Sumit Pokharel, Kathmandu

Digital gaming has become an integral part of this technological age. People from late teens are thought to be the most active ones when it comes to gaming. Digital gamings seem to have had influenced Nepali people’s lives as well. Different digital games like FIFA, Skyrim, Dark Soul, Piano Tiles, GTA and Clash Royale, among others, are mostly popular. Some are hardcore digital gaming fans, while some just play games to pass their time when they have nothing else to do. Whatever the cases may be, every Nepali person that owns a Smartphone or other electronic media has at least one game saved in their devices. 

So, Nepali youths love digital games, like every other people in the rest of the world. FIFA is considered to be a game that almost every person has heard about, even in Nepal. It is a realistic football game where one can play taking one’s favorite team, be it a club or a country, with excellent graphics and online prowess. Nepali people aren’t as attached to this game as people in other countries of the world, but the popularity is still considerable here. 

Shaan Rathod, a high school graduate currently residing in Kathmandu, thinks FIFA is popular in Nepal because it is literally the only realistic football game that people know about. “Nepali people love football, that’s why they love the game. All my friends play it thus, I was inclined to do the same,” Shaan said. 

“The game itself hasn’t helped me much in my personal life, other than having a new platform to communicate with my friends and getting away from the real life,” he said. 

He doesn’t feel that playing the game is worth his time and money despite his addiction with FIFA. “To be honest, I wouldn’t recommend this game to a person who hasn’t played it yet. Go play PES, or PS2 games as they are far better and refreshing. EA games are just money minded,” added Shaan.

Skyrim is another popular game which seems to have generated hype among the Nepali fresh leaves. It is an action game where one has to defeat a dragon that is going to destroy the world. The players especially consider exploring in this game, as the game doesn’t always bind them to the primary story. 

Sakar Tripathi, another high school graduate, believes he’s a hardcore Skyrim player. “This game is solely for hardcore gamers that want to invest their time in playing and not for passing time,” Sakar explains. “I like it the way it is because it helps me in extending my thinking capacity. But it is a time consumer while people who can’t invest time and are only able to play games during their free time shouldn’t play Skyrim.”

The game itself hasn’t helped me much in my personal life, other than having a new platform to communicate with my friends and getting away from the real life.

But what if one doesn’t want to invest, or rather does not have the time to invest in gaming? One of the lighter games, Piano Tiles, might just be the most popular game for passing time among Nepalis whose schedules are rather stacked. It’s a game where you tap and hold a particular part of the phone screen, called ‘tiles’ as the game demands. 

Some people are not much into games. They have no games to play in their computers, while the ones in their phones are mostly for others. Such people have games saved in their phones like dusty pile of books on a shelf. But every book does get read once, so Piano Tiles is played when people don’t have anything else to do. 

Sijal Dhakal, another high school graduate, doesn’t consider herself a committed gamer. “You feel like you are playing a piano and it feels beautiful,” Sijal said about playing Piano Tiles. “It has helped me a lot in public places when I had nothing else to do. For instance, when I’m travelling in a public vehicle, I have nothing important to do than just sitting down, so I just take my headphones out and play the game.” 

Neelah Suwal, yet another high school graduate, feels Piano Tiles helps a lot in communication. “The best thing about this game is that you get to compete with friends,” he said. “You can link your Facebook profile to the game. So you’re adding a new medium to communicate with your friends. I’m not the most social people among my circle of friends, so this game helps me a lot in that sense as well.”

Gaming comes with some disadvantages as well. First of all, every digital game is a time consumer. It could be okay as a time passing platform but heavy digital games are the ones to be wary about. Throw in time consumption and a considerable increase in blood pressure due to the technical errors in some games as well. The most popular games in Nepal do not necessarily inspire social evils or illicit contents, so the primary factor holding the gamers back is time consumption. 

A game can eventually turn out to be a time-waster, but that’s how all enjoyable games are. After all, games are meant to be a break from our daily lives to get ourselves refreshed.