<ul><li>The Bombay High Court had asked the Central Government for a review of the popular mobile game PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds (PUBG) in April.</li><li>A public interest litigation (PIL) lodged with the Bombay court in April was specifically asking the bench to ban PUBG from schools.</li><li>The Centre has said it is ‘difficult to ban PUBG’ in its findings on Wednesday.</li></ul>PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds (PUBG) has been under on the Indian government’s radar for ‘distracting’ students from their studies for a while now. But it’s unlikely that the game will <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/pubg-ban-india-healthy-gaming-experience-proposed/articleshow/68058605.cms">actually be banned</a> after the Central Government said that its ‘<a href="https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/mumbai/difficult-to-ban-pubg-centre-to-bombay-hc/articleshow/70563343.cms">difficult to ban PUBG</a>’ after looking into the matter, according to Advocate Rui Rodrigues. A world of princes and princesses In April this year, a bench headed by Chief Justice Pradeep Nandrajog and Justice Nitin Jamdar presided over a public interest litigation (<a href="http://violent">PIL</a>) lodged by a student, Ahad Nizam, through his mother, Mariam. The PIL sought to ban the game in schools citing ‘violence and aggression’. The bench, reminiscing the days old, stated that children used to fantasize about “a world of princes and princesses and chasing demons and living happily ever after.” Adding that there was “no violence” back then. Ban unlikely Advocate Rui Rodrigues presenting the details of the review by the Centre a couple of days ago pointed out that it is “technically difficult to ban all the sources (such as websites, mobiles and other communication devices) from where the game is available unless the creator or the parent company retrieves the game from circulation or administers some restrictions.” “Parental awareness is required to control children's access to it,” Rodrigues added. PUBG’s ride in India has been no less than a roller coaster with the game <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/pubg-mobile-update-features-new-game-management-system-to-warn-users/articleshow/69351839.cms">being blamed</a> for suicides, murders, poor academic performances and seemingly irking every parent in the general vicinity from where its played. Teens were even <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/pubg-ban-leads-to-arrests-in-rajkot-india/articleshow/68404164.cms">jailed</a> over playing the game in Gujarat when the local police placed a ban on the battle royale game. See also: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/pubg-ban-india-healthy-gaming-experience-proposed/articleshow/68058605.cms">Faced with ban threats, PUBG is trying to placate Indian parents and the government</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/pubg-mobile-update-features-new-game-management-system-to-warn-users/articleshow/69351839.cms">Warning: You’ve been playing PUBG for far too long</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/pubg-ban-leads-to-arrests-in-rajkot-india/articleshow/68404164.cms">Teens are getting arrested for playing PUBG in India</a>

‘Difficult to ban PUBG’: Indian government leaves it up to the parents

<ul><li>The lawyer claims that school-going children are losing their interest in studies.</li><li>He also says that these children become aggressive and go into depression when they’re asked to stop playing <keyword id="4998506" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="pubg">PUBG</keyword> Mobile.</li><li>The Punjab and Haryana High Court has asked the IT Ministry to decide on the matter.</li></ul>Popular battle-royale game PUBG Mobile might be banned in India, yet again. A lawyer HC Arora, has filed a PIL against the game in the Punjab and Haryana High Court, saying the game is as addictive as a drug. “School going children who are losing interest in studies have become addicted to the game. The parents of such children are helpless. In case they insist the children to stop playing it, they become aggressive and go into depression,” Arora said in his <a href="https://www.indiatvnews.com/technology/news-pubg-mobile-ban-again-in-india-582250">PIL</a>. This comes almost a year after PUBG Mobile was banned in Ahmedabad, Rajkot, Surat, Vadodara and Bhavnagar in India in March 2019. The local police even<a href="https://www.indiatoday.in/technology/features/story/10-arrested-for-playing-pubg-in-gujarat-what-was-govt-warning-why-arrests-and-everything-you-need-to-know-1477832-2019-03-14"> arrested</a> several youngsters for playing PUBG Mobile during the ban. But the ban was lifted within a few weeks. In the last few years, many cases of violence has been reported over the game. A <a href="https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/25-year-old-kills-father-over-pubg-in-karnataka/story-lYkVFMy0WuvYMD3FOyIpbI.html">Karnataka based 25 year </a>old killer his father who was stopping him from playing the game. Another <a href="https://indianexpress.com/article/india/pubg-game-addiction-man-kills-parents-delhi-police-5398568/">Delhi teen who </a>killed his family was also known to be an PUBG addict. Arora’s PIL claims that the game ‘normalises’ violence, which affects the mental health of players. Not the first time someone has wanted a ban on PUBG Mobile This is not the first time cases have been filed against the game. Last year, a 11-year old child Ahad Nizam<a href="https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/bombay-high-court-directs-it-ministry-to-review-act-on-pubg/article26823651.ece"> filed</a> a PIL in the Bombay High Court for reasons similar to that of Arora’s PIL. “PUBG Mobile promotes violence, murder, aggression, loot, gaming addiction, and cyberbullying,” said Nizam’s PIL. The Bombay High Court sought IT Ministry’s advise on the matter. To this, the ministry<a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/difficult-to-ban-pubg-indian-government-leaves-it-up-to-the-parents/articleshow/70603348.cms"> responded</a> by saying that it is “technically difficult to ban the game”. That could be true, as the United States has tried it and failed. “Some US states, including California, have previously passed laws to regulate the sale of certain types of videos to children, but the US Supreme Court invalidated the same saying that video games formed part of the constitutional right to free speech and hence could not be regulated,” said a <a href="http://www.nishithdesai.com/fileadmin/user_upload/pdfs/Research%20Papers/The_Curious_Case_of_the_Indian_Gaming_Laws.pdf">report by law firm </a>Nishith Desai associates. Can PUBG Mobile be banned for being addictive and promoting gambling? However, the correlation between excessive gaming and violence has not been completely tested in Indian courts. But there is precedence where courts allowed games that involve skill and strategy. That is how fantasy sporting platform Dream 11 won its <a href="http://www.nishithdesai.com/fileadmin/user_upload/pdfs/Research%20Papers/The_Curious_Case_of_the_Indian_Gaming_Laws.pdf">case</a> in the Punjab and Haryana High Court. The Bombay High Court also issued a similar ruling. Yet many players, parents even schools, colleges and hostels too are concerned about the addictive effects of PUBG. And, some action could be taken on medical grounds. There have been reports of PUBG Mobile players falling sick after playing the game continuously for extended periods of time. A fitness trainer in Jammu was<a href="https://www.indiatoday.in/technology/news/story/pubg-mobile-makes-player-go-mad-admitted-to-hospital-under-serious-trauma-1427705-2019-01-10"> reportedly</a> admitted to a hospital after playing PUBG Mobile for 10 days straight. A 20-year old<a href="https://www.businesstoday.in/latest/trends/pubg-mobile-twenty-year-old-dies-after-drinking-chemical-instead-of-water-while-playing-game/story/391952.html"> reportedly</a> drank acid instead of water while playing the game. He died before he could be attended to by doctors. The World Health Organization too <a href="https://www.who.int/features/qa/gaming-disorder/en/">classified</a> ‘gaming disorder’ as a medical condition. “For gaming disorder to be diagnosed, the behaviour pattern must be of sufficient severity to result in significant impairment in personal, family, social, educational, occupational or other important areas of functioning and would normally have been evident for at least 12 months,” said WHO. But very few people are coming forward to bell the cat and that includes creator of the game. Tencent had <a href="https://in.pcmag.com/mobile/129383/pubg-mobile-ban-could-india-be-getting-a-six-hour-playtime-restriction">tested</a> a ‘health reminder’ to restrict gaming to a maximum of six hours per day. It later backtracked on it and apologized for the ‘error’. That leaves players to see the error of their own ways. See also: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/pubg-lite-mobile-game-in-india-gets-a-rap-from-narendra-modi-in-pariksha-pe-charcha-live/articleshow/67736283.cms">India’s prime minister has an advice for PUBG addicts</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/difficult-to-ban-pubg-indian-government-leaves-it-up-to-the-parents/articleshow/70603348.cms">‘Difficult to ban PUBG’: Indian government leaves it up to the parents</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/pubg-ban-india-healthy-gaming-experience-proposed/articleshow/68058605.cms">Faced with ban threats, PUBG is trying to placate Indian parents and the government</a>

India tried to ban PUBG Mobile many times but games are ‘technically’ difficult to ban, say experts

<ul><li>PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds (PUBG) issued a statement promising a ‘healthy’ gaming experience for their users. </li><li>The mobile game has been accused of distracting students from their studies and promoting violent behavior.</li><li>The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) had earlier advised all Indian states to ban the game. </li></ul>Requests have been <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/an-indian-engineering-college-has-banned-pubg-under-the-claim-that-its-spoiling-the-atmosphere-of-the-hostel-but-leaves-women-out-of-the-conversation/articleshow/67087477.cms">coming in</a> from different parts of India to block the massively popular PlayerUnknown’s BattleGrounds (PUBG). The free-to-play mobile game has <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/pubg-lite-mobile-game-in-india-gets-a-rap-from-narendra-modi-in-pariksha-pe-charcha-live/articleshow/67736283.cms">allegedly</a> been derailing children from studying and promoting violent outbursts. But the Tencent game is trying to hold its ground by promising a ‘healthy gaming experience’. 
 
 <div type="ExtQuote" text="“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.”" auname="Statement by PUBG Mobile"></div>





 Clamour for a wider ban In the one year that PUBG has been in the India, Indian users have spent over $19.65 million on in-game purchases, according to a KPMG report. But, its popularity hasn’t been without consequences. As recently as February, the IT Minister of Goa called the game ‘demonic’ asking for laws to restrict its use in the southern state. Even in Kashmir, the Doctors Association Kashmir (DAK) appealed to parents and teachers to keep kids away from PUBG after students didn’t perform well in their 10th and 12th board exams. The Vellore Institute of Technology (VIT) in Tamil Nadu has already banned the game in the boy’s hostel because it was ‘spoiling’ the entire atmosphere. Students reacted on Twitter stating that the ban was creating ‘inhumane college conditions’. 
	
	<div type="twitter" handle="paulmathai01" handlename="Paul Mathai" image="http://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/995138528903221248/GKVEgEdT_normal.jpg" favoritecount="19" retweetcount="4" status="Apparently VIT Vellore bans PUBG in hostels claiming impact on grades. This is called true dictatorship.😡😡 @PUBG… https://t.co/VNM4yDe3Op" createdat="1544286223000" id="1071440193993895937"></div>





 
	
	<div type="twitter" handle="TuhinKalia" handlename="TJ Baba" image="http://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/736805152481378305/rdT8yv_8_normal.jpg" favoritecount="1" retweetcount="0" status="Inhumane college conditions: 1.) Ragging 2.) Eve-teasing 3.) Banning @PUBGMOBILE on hostel wi-fi #VIT #vellore… https://t.co/V3eLWRw41P" createdat="1544788804000" id="1073548171706552320"></div>





 And while it was rumoured that PUBG was banned in Maharashtra, Gujarat is the only state in India to have officially banned the game in primary schools. But a nationwide is speculated to be imminent with the the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) issuing a notice to all states of India suggesting that they ban the game — how that ban will successfully be implemented is still unknown. See also: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/an-indian-engineering-college-has-banned-pubg-under-the-claim-that-its-spoiling-the-atmosphere-of-the-hostel-but-leaves-women-out-of-the-conversation/articleshow/67087477.cms" style="">An Indian engineering college has banned PUBG under the claim that its ‘spoiling the atmosphere of the hostel’ — but leaves women out of the conversation</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/pubg-lite-mobile-game-in-india-gets-a-rap-from-narendra-modi-in-pariksha-pe-charcha-live/articleshow/67736283.cms" style="">India’s prime minister has an advice for PUBG addicts</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/miscellaneous/7-reasons-you-should-play-playerunknowns-battlegrounds-or-pubg-instead-of-fortnite/slidelist/63916379.cms" style="">7 reasons you should play PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds, or 'PUBG,' instead of Fortnite</a>

Faced with ban threats, PUBG is trying to placate Indian parents and the government

Player Unknowns Battlegrounds, PUBG, is a popular videogame that has children addicted across the world. However, the violent character of the game has been a huge point of debate. Introduced in early 2018, <keyword id="6409600" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="PUBG-MOBILE">PUBG Mobile</keyword> has become a pop culture phenomenon. The game had hit <a href="https://www.timesnownews.com/technology-science/article/pubg-mobile-india-series-2019-how-to-register-last-date-for-registration-rs-1-crore-prize-money-and-more/352103" data-type="tilCustomLink" target="_blank">200 million downloads</a> mark in December last year. The concern has now been escalated to the highest level in India. Prime Minister Narendra Modi took a jibe at the online multiplayer battle game developed and published by PUBG Corporation, a subsidiary of South Korean video game company Bluehole, funded by Chinese technology investor, Tencent. Speaking to children and parents on a scheduled annual conversation-- called Parisksha pe charcha or discussion over exams-- preceding the exam season in India, PM Modi had words of caution. “We need to ask ourselves — is technology turning children into robots or making them more human?” Modi said. The prime minister’s rhetoric was in response to a question from the mother of a ninth grader. Madhumita Sen Gupta from Assam, who lives in Delhi, said, “Earlier he (son) was good in studies but now he is too distracted by online games.” The reference to PUBG was one that the prime minister initiated. “I hold technology in very high regard. But every thing has two sides,” the PM said, adding, “If technology is narrowing us and our thoughts, it will be a big setback. Technology should expand our horizons. To laugh and play in open grounds is very important.” He had advice for the parents too, “Parents and teachers must take interest in the evolution of technology and ask children. It will make children feel comfortable in seeking help.” PUBG was <a href="https://www.digit.in/gaming/china-approves-release-of-80-new-games-but-leaves-out-pubg-mobile-developer-tencent-report-45561.html" data-type="tilCustomLink" target="_blank">banned</a> in China in December 2018. And in India, education institutes have already started to take steps to stop children from playing the game. Vellore Institute of Technology, primary schools in Gujarat are some examples. The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) has also <a href="https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/pubg-adversely-affecting-students-ban-it-gujarat-government-to-schools-1981810" data-type="tilCustomLink" target="_blank">reportedly</a> recommended a ban on the game across the country. With the latest caution coming from none other than the prime minister himself, should PUBG expect a crackdown in India too?

India’s prime minister has an advice for PUBG addicts

<ul><li><keyword id="1334" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="china" source="Orion">China</keyword> on Monday approved gaming licenses for 45 video games.</li><li>The country had stopped issuing licenses in July 2021.</li><li>Over 14,000 small developers were reportedly forced to shut down due to the ban.</li></ul>In a sigh of relief to video game publishers in China, Beijing has finally started approving gaming licenses. The country had stopped approving gaming licenses in July. China requires game publishers to obtain regulatory approvals before they release a game. The country’s National Press and Publication Administration (NPPA) is the regulatory body that provides approvals for video games in the country. According to a <a href="https://www.theregister.com/2022/04/12/china_approves_video_games_again/">report</a> by The Register, China approved just 45 games on Monday. The country had last approved games in July 2021, in which 87 games had received licenses. Considering that no game has been approved since July 2021, it is odd that only 45 games have received approval. According to the above report, prior to the ban, around 80 to 100 games were approved each month in China. While the move to ban video game approvals was done to reduce gaming addiction among the youth of the country, it had an adverse impact on companies like Tencent, a major player in the gaming industry that owns titles like PUBG Mobile, Call of Duty: Mobile, Ring Of Elysium and more. The smaller developers have had a bigger impact and as per a <a href="https://www.scmp.com/tech/policy/article/3161717/china-gaming-crackdown-freeze-new-video-game-licences-extends-2022">report</a> by SCMP, over 14,000 firms in the gaming industry have shut down since a freeze was announced on the issue of gaming licenses. <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="China’s crackdown on games" comment="subhead" text="China’s crackdown on games">China’s crackdown on games</cmsannotation> The freeze on issue of gaming licenses was just a part of China’s bigger crackdown on gaming in the country. In 2019, the country had <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/news/china-will-ban-gamers-under-18-from-playing-video-games-after-10-p-m-in-order-to-curb-a-growing-online-addiction/articleshow/71950903.cms">banned</a> gamers under the age of 18 years from playing games after 10 pm. Taking it a step further, the country had released <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/news/chinas-anti-addiction-regulations-for-video-games-are-making-it-difficult-for-game-developers-to-operate-heres-why/articleshow/87781088.cms">anti-addiction</a> guidelines in 2021, resulting in several restrictions on the gamers in the country. The country allows minors to play video games only on public holidays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays between 8 pm to 9 pm. Meaning, a maximum of 3 to 4 hours of gaming per week. Gamers are also required to use their original names and government-issued identification cards for online gaming. SEE ALSO: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/stock-market/news/tencent-and-netease-fall-as-china-reportedly-tightens-restrictions-on-video-games-industry/articleshow/86069427.cms">Tencent and NetEase fall as China reportedly tightens restrictions on video games industry</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/international/news/tech-giant-tencent-is-limiting-kids-access-to-its-gaming-platform-and-only-allowing-them-14-hours-of-play-during-chinas-4-week-school-break/articleshow/88974669.cms">Tech giant Tencent is limiting kids' access to its gaming platform and only allowing them 14 hours of play during China's 4-week school break</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/auto/news/uber-announces-a-price-hike-of-12-for-cab-rides-in-delhi/articleshow/90793725.cms">Uber announces a 12% price hike for cab rides in Delhi as petrol, diesel prices skyrocket</a>

China approves 45 new video games after a 9-month ban that led 14,000 developers to shut down

<ul><li><keyword id="1574763" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Dance-with-Madhuri">Dance With Madhuri</keyword> has grown five times during lockdown, their health tech startup set to launch soon; the duo is also looking to raise funds through strategic partners. </li><li>In an interview with Business Insider, the <keyword id="143" type="CITY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Bollywood">Bollywood</keyword> star and her doctor husband share their plans to grow their entrepreneurial ventures. </li><li>They are also looking at introducing acting, scriptwriting, gourmet cooking, music lessons, and more.</li></ul>She has an experience of over 30 years in the Bollywood industry, with her dance having mesmerized thousands of fans, while he has an equally starry career in healthcare as a doctor. And now, the power couple Madhuri Dixit-Nene and <keyword id="783754" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Dr-Shriram-Nene">Dr Shriram Nene</keyword> are leveraging their experiences in their entrepreneurial venture. Their 8-year old company – RnM Moving Pictures, started with the idea that one day all screens would merge, and the user will have the choice on 'how to view content'. And this premise could not be more apt now. With their edutech venture, Dance With Madhuri, having grown five times during lockdown, and their health tech startup set to launch soon, the duo is also looking to raise funds through strategic partners. A 5X growth and investment on the cards So, when the couple moved back to India in 2011, they were quick to recognize the need for dance education in the last mile and accessible healthcare for all. “At that time, there were barely 150 million internet users, today there are almost 600 million users,” said Dr Nene. For Madhuri, dance has always been her passion, so the first product – Dance With Madhuri, came about with the idea to teach dance in a fun and social way and create a global village for culture. Within three months, they created the infrastructure online, outsourced everything with just three in-house employees. And when they finally launched in February 2013, they realised there was a huge need – their servers crashed on the first day of launch. “Within a year, we had six million page views and 200,000 users,” said Dr Nene. So, they reworked the architecture while being live and relaunched in 2015. They also moved from their sponsorship and advertisement model alone and partnered with DTH subscribers to create a linear video channel. “We then got 100,000 paid subscribers and turned profitable. Half our users were from India, while the rest were global,” he said. But cut to 2020, and their business has grown five times. And now, they are exploring more avenues. “We are looking at introducing acting, scriptwriting, gourmet cooking, music, and more,” said Dixit-Nene. As lockdown began, the choreography schools shut down as well. Dance With Madhuri reached out to choreographers behind the schools to build their classes on its platform. “We have now also launched live classes where users can learn and be critiqued online as well,” said Dr Nene. As they expand, they are also looking to raise funds. “Dance With Madhuri has been self- sustaining and could grow organically but seeing the potential, we are looking at strategic partners and funding to expand it further,” he said. ‘As a little girl, never imagined dance would be online’ But had the dance icon ever imagined the art being taught this way? “Maybe when I was little, I never imagined one can learn dance from a screen. But even on the reality shows where I have been a judge, I used to ask the contestants, where did you learn, and they would answer – the Internet. That just reaffirmed my faith in this idea,” she said. Over the years, Dance With Madhuri has become a way for her fans to interact with her too. “People love me for my dance, even on social media I always get questions like, we want to know how you do those expressions. For them, it's great that not just me, but many other big names are on the platform and they have access to all these dance gurus that I personally like as well,” said the actress. In the next five years, she hopes to offer certification courses through the school as well. Up next: A holistic healthtech venture Dr Nene, who has worked as a cardiovascular surgeon in the US, has been working on a healthtech startup in stealth mode and is now looking to launch it soon. “What we are trying to build is a holistic, personalised healthcare offering across media, tech and smart services. What people need is a trusted source which is aligned to their health needs from cradle to grave,” shared Dr Nene. SEE ALSO: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/international/news/how-covid-19-vaccine-might-be-distributed-across-the-world/articleshow/77929153.cms">15 million boxes, 15,000 flights – How ten billion doses of COVID-19 vaccine might be distributed across the world</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/news/pubg-ban-india-makes-chinese-company-tencent-loses-34-billion-in-2-days/articleshow/77924912.cms">Tencent loses nearly $34 billion since the PUBG ban in India — its second-largest valuation dip this year</a>

INTERVIEW: Madhuri Dixit and Dr Shriram Nene are looking to raise funds for their online dance school and a new healthtech venture

Scammers are using ChatGPT to infiltrate online games for a quick cash grabMost of the furious speculation on how artificial intelligence will shape our lives is far off possibilities — humanity-destroying pitfalls or world-altering solutions that will take years to manifest. But there is one place where AI is already starting to shape people's experiences in noticeable ways: online games.In massively multiplayer online role-playing games, millions of people meet up to explore, compete, and collaborate in expansive virtual universes. MMO hype has cooled since the aughts, but the games still cater to sizable, committed audiences that have helped launch <a href="https://headphonesaddict.com/world-of-warcraft-player-count/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">powerful franchises</a> such as "World of Warcraft," "Guild Wars 2," and "Path of Exile." These communities even have built-in game cultures and economies complex enough to spawn a litany of <a href="https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1655084" target="_blank" rel="noopener">academic research</a>.But these worlds are hounded by a growing problem: bots. Since many MMOs use simple point-and-click interfaces and reward players for completing repetitive tasks, nefarious actors can easily use automated scripts to reap in-game rewards at an inhuman pace. And those rewards can then be sold for real cash on secondary markets. While bots have long been a scourge to gaming communities, their inability to hold a conversation with players had made them easy to spot. But a new ChatGPT plug-in that hit the market in March has made it possible for bots to more realistically mimic human players, leaving the real human players unable to report bad actors and developers scrambling to find a solution. The AI-driven technology not only threatens to transform these decadesold games but also offers a glimpse into a strange, new reality in which it is virtually impossible to distinguish humans from robots.<h2>'You won't be able to tell if you're talking with a bot'</h2>No game is plagued with bots today as much as "Old School RuneScape," a nostalgia-rich 2013 relaunch of the genre-defining adventure game by the British developer Jagex. In "OSRS," players inhabit the fantasy world of Gielinor, where they can slay monsters, build homes, mine, farm, and complete quests. In the decade since its launch, "OSRS" has grown to nearly 2 million active players, and the MMO Populations <a href="https://mmo-population.com/top/2023" target="_blank" rel="noopener">project</a> ranks it as one of the busiest MMOs."OSRS" is appealing for bot operators, or "botters," because the game is fairly simple — it rewards repetitive tasks with digital gold, and the rudimentary enemies make it easy to create a program to slay predictable monsters with valuable loot. Add in <a href="https://www.polygon.com/features/2020/5/27/21265613/runescape-is-helping-venezuelans-survive" target="_blank" rel="noopener">a large black market in which players resell virtual currency or powerful items for real cash</a>, and there's a significant incentive to deploy bots. While it's hard to nail down the exact number of nonhuman accounts, according to players I've spoken with and estimates based on the number of accounts Jagex bans each week, roughly one-quarter to one-third of the players logged on at any given moment are bots. While Jagex officially prohibits both bot farms and real-world trading of in-game goods, <a href="https://www.economist.com/the-americas/2019/11/21/venezuelas-paper-currency-is-worthless-so-its-people-seek-virtual-gold" target="_blank" rel="noopener">both have persisted despite periodic clampdowns</a>. SirPugger, a YouTuber who reports on bots, has documented bot farms that rake in hundreds of thousands of dollars a year. Based on the scams he's weeded out, he said there could be millions of dollars traded across the various websites that comprise the "RuneScape" <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/may/25/china-prisoners-internet-gaming-scam" target="_blank" rel="noopener">black market</a> each year. Since his videos cause problems for people who make money in a legal gray area and violate the game's terms of service, SirPugger declined to share his real name.Botters generally fall into two categories, SirPugger told me. One is the average-Joe player who uses automated bot services to cheat their way to a higher skill level and skip less-interesting parts of the game. The other is organized operations that run "bot farms," or large groups of bots, to collect in-game currency en masse to sell on the secondary markets. According to SirPugger's research, people can make up to six figures a year on the game's black market.In "OSRS," botting hotspots have overrun areas of the game that are home to profitable loot-earning activities, making them inaccessible to legitimate players. Bots also make it virtually impossible for human players to place on leaderboards that track in-game accomplishments.These headaches have forced Jagex's anti-cheating team into an arms race with bot developers. It rolls out increasingly sophisticated mechanisms for identifying and banning their accounts that are inevitably met with countermoves from botters. Given the technological dance, the company's most reliable bot-detection tool has been the community itself: Players can report accounts that they suspect of being run by third-party scripts. But ChatGPT integration threatens to make this grassroots solution a thing of the past.Almost immediately after OpenAI released an update in early March, botters started hooking their scripts up to ChatGPT. Less than two weeks later, a developer at OSBot — which bills itself as "the most popular" bot provider for "Old School RuneScape" — <a href="https://osbot.org/forum/topic/175653-script-factory-chatgpt-support/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">posted</a> on an internal forum advertising a new capacity to run scripts that hold coherent conversations.At first, these "conversational bots" were clunky, SirPugger said — if you asked a bot the same question twice, it wouldn't notice. But the bots using ChatGPT began to rapidly improve, and SirPugger realized the automated players would soon become almost indistinguishable from human players. "Now it's able to read previous conversations, so it has context for whatever you're talking about," SirPugger told me recently about the talking bots. "Now it would be like, 'Why are you asking me that again?' Or like, 'I already told you, but here's some more supplemental information.'"Using third-party apps such as Bot Detector, which operate similar to how an AI text-generation checker works, some players have been able to <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RbTsHEPMQoo" target="_blank" rel="noopener">document</a> interactions with likely GPT-integrated bot scripts. In some cases, these AI-powered bots seemed to commiserate with real players, even complaining about the overabundance of bots. In one interaction SirPugger saw, a bot mimed a grouchy longtimer who ribbed and insulted nearby players: "We're quickly approaching a state where you won't be able to tell if you're talking with a bot." <h2>Human or AI? Does it matter?</h2>In his 2010 novella, "The Lifecycle of Software Objects," the science-fiction writer Ted Chiang imagined a near future of digital worlds — something like a functional version of Mark Zuckerberg's disastrously underwhelming <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/metaverse-dead-obituary-facebook-mark-zuckerberg-tech-fad-ai-chatgpt-2023-5">metaverse</a> — populated by human-piloted avatars and AI beings. The story asks: If interacting with a digital "life-form" could be as complex as the real thing, does it matter whether you're interacting with a real person?Today's chatbots are nowhere near as lifelike as the AI of Chiang's imagination, but MMO players are already beginning to face the question he posed. If bots were truly indistinguishable from human players — to the extent that they could maintain long-term friendships and partake in social activities in MMOs — would it be a bad thing? Or would they actually make the world feel more enriching?On one hand, making bots impossible to weed out would permanently warp the economics of these games. Even without the ability to communicate and socialize, bots have come to <a href="https://partnerkin.com/en/blog/case_study/bot-farming-world-of-warcraft" target="_blank" rel="noopener">dominate substantial portions</a> of the largest in-game MMO economies. At the same time, bot scripts could eventually enhance rather than detract from the social aspects of online games. Online shooters like "PUBG" and "Fortnite" already populate their multiplayer lobbies with AI bots, but the social emphasis of MMOs means that they are uniquely well positioned to reap the prospective benefits of chatbot integration. Worlds would appear to become more populous, and though "real" players might still be cheated out of leaderboard slots, they wouldn't necessarily know it. As SirPugger put it, "I like multiplayer games because of the player interaction. So all of a sudden, you have more 'players' in the game because you can't tell that they're bots. Bots are suddenly kind of this positive externality."Some hobbyists and industry players have already picked up on the prospective upsides to AI-scripted bots in games — not rogue bots run by nefarious players trying to make money but intentionally placed characters called "nonplayer characters" that have been beefed up with an AI chat function. A fan-made ChatGPT-powered modification for the popular <a href="https://opendatascience.com/skyrim-mod-powered-by-chatgpt-gives-npcs-memories/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">"Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim" game, for example,</a> allows the in-game characters to form memories of past interactions with the player. On the industry side, Replica Studios <a href="https://venturebeat.com/games/replica-unveils-ai-powered-smart-npcs-for-unreal-engine/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">recently unveiled</a> AI-powered NPCs that could hold complex conversations with players. And gamers are open to the idea of improving the feel of games via AI. A <a href="https://inworld.ai/whitepapers/future-of-npcs" target="_blank" rel="noopener">report</a> published by Inworld AI, a developer platform that is trying to bring AI to gaming, said 99% of gamers it surveyed said they believed that incorporating AI NPCs would positively affect gameplay, while 78% said they would spend more time playing a game with it."Humans are storytellers," Kylan Gibbs, a cofounder and the chief product officer of Inworld AI, said in an <a href="https://aimagazine.com/articles/gamers-want-to-spend-more-time-and-money-talking-to-ai-npcs" target="_blank" rel="noopener">interview</a> with AI Magazine. "We're drawn to narratives that help us to make sense of the world around us. The same thing is true in the gaming world — the more immersive and believable a story is, the more we want to stay inside it."Whatever one makes of Gibbs' "Matrix"-esque idea, significant hurdles to widespread integration remain. AI language models are still prone to dispensing false and inconsistent information, which would make it tough for major video-game developers to add them to games. And while a player might feel more engaged talking to an AI player than clicking through scripted dialogue, a free-form interaction would be far less likely to give them relevant information to advance in the storyline.Given the murkiness of AI's potential, the present substance is such that people can see almost anything they want to see. But the rapid integration of ChatGPT and other AI technologies into games in nonsanctioned ways shows some of the pitfalls — and potential — of creating virtual spaces that humans can cohabit on apparently equal footing with highly responsive robots. Moving forward, these will likely continue to serve as test cases, sites of experimentation and indicators of how to deploy the technology in helpful or harmful ways.<hr /><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/author/evan-malmgren" rel="">Evan Malmgren</a> is a writer who covers power and infrastructure and is currently working on a book about American off-gridders.

Online games offer a disturbing preview of our dystopian AI future

<ul><li><keyword id="106133" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Ranveer-Singh">Ranveer Singh</keyword> has come on board as the brand ambassador of <keyword id="9876058" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="eduauraa">Eduauraa</keyword>, a premier digital learning startup. </li><li>Earlier the King of Bollywood <keyword id="1671" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Shah-Rukh-Khan">Shah Rukh Khan</keyword> was roped in as the brand ambassador for edutech unicorn Byju’s.</li><li>Eduauraa, which has a partnership with Zee5, is founded and led by Akanksha Chaturvedi. </li></ul>Indian startups are going big with their marketing plans. Not only is the IPL this year sponsored by a whole host of startups, but even Bollywood and cricket’s biggest stars are riding on the rising popularity of startups in India by becoming brand ambassadors. The latest to join the bandwagon is Ranveer Singh, who has signed on as the brand ambassador of Eduauraa, a premier digital learning startup. And it’s not just Singh. Earlier in 2019, the King of Bollywood Shah Rukh Khan was roped in as the brand ambassador for edutech unicorn Byju’s. One sector that has reaped the benefits of this COVID-19 lockdown is edutech startups. With schools and colleges shut, the focus has shifted to digital education and online learning has taken precedence as the ‘new normal’. Eduauraa is looking to cash in on this while offering affordable learning to all. “When Akanksha told me about Eduauraa and their vision to democratize education, it resonated with me. Eduauraa will allow every child in this country to create their own destiny and shine. The right education for every child in India will help them shatter glass ceilings and fulfil their aspirations,” said Ranveer Singh, Brand Ambassador of Eduauraa in a statement. Eduauraa, which has a partnership with Zee5, is founded and led by Akanksha Chaturvedi. The startup offers video lectures and other content like e-books, test papers, MCQ’s, mind maps and past papers to students. The basic subscription fee starts at ₹999 and goes up to ₹2,499 for one year. The app offers learnings customised to the syllabus of ICSE and CBSE students, along with seven state boards. It also has self-evaluation tests on the platform. “With the onset of digitalisation in our country, we saw a sizable shift in pricing of services or products but even after learning modified to E-learning, the pricing element was the key problem. When I started analysing this, one question that I kept asking was if OTT platforms can provide accessible entertainment at ₹999/- a year why can’t education do the same? And today with Eduauraa we have democratised education and E-learning in India,” said Chaturvedi. SEE ALSO: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/news/alternatives-for-arena-of-valor-app-clash-of-clans-app-league-of-legends-app-and-more/slidelist/77908061.cms">Here are the top alternatives for Arena of Valor app — Clash of Clans, League of Legends and more</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/apps/news/pubg-tiktok-and-ba-on-other-chinese-apps-may-be-temporary-until-data-protection-law-comes-along/articleshow/77910063.cms">Experts say the ban on PUBG, TikTok and other Chinese apps may be ‘temporary’ ⁠— until data protection law comes along</a>

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Online games offer a disturbing preview of our dystopian AI future

Evan Malmgren

It’s Ranveer Singh vs Shah Rukh Khan in the edutech space – as the two Bollywood stars are brand ambassadors for rival startups

BI India Bureau