PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds

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PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds
Genre Online Arena Battle Royale
Gamming Style Battle Royale
Platform Windows, Xbox, PlayStation, Android, IOS
Release Date December 20, 2017 Windows
Developer Bluehole[1]
Publisher PUBG corporation[2]
Website PUBG Website

PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds (PUBG) is an online arena battle royale game developed by PUBG Corporation[2], a subsidiary of Bluehole[1]. PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds was first released for Microsoft Windows on December 20th, 2017. In 2018 PUBG editions were released for the XBOX and PlayStation consoles as well as a mobile version for Android and IOS. PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds is a team game based on the Japanese movie Battle Royal[3] and is considered one of the best selling games of all time having had over 400 million players after the game released its mobile version.[4] The game consist of rounds where players are dropped on a map where they must collect various weapons and eliminate each other up until the last person, or team, standing. A blue wall that damages players on the "outside" of it closes in over a randomly generated area of the map over time in each round, constantly limiting the 100 players space more each time it constricts. [5] PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds gained an audience of players from around the globe where it was marketed as a viable e-sport. The items in the game only last for the remainder of the round they are collected in, but players earn coins (BP) that can be used for permanent cosmetic purchases for the length of time that they have survived in a round, as well as other factors such as how many other players the person has eliminated. after its release PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds banned a number of competitive and noncompetitive players for cheating, or using unauthorized software to gain advantages in the game, and knowing about other player's cheating. PUBG was later banned in multiple countries where the game play was seen as "violent" and "addictive".

Game Mechanics

Objectives

PlayerUnknown's battlegrounds game play consists of "rounds" where up to 100 players are dropped on a large map by a plane that flies in a randomly generated straight line over the top of the map. Players parachute out of the plane and onto the map where they must find various different items that are randomly generated across different areas of the map.[5] This gear includes health kits, "boosts", and many different categories of weapons and weapon attachments. This gear is used to achieve the title of last team standing, whether that be by eliminating other teams or by surviving attacks from other teams attempting to eliminate the player. A blue wall shrinks around a randomly generated area of the map throughout each round. This blue wall will deal damage in increasing increments to players who are not inside of the circle shape that it shrinks in around.[5] This pushes the players to stop looting and move to certain areas of the map where more players are confined to a smaller area, pushing players towards combat with other players. Each round ends when there is one team left alive. At the point that each round ends, an amount of in game currency "BP" is rewarded to players from that round based on different factors like how long they survived, how many other players the player has eliminated, or how much damage the players has caused to other players throughout the duration of the match.[6]

The PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds map "Erangel"[7]

Game Play

PlayerUnknown's battlegrounds matchmaking system attempts to put up to 100 players into a lobby where they wait until spawned into a plane flying over a large map, which their are multiple of. these 100 players can be in teams of up to four or each on their own in a solo mode. Once inside of the plane the players skydive down onto the map and search through randomly generated items across the map. Players spawn from the plane with nothing but clothes and cosmetic items that have been purchased and must use the items supplied by the map for all purposes in game play. A blue circle begins surrounding the map and slowly closes in on a randomly selected area of the map. Being outside this blue circle will deal increased increments of damage based on how small the circle has shrunk, forcing players into the diameter of the circle and decreasing the space between players.[4] Once all but one player, or team, has been eliminated the round ends and BP is rewarded accordingly. BP is the in game currency system used in PUBG. BP can be used to purchase "Loot Crates".[5] "Loot Crates" contain cosmetic items such as clothes and weapon skins which the player can equip to stay on their avatar permanently.[5]



Ethical Concerns

Cheating

PlayerUknown's Battlegrounds has had instances of people cheating by use of unauthorized software, or hacking the game. In June of 2017 PUBG began banning players who had been caught cheating. Since that time methods have been developed to allow for other players to report players they suspect of cheating or hacking and almost 13 million accounts have been banned from the game in regards to cheating[8]. A portion of those banned were professional ESports players for using cheating techniques such as "radar hacking" to gain an advantage over other players in the game by being able to see their location. PUBG began using an anti-cheat protection program called BattlEye to detect and ban accounts that are cheating by means of "radar hacking" in order to win competitions and casual games.[8]

A screenshot of someone "radar hacking"[9]

Violence

PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds main objective is to eliminate all other players on the map by killing them with weapons such as assault rifles or frag grenades found in random places throughout the map. In some countries, such as India PUBG has been banned due in part to the violence that is depicted in the game when players combat eachother with assault rifles and other weapons.[10]. People in certain areas of India have been arrested for playing the game. A newspaper in India had once called the game an "epidemic" that negatively impacted kids mental health[11]. The negative impact on mental health of players throughout India has been attributed to multiple cases of injury, and death by the Indian print media.[3]

Addiction

Brendan Greene, the creative director behind PUBG attributes PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds popularity to the idea that "every match is different"[12]. referring to the games design that all items found in the match are randomly generated, as well as the specific area of the map the fighting is reduced to by a blue ring that constricts players to a specific area. Due to these differences in each round the game is said to have a high replay value, which is the games potential for continued play after completion. Although this could be considered a good and marketable thing for a game to have, countries that have banned PUBG in them have referred to this factor as the game being "addicting". In India the Video Game Addiction (VGA) that is caused by PUBG has been attributed to poor grades or exam failures of students in India by the Indian print media due to this "addictive" playing of PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds.[3] In Bangalore, it is reported that clinics set up to break clinical addiction have been treating multiple PUBG addictions each week.[11]

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 Bluehole Company https://www.krafton.com/en/index.html
  2. 2.0 2.1 PUBG Corporation https://www.pubg.com/
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 Mamun, Mohammed A., and Mark D. Griffiths. “The Psychosocial Impact of Extreme Gaming on Indian PUBG Gamers: The Case of PUBG (PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds).” International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction, May 2019. DOI.org (Crossref), doi:10.1007/s11469-019-00102-4.
  4. 4.0 4.1 PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds Review - IGN.https://www.ign.com/articles/2018/01/05/playerunknowns-battlegrounds-review. Accessed 13 Mar. 2020.
  5. 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 Understanding Playerunknown’s Battlegrounds - Polygon. https://www.polygon.com/playerunknowns-battlegrounds-guide/2017/6/9/15721366/pubg-how-to-play-blue-wall-white-red-circle-map-weapon-vehicle-inventory-air-drop. Accessed 13 Mar. 2020.
  6. “How to Earn Battle Points (BP) in PUBG? - PUBG Guide | Gamepressure.Com.” Game Guides, https://guides.gamepressure.com/playerunknowns_battlegrounds/guide.asp?ID=43043. Accessed 27 Mar. 2020.
  7. McCarthy, Caty. “Meeting PlayerUnknown, and the Fiction That Inspired the Year’s Biggest Surprise Hit.” USgamer, 10 Aug. 2017, https://www.usgamer.net/articles/playerunknowns-battlegrounds-interview-brendan-greene.
  8. 8.0 8.1 PUBG Mobile Bans Dozen More Professional Players for Cheating. https://www.businesstoday.in/buzztop/buzztop-feature/pubg-mobile-bans-dozen-more-professional-players-for-cheating/story/309154.html. Accessed 13 Mar. 2020
  9. What Is a Radar Hacks in PUBG Game? - Quora. https://www.quora.com/What-is-a-radar-hacks-in-PUBG-game. Accessed 27 Mar. 2020.
  10. PUBG Banned Again and This Time It Probably Won’t Be the Only One. https://www.businesstoday.in/technology/news/pubg-banned-jordan-fortnite-ban-battle-royale-mobile-india/story/363743.html. Accessed 13 Mar. 2020
  11. 11.0 11.1 PUBG Ban: This “epidemic” Game Can Turn Kids into Psychopaths, Says India | Business Standard News. https://www.business-standard.com/article/technology/pugb-ban-this-epidemic-game-can-turn-kids-into-psychopaths-says-india-119032500128_1.html. Accessed 13 Mar. 2020.
  12. PlayerUnknown Battlegrounds Dev: “I Want to Find the next Me” | GamesIndustry.Biz. https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2017-04-26-playerunknown-battlegrounds-dev-i-want-to-find-the-next-me. Accessed 13 Mar. 2020