How the PUBG effect: Boy kills entire family in Pakistan

A 14-year-old boy from Pakistan shot his entire family dead allegedly “under PUBG influence", stated Pakistan’s Punjab province police on January 28. The victims were the boy’s mother, 45-year-old health worker Nahid Mubarak; and three siblings: 22-month-old Taimur, and two sisters aged 17 and 11. The incident occurred near Lahore’s Kahna area last week, reported NDTV. The lone survivor from the family was the teenaged boy, who turned out to be the murderer. “The PUBG (PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds) addict boy confessed to have killed her mother and siblings under the influence of the game. He has developed some psychological issues because of spending long hours of the day playing online games," said the police statement as quoted by NDTV. The police also said that Nahid was a divorcee and would often scold the boy for playing too much PUBG and not concentrating on his studies. The day the boy shot his entire family dead, Nahid had happened to scold him over the matter per usual. He had then gone on to retrieve her pistol from the cupboard and shot her as well as his three siblings dead in their sleep. He himself raised an alarm the next morning, after which the neighbours called the police. The boy had claimed to the police that he had been in the upper storey of the house and that he had no clue as to how his family had been murdered. He had also dumped the pistol in a drain, from where it is yet to be retrieved. Nahid had acquired the pistol to protect his family. A blood-stained cloth has been recovered from the suspect, and similar stains were found on his clothes too. As per Dawn newspaper, the boy’s confusing body language had tipped off the police, but they had decided to observe him for a few days nonetheless. He was finally detained on January 27. According to the report, this is the fourth case of crimes being committed under PUBG's influence. In a similar incident last year, a Pakistani man was arrested after he tried to recreate a scene from the game ‘Players Unknown Battleground’ after a fight and ended up killing two members of his family and injuring three. The incident occurred in Lahore when the accused named Bilal opened fire on his family, killing his sister-in-law and a friend after getting into a fight with his family. According to reports, the man recreated a scene from the addictive game PUBG which led to the death of two people. According to reports, the accused was a PUBG “addict" and that he had been wearing a helmet and jacket akin to PUBG players when committing the crime. The World Health Organisation (WHO) has officially included gaming disorder as a disease in the International Classification of Diseases. Gaming disorder is defined as a pattern of behaviour characterised by impaired control over gaming (digital or video), increasing priority given to it over other activities to the extent that gaming takes precedence over other interests and daily activities, and continuation or escalation of gaming despite the occurrence of negative consequences.