11). The news went viral. Many were concerned for their kids throughout the world without adequately knowing about what WHO has stated. This incident does have an effect on present situations where people and governing bodies are blaming the game rather than the bad habit of playing a game extensively. This is not the first time PUBG was faced by a ban though. Last year China imposed a ban on 20 popular games which included PUBG and Fortnite for excessive violence as China has very strict measures in that aspect. The ban was removed after corrective measures were taken from the developer's end. Recently China government is in talks to impose an age limit on such games.
In India, however, the reasons for a ban are vague. Based on conclusions such as the unsatisfactory results of students.

A conference taking place in WHO

There are a ton of things that can affect students, blaming one game for all of it is not fair. It shows that parents these days don't have any control over their kids. Let's say PUBG gets banned in India, but there are many alternatives present in the market. Eventually, they will get popular, so will those games be banned too? Where is the end of it? Parents should be more concerned about their kids and keep track of their online activities rather than demanding a ban on a game. They shouldn't have given them phones when they are underaged in the first place.

A ban will also mean a significant number of players will try illegal ways such as downloading the game from an unsecured website as well as using VPN* and geo-hacks giving hackers a golden opportunity to steal the personal data of the users leading to far worse issues.

What Should We Do?

PUBG is not a bad game by any means. For people who say video games make you violent are totally wrong. Games like PUBG and Fortnite can help people be more attentive at tasks as well as enhancing their ability to filter valuable information from any situation. Here is an article from Business Insider on the same. The first and foremost thing to do is the same as in the case of any addiction, creating awareness. We have to remember too much of anything is never good.

Guy Playing PUBG Mobile

statewide

Awareness can be spread by asking YouTubers to talk about good gaming habits. The whole Indian gaming community got popular due to this game (PUBG Mobile). Some even have millions of loyal followers who praise them. If they want, they can launch a very effective campaign. A ban, on the other hand, will never get support from the YouTubers who earn their livelihood from playing the games. A ban is just pushing your responsibility on the government. If you are a gamer play responsibly, remember you have other things to do in life rather than just playing PUBG. If you are a parent, remember it is your responsibility to monitor your kids. And if you are someone who can't accept defeat, maybe you shouldn't play PUBG.

Thank you for reading our Post "PUBG MOBILE: TO BAN or NOT TO BAN." Do you think PUBG should be banned? What are your ideas about spreading awareness? Let me know in the comments below. Share this post as much as you can with your friends and family and let's all say NO to BAN and YES to Awareness.

Peace

*VPNs are actually safe if you pay for it. Most free VPNs come with lots of shortcomings. In fact, some VPN companies have been reported to sell users data to other companies. statewide

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PUBG MOBILE DOWNLOAD BUG: HERE IS HOW THE INTERNET REACTED !

PUBG Mobile is one of the most downloaded apps on play store now with 100M+ downloads. What happens when it goes down? Here is everything you need to know about the 19th February PUBG Mobile download issue.  Continue reading to find out more.

A guy playing PUBG Mobile

PUBG Mobile Update Bug

Most of you are probably aware of the19th February Google play store issue by now. For those who don't know, users were unable to update their pubg mobile app as reported by many.

On 19th February, Tencent (the company behind PUBG) pushed the 0.11.0 update with the much-awaited Zombie Mode along with few other major changes. You can read this article "PUBG MOBILE UPDATE: It's all good News!!!" to know more about the update. Considering how popular pubg is it's easy to guess how many users might have been online to get this update at the same time, causing various download & update issues for the users.

Issues Faced by Users

While some users reported that the play store crashed others reported that the download speeds were extremely slow and took them 2-3 hours to update.

Other than the players who faced the issues mentioned above, some players faced a very different one. These players were able to download the game, the update sucked almost 2 GB (actual size of the game) instead of 416 MB(the size of the update). This is especially an issue for a country like India, where most users don't have WiFi, and the daily data usage limits are around 1.5GB.

 Making the situation worse, some users reported that they had to download the app again and again as the play store would give them an error report in the middle of the download process.

The news spread like wildfire. While many were angry and vented by complained about the situation on the internet, some creative minds took it the next level by posting memes on social media.

Disappointed guy Meme

Although the issue was resolved in a few hours, it shows us how popular PUBG Mobile is. It's like a part of our lives now. Maybe PUBG is a necessity now for us (PUBG Players) like electricity and the internet? What do you think? Did you face the issue? Let us know in the comments below, and we promise we will be back before you know it. Thank You for reading our Article "PUBG MOBILE DOWNLOAD BUG: Here is how the internet reacted". It was just a quick little update post (sorry if it disappointed you). Let us know how we can improve. See you in PUBG folks.

Peace.

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CLASH OF CLANS IS BACK IN THE NEWS WITH A HUGE TOURNAMENT & EVEN BIGGER PRIZE MONEY

Still playing Clash of Clans (CoC) in 2019? If Yes, you might stand a chance to win 1Million USD. Continue reading to find out more.

Clash of Clans base

Clash of Clans is a game that doesn't require an introduction. Despite being a bit "too old" in today's fast world where the "Latest trends" become old fashioned in a matter of minutes, this game still is very alive. In fact, CoC (Clash of Clans) players are still spending $1.5 Million a day according to Sensor Tower (a market intelligence firm). Though it is lesser compared to that of 2015-2016 when this game was the most popular, it is still a lot for a game that was made more than 6 years ago.

  The Summary 

If you are a hardcore gamer, you probably know what Electronic Sports League or ESL is. For those who don't, they are the worlds largest Esports organisers. Perhaps the reason why the Finnish developer Supercell(the company behind the hit game CoC) didn't waste any time announcing the "...Clans World Championship by ESL..." on Friday, minutes after a similar tweet by the official twitter handle of the Esports organiser (ESL).

The Clash of Clans World Championship will feature six months full of action-packed competitions with a brand new 5v5 format (based on the Clan War Leagues) and $1 million in prize money on the line.

Clash of Clans World Championship!

The Clash of Clans World Championship which is scheduled to kick off on Friday, 1st March 2019 with the first round of pre-qualifiers. The first six (pre-qualifier rounds) of which will be open for everyone to participate directly from in-game Clan War Leagues. The top 8 teams will get a chance to participate in the monthly qualifier, four from the in-game pre-qualifier and four from ESL Play which will place at a newly built arena in Katowice, Poland.

Six out of eight slots will be filled with the best team of each offline qualifier for the World Championship Finals in front of a live audience on a big stage. This Mega-Event will take place in Germany. Two lucky wildcard winners will be chosen by Supercell community and the Clash of Clans community based on their performance during the whole competition for the remaining two spots.

COC fans who would like to watch the qualifiers and are unable to attend the Clash of Clans World Championship Finals in Germany can still enjoy all the action across various streams. Make sure to follow ESL Clash of Clans on Twitter and Facebook and visit the official website to stay up to date on the latest news about the Clash of Clans World Championship. For more information on Clash of Clans, check out the official accounts on Youtube, Twitter, and Facebook.

Here is what Clash of Clan's community manager Darian has mentioned the Supercell forum

"Get ready, six months of action-packed Clash of Clans competition awaits! Featuring a brand new 5v5 format and $1,000,000 US in prize money. See new champions rise and titans fall in the all new Clash of Clans World Championship!"

Below is the original twitter post by ESL Twitter Handle.

We're bringing the @ClashofClans World Championship to life in March with a $1,000,000 prize pool! Want to play your way to the offline Final?

Full details: https://t.co/lml2wSWnVy pic.twitter.com/4k45Dfi2Bi

— ESL (@ESL) February 13, 2019

How to Enter the Tournament 

There are basically 2 ways to enter the Championship. Both are discussed below in details and what you need to do in order to Qualify-

In-Game pre-Qualifier

• A clan needs to compete in the Champions I League in the Clan War Leagues during the March through August League seasons. (will be held each month on 1st-11th).
• Top 4 Clans (from the previously mentioned session, i.e. Champions I League)will be invited in Katowice, Poland to battle in the 5v5 Offline Qualifier each month.
•  At the end of each season, Supercell will confirm the qualifying teams. A priority slot for that month's Offline Qualifier will be given to the top 4 clans each. In case a Clan declines the spot or fails to attend the qualifier, the next highest ranking Clan will be offered the position.
• Supercell will contact the qualifying Clan's Leader via the in-game inbox. The Clan Leader will get 24 hours to confirm their participation in that month's Offline Qualifier. Otherwise, the spot will be offered to the next ranking Clan.
• The Clan leader will choose 5 members from their War League roster. These 5 players will represent their Clan in the Offline Qualifier.
• Do note that the Offline Qualifier is a physical event in Katowice, Poland, so all 5 Clan members must be able to travel there.
• ESL will handle the Flights and accommodations of each clan (a great relief)
• Only participants 18 or above years old, will be allowed. They must be able to travel to Poland with all documents required for travel.

ESL Play pre-qualifier

• Players need to register here to compete in the ESL Clash of Clans Championship.
  
• The pre-qualifiers will take place from March to August on 12th through 24th of each month.
• Winning teams(The top 4) will advance to the monthly offline Qualifier at Katowice, Poland.

ESL Play Pre-Qualifier format will be:

• 5vs5 Friendly war
• 15 minutes of preparation time before an hour-long war
• The war will be a single-elimination war.

For more information, you can check out this official website Here.

Read More: Top 10 Best Private servers of Clash of Clans

Clash of Clans 5 on 5 World Championship Qualifier March 2019

 8:00 PM Central European Time (CET). Offset UTC +1:00 hour12:30 AM India 

                 

 Prize Money Distribution

Quick Note

All players must hold valid travel documents for travel-ready (such as visas if needed) before participating to be able to travel to Katowice in case of being qualified

Registration requirements and limitations  

• Everyone all over the world is allowed to enter this tournament.
• The tournament is limited to 2048 teams on check-in.
• Participating players cannot be under 18 years old (minimum age).
• All participants must have a Town Hall level 12 within a team.
• The administration team will review all the sign-up before being accepted to prevent cases where teams try to overrule this requirement.

EndNote

Clash of Clans was one of the most played games on mobile. With a few world record under its name, even after 6 years of its release it still has got a lot of loyal fans. Yes, it is true that from its golden age (2015-16) till date it has lost quite some popularity, but then again it's something that is bound to happen. The good news is rather than leaving the game the devs are still trying to keep up. And I am very hopeful that tournament will bring back renewed interest in this game. The game, despite being multiplayer is very casual; it doesn't stress you as much as PUBG or Fortnite as the competition in these games is fierce. I wasn't really into Clash of Clans even when it was trendy, but after playing the game a few days back after a session of PUBG, it really felt refreshing as well as relaxing. A much-needed change. I am really excited about this championship now. Are you excited?

So that's pretty much it. Thank You for reading our article "Clash of Clans is Back with a Tournament and a HUGE Prize Money". Do you think I missed anything ? is there anything we can do to improve? Let us know in the comments below. Till then keep playing Clash of Clans with friends. Who knows? You guys might win.
Peace.

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PUBG MOBILE UPDATE: It's all good News!!!

As most of you probably know that PUBG Mobile Update 0.11.0 is in the talks for quite some time now. Although leaks and rumours indicated a tentative date (Mid February - March), there was no word on the official rollout date, until today.

PUBG MOBILE UPDATE

PUBG Mobile, today (to everyone's surprise ) announced that the New update 0.11.0 will start rolling out from 19th February 2019 through a Facebook post as well as there twitter handle. Players who tried to log into PUBG Mobile today were greeted with a system update notice as well. The servers will be down for this update from 00:00-08:00 UTC on 18th February.

Changelog

Besides the Much-awaited zombie Mode (more on it later), there are a few major changes to mention.

Moonlight or Moonshine (as some prefer to call it)will be available in this update. This is basically night mode for Vikendi, but unlike night mode in Erangel (which is entirely dark) a huge moon will shine the snow in Vikendi, hence the name. Other than the moon the players will be able to enjoy the beautiful Aurora in the night sky of Vikendi which was teased in the Newly started S5 intro. It is available in PC as well as PUBG Mobile China for some time now. Overall this will be eye candy. A map that players can truly admire.

Vekendi Moonlight Weather

Other changes include Arcade map for Shanhok and Player Space(not sure what that is exactly)

Frankly speaking, I am really excited to see Sanhok arcade mode. It will be a refreshing change to the same old quick matches. 

The Zombie mode in PUBG is made in collaboration with Resident Evil to promote The New Resident Evil 2 Remake. As a result, players will see Racoon City Police Station in the Map (Erangel) where most of the Resident Evil 2 remake takes place. 2 new Resident Evil soundtracks and RE2 (Resident Evil 2) theme will be added in the game menu to give you the zombie vibe(if that's a thing). Some Resident Evil Exclusive Weapon. A brief list is given below.

• A Flame thrower
• A 7.62 Gatling gun
• Battle Knife 

No Pans will be available in the Zombie Mode. So nothing will save your ass, literally.

Zombies will spawn randomly at places of the map, but misty areas will appear in your map periodically where a massive number of zombies will be present as well as zombie bosses like Lickers and Mr X. You can say it is like the Red Zone of the Zombie Mode. One thing to note is, most zombies are hard to kill unless you headshot them. So better keep practising your aim.

The first glimpses of a probable Zombie Mode were seen in a TIMI (PUBG China) video trailer. Later several users (including us)spotted dead Zombies (Not sure if it is right to say dead zombies) in the small island near Military airbase. Other clues were zombie bloodstains on the walls & floors buildings in Erangel in the 0.10.0 global Update.

Zombies in Erangel

Much-awaited

BUG FIXES

There will be a couple of bugs fixes the most important being the terrain display fix on lower-end phones. This bug/glitch caused some weird issues where you could see the enemy floating on some terrains (from a long distance mainly), but you couldn't hit them as they are actually behind the terrain and not above it.

VERDICT

Overall this update looks promising, and it's not long before we actually get to test it. We will keep you updated through this post as soon as the update is made available. The update will be made available through Playstore for android and Appstore for ios on supported devices.

Thanks for reading our article PUBG MOBILE UPDATE: It's all good News!!!

Share it with friends and family also let us know your thoughts in the comments below and we will see on our next blog. Until then keep killing Zombies.

Peace

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