PUBG Spreads 'Terrorism'?

 

Esports or Electronic sports is one of the biggest platforms in the present world. Before we dive any deeper, we first need to know what Esports is and how it works. Esports is sport played between two or more players using electronic systems and generally is played in a tournament setting. To us citizens of Bangladesh, it is still just a dream. Just thinking of doing what you love and earning more money than many top paid jobs makes us gamers excited. So where does all this money come from? Esports gained its popularity through streaming in multimedia and social platforms. The viewers and the fanbase of some of the popular multiplayer games like PUBG, CS:GO, League of Legends, FIFA etc. is so huge that, according to a post in linkedin.com, it earns more than Hollywood and the music industries combined annually. Mind blowing isn't it? 

"Who can play and How can I participate in it?" must be the first two questions that comes in your mind right now. At least it does if you love playing video games. In all honesty, who doesn't? And the answer to the questions is that anyone from anywhere can play and participate. All you have to do is play good and pass the qualifying rounds that most tournaments host. It might sound very easy, but I assure you it takes more hard work than it seems. You do not become a professional in a game just by playing casually. A player has to invest a lot of time and effort to actually become good at it, and even after that, the player needs to find good teammates as most games require you to participate in groups. It can also cost a lot of money as no one would sponsor a beginner. So all in all, it is a very risky gamble to decide if you want to leave your so called safe career options and join the Esports industry. So what's the prospect of Esports in Bangladesh?

Esports in Bangladesh is a completely new idea that's slowly growing and it might become a huge industry very soon. The Arena of Valor community hosted an international standard tournament with a prize money of 75 lakh taka. The Esports group A1 Esports has a huge fan base and many other teams are doing great in international platforms. The PUBG Mobile Underdog community in Bangladesh has almost 300k members and that's just one game. Doesn't that make you think that this industry has a huge potential and might even get Bangladesh recognized in the international platforms? Well our previous generation thinks otherwise. 

The biggest danger to Esports in Bangladesh is the mentality of the people in power who think that world famous games which host one of the biggest Esports tournaments like PUBG is very 'Dangerous' for Bangladesh. The reason for this should be very obvious, and that is, every parent in Bangladesh want their children to become Doctors or Engineers so that they can be proud in front of other people of the society. And when they put such ridiculous and selfish desires on their children, watching those same children dream of becoming an Esports player and so called wasting time on playing video games must be very painful. It must be a sin to want to have a career in gaming isn't it? This typical backdated thinking of the older generation of people in Bangladesh is what let to the banning of PUBG saying that it's 'Dangerous' and spreads 'Terrorism'. What else can be expected from a country where regardless of the subject or the end result, being admitted in a Public University means that the student has a bright future and Private University students have to live in shame.

The untouched prospects of Esports in Bangladesh, however isn't completely ignored as rejecting all these criticism, the young generation of Bangladesh strives to establish a career in Esports. A1 Esports, a Bangladeshi team to participate in the PUBG international tournament in Dubai was selected among 24 teams from all over the world. The achievements of the young generation is creating more opportunities for Esports in Bangladesh and it might soon become a recognized and respected career in our country. But before it happens, we need to open our eyes and throw away the confined and outdated mentality towards gaming industry. Only then can this industry flourish in our country. 

And after all this reading, if you are still looking for the answer to the question that if PUBG spreads terrorism or not, than it seems that miles to go before my destination and miles to go before your realization.