AHMEDABAD: While

— in its first action after banning the multi-player online game PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds (PUBG) — arrested seven youth for allegedly playing this game outside a college in the city on Wednesday, the state home department has directed all city police commissioners to issue a notification banning the playing of PUBG. The

chief also banned the playing of the game in the city jurisdiction on Tuesday.

collector Vikrant Pandey said the notification to the ban the game has been issued on Tuesday. “Anyone found playing the game will be dealt with according to the law,” he added.

PUBG develops a strong addiction in players and there are many instances of players starting to live in isolation and cut themselves off from society, a police official claimed.

Sources in the home department went even further, saying that the game can drive players, who are mainly teenagers and youths, to the extent of committing suicide and the department thus police commissioners and collectors to ban the playing of game in their jurisdictions.

City police chief A K Singh said they issued a notification banning the playing of the game, for 14 days from Thursday.

PUBG is a

game and can be played in two modes, arcade or classic. “Arcade mode has various missions to be carried out by the player such as a small war, sniper training etc. In classic mode, the game is a multiplayer battle royale, in which scores of players battle each other on various maps till only a winner remains,” said a police source.