The click of the mouse hangs in the air, mixed with the grey cloud of smoke from cigarettes and strategies screamed out like war cries. This is where wars are fought against mythical beasts, against magic and against one’s self. This is where lives are lost, where reality gets lost in the folds of virtual worlds.[break]
Cyber cafés these days are filled with gamers, playing one of the most famous games to hit multiplayer history, Defense of the Ancients (DotA). An expansion of the famous real-time strategy game, Warcraft III, DotA has taken the entire virtual world by storm.
Kathmandu is no exception to the allure of multiplayer games. Like a siren’s song, DotA has managed to lure kids as young as ten into its trap. Gaming is turning into a new form of addiction for the youth in this technology-driven world. With better graphics, better performance, better gameplay, people can hardly resist.
“There weren’t games like these before. Gaming has come a long way from traditional arcade games like Mario or Pacman. Games nowadays are real, they provide a different reality, a virtual reality where things impossible in real life can be done,” says 19-year-old Sashanta Mainali, an undergrad student at Kathmandu College of Management (KCM).
“It’s a different kind of socialization, a different kind of interacting with friends. You make up strategies, work in a team and kill the other members. You can’t kill your friends in real life, but you can in virtual space, you reincarnate and play again. It bends reality and that’s what brings many people into gaming,” he adds.
Internet is faster now, bringing with it unlimited capabilities for online multiplayer games. Gamers can now game from their homes with a 128KB ASDL connection. Garena, an online gaming platform, enables gamers to continue gaming from the vicinity of their homes. As a result, many gamers can be seen spending, on an average, five hours at the cyber café, only to go home and continue their adventures in the virtual realm. Gamers play for hours without end at cyber cafes and usually have a tab open where they build up their credit, some paying while others bailing out on their debts.
“Our parents don’t finance us; they’re against us playing games,” says Simul Bista, 18, currently studying at St. Xavier’s College, Maitighar. “But we’ve won many tournaments, we have our own clan as well, and since it’s already been four years since we’ve started gaming, they have started accepting it to some extent. They tell us to come back with a win nowadays,” he says.
Gaming addiction seems to be affecting performance at school as well, and since most of the young gamers in and around town are attending colleges or schools, this poses a problem. The mind is easily distracted by the various variables of the gaming world and usually tends to build strategies while not playing. This makes studying harder because the urge to play and to try out new fusions of strategies is always there.
“Addiction comes from the personality. There are people who have addictive personality and these are the people with the tendency to develop addiction,” says Jamuna Sangraula, Clinical Psychologist at Lagankhel Mental Hospital. “Addiction needs availability and favorable circumstances. These gamers have a favorable situation where they can vent out their dynamic energy along with their friends. They can socialize and do what they want at the same time. This is where addiction starts. This is the trigger and if this trigger ceases to exist, the addiction disappears,” she says.
“From addiction comes skills and there are some very talented gamers in Kathmandu,” says Palash Bista, 18, -a student from St. Xavier’s College. “In other countries, gaming is an accepted sport with E-sporting communities and professional gaming agencies. In Nepal, gamers don’t have any support and what small tournaments happen, happen independently. There’s a new organization, Nepal Cyber Gaming Association (NCGA), that seems promising,” he adds.
Although gaming is growing and gamers are embracing newer and better games as they go, it does not seem that addiction is rooted deeply.
“I used to be addicted to DotA, but learnt to let go of it,” says freelance illustrator Samyam Chand, 18. “There are many variables in gaming addiction, and socializing is one of the most important ones. Once the friend whom I used to game with went to India, I stopped playing. And even after he came back months later, I couldn’t get back into playing. If you quit for a week or two, the love for the games fades away,” he adds.
Gaming addiction is going viral with almost all of the cyber cafés packed up with gamers. But the addiction doesn’t seem to be that harmful. Driven by entertainment and virtual reality that can take you to places right from the warmth of your couch, games have taken up a significant part of a youngster’s life. Cases of fanatical addiction have been reported where gamers have been found dead due to lack of nourishment and physical exercises from continuous gaming. But Kathmandu still sees a healthy addiction that may lead to gaming turning into a sport, if supported well.
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