The rapidly spreading games and challenges in the online world sometimes cross the limits of entertainment and prove to be deadly. In the last few years, many such cases have come to light, where dangerous tasks running on digital platforms became the cause of death of people. The most popular name in such cases has been ‘Blue Whale Challenge’, which created a sensation across the world.
Now another painful case to online gaming has come to light. Three real sisters allegedly committed suicide by jumping from the ninth floor in Bharat City Society, Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh. In the initial investigation, it is suspected that this step may be to an online ‘Korean Lover Game’. However, this has not been officially confirmed yet by the police or administration.
The father of the deceased girls told the media that he had no knowledge that his daughters were part of any dangerous online game. He said that his daughters were involved in an online game in which players had to complete tasks one after the other. Altogether 50 tasks are being mentioned in it. According to the father, his 14-year-old daughter was playing the role of leader in this game and the three sisters were playing it together.
He told that the girls never discussed this game at home nor did they let anyone guess that they were involved in such a challenge. This incident is completely unexpected and full of shock for the family. Whenever there is talk of online tasks or deadly challenges, the first thing that comes to mind is the Blue Whale Challenge. Many cases to this trend were reported in India during the year 2017. At that time it was claimed that some teenagers committed suicide or attempted suicide under the influence of this challenge.
In August 2017, a case came to light of a student who had written all the 50 tasks of the Blue Whale Challenge in his school diary. Later he tried to harm himself. Apart from this, such cases were also reported from many states including Madhya Pradesh, due to which an atmosphere of concern was created in the entire country.
Actually Blue Whale was not a traditional mobile game, but it was an online challenge trend. The person taking part in this was asked to complete different tasks for about 50 days. In the beginning these tasks were easy, but gradually they became dangerous and deadly. There were many tasks which involved things like hurting yourself or risking your life.
After Blue Whale, ‘Kiki Challenge’ also became quite viral in 2018. In this trend, people used to get down from the moving car and dance on the road and post its video on social media. Many people were seriously injured due to this challenge. It started with a viral video, which was posted by American comedian Shiggy.
This year, ‘Momo Challenge’ also came into discussion. It was claimed that a user with a scary profile photo sends messages to children and instigates them to complete tasks. These tasks also included things like self-harm. Although there was no official confirmation of any death due to this, the police and administration had warned people to be alert.
According to experts, such games or challenges are not available on any app store. These usually operate through pages created on social media platforms, secret groups or messaging apps. Players are given tasks through private messages and are gradually mentally influenced in such a way that they start considering only completing the task as most important.
Trends like Blue Whale are not limited to just one country. Apart from India, reports of its impact were reported in many countries of Russia, Europe and South Asia. Since these are not part of any official app. Therefore, it is not possible to remove them from the App Store. Their biggest weapon is social media, where in the name of trend, people become a part of it without thinking.
