Krafton introduces strict measures in BGMI to curb gaming addiction
Gaming addiction was one of the major concerns that Indian authorities pointed out. Krafton has now implemented strict measures to curb it.
Krafton has launched Battlegrounds Mobile India (BGMI) after a long gap of 10 months. The game got banned in July 2022 under section 69A of the IT Act. Several factors resulted in the suspension of Battlegrounds Mobile India from the Indian Play Stores and App Stores. While major concerns were regarding data privacy, gaming addiction was also one of the reasons behind BGMI's ban. It looks like the South Korean company has addressed the concerns raised by the Indian authorities and has taken some major steps to curb gaming addiction.
Battlegrounds Mobile India (BGMI) is now available to download on Google Play Store and Apple App Store. One of the major changes seen in the latest BGMI app is the gameplay restrictions. Krafton has introduced some serious measures to curb gaming addiction. Here are the major changes implemented in the game :
1. Gameplay Limits - Players under the age of 18 will be allowed to play the game only for 3 hours. On the other hand, the Playtime limit for the above 18 players is 6 hours. The game will be unplayable after a player reaches the playtime limit.
2. Breaktime Reminders - Continuous gaming without taking a break creates a negative impact on health. Therefore, players will get reminders to take a break while gaming continuously for hours to maintain a healthy game-life balance.
3. OTP Authentication - BGMI will now require OTP authentication. Players below the age of 18 would need to register their parents' phone numbers before playing the game. It would enable parents to take control of how much their child is spending time in the game.
4. Virtual World Warning Message - Every time a player enters a BGMI match, they get a warning message on their screens which says "This is a simulation game set in a virtual world and does not represent real life". It simply means that the game has nothing to do with the real life. This warning message was introduced when BGMI launched back in 2021.
5. Daily Spend Limit - There were several cases of minors spending lakhs of money on the game. Hence, Krafton has set a daily spending limit of Rs 7000 in the game to avoid those circumstances.
Krafton seems to be extremely strict with the measures implemented in Battlegrounds Mobile India (BGMI) to curb gaming addiction. BGMI is currently under a trial phase of 90 days where the Indian government would closely monitor the game to ensure whether it's operating under the law of the land. Now, it would be important to see how fruitful would these steps turn out to be for Krafton in the future.