THE horrendous death of three adolescent sisters who jumped from their ninth floor home in Gaziabad (Uttar Pradesh) as part of a ‘task’ in an online game, should shock everyone out of wits. Though this is not the first time that such an episode has happened -- not just in India but also elsewhere in the world. Unthinking children -- having been mesmerised by the so-called glamour of online games with dirty implications -- have taken extreme steps as part of ‘tasks’ that are integral to many such online games. That they land themselves in difficulties -- including death -- is only the half of the dirty truth; they also engulf their families and near and dear ones in irredeemable implications. This is what has happened in Gaziabad when the girls’ father said in his ultimate exasperation that he did not know at all that certain ‘tasks’ were involved in the online games his daughters were playing and that one of the tasks was to take a plunge from height -- possibly to the player’s end. Who should shoulder the blame for this horrendous outcome ? The question is not of fixing responsibility; it is about why should an online game have such ugly dimensions that may lead to death or other dangers ?

 

This issue, then, extends to other areas of social consideration -- such as the norms of designing such games, regulations that should control such games, the responsibility of the family to monitor what its youngsters do and take part in. It is also important to raise issues about the moral and ethical responsibility of the law-makers and law-enforcers to keep a tight regulatory check on the contents of such games and ensure that all regulations are followed to the hilt without exception. In other words, what must play a critical role is moral law rather than legal law. From this standpoint, it is necessary for the larger society to have laws that do not allow any looseness on this front. No game -- online or otherwise -- should be allowed to involve such ‘tasks’ that can jeopardise human life and safety and security. Unfortunately, the larger society has already allowed terrible compromises on legal front in case of consumption of alcohol and tobacco and other substances.

 

The law clears all the undesirable stuff with only statutory warnings against its usage. Such a superficial and touch-and-go approach cannot be allowed in case of games for children -- online or otherwise. The Government cannot escape its moral duty and responsibility of making stricter laws to keep a proper check on undesirable dimensions of online games with sly contents. The most critical aspect of regulation of such games should be handled by the family as the primary unit of the society. It means, parents should be held finally responsible for a moral check on their children. In modern times characterised by technological advances, parents will have to be continually alert against dangers of online games with ugly and inhuman ‘tasks’.

 

If the parents of the three Gaziabad sisters were alert, they could have averted the terrible mishap that they would never be able to get over or forget. It is most unfortunate that in average (Indian) families, a strong moral base is found only occasionally and the kids are often left to fend for themselves -- as regards online games or undesirable contents on various digital platforms. In most cases, the parents hardly are aware of what games their kids play on online format or what material they are exposed to. In larger percentage of cases, much of the matter that is fed to young minds is often of an unacceptable quality that defies the concept of ‘sanskaar’ (moral grooming). Youngsters in the society are often found wanting on that front not because they are bad people, but because their parents have not taken their parental duty and task with complete seriousness. The Gaziabad incident has brought to fore all these issues once again -- with a serious warning. Is anybody listening ?