As the gaming market grows, should India limit its kids from playing online?

According to Roland Landers, CEO of the All India Gaming Federation, gaming has a larger adoption among the younger population in India, with the 18-30 age group, and just 18 percent of the overall age range of 5-14 are active in online gaming (AIGF).

India's gaming population has increased significantly in recent years, owing to increased internet penetration and the influence of COVID-19.

As a result, consumption of internet games among youngsters in India has grown.

The entire user base for online gaming in India has risen from 269 million in FY18 to 365 million in FY20, according to the KPMG 2020 study titled A Year Off Script.

According to Roland Landers, CEO of the All India Gaming Federation (AIGF), gaming has a greater adoption among the younger population in India, with the 18-30 age group, and just 18 percent of the overall age range of 5-14 are active in online gaming, citing a KPMG research.

Kids’ user base is small

While the user base for children is small, Karan S Kumar, Leadership at InnoPark Pvt Ltd, a company that focuses on gaming and entertainment, stated that the number of online gamers in India is expected to reach 675 million by 2025, making India the world's second largest online gaming market after China.

This means that additional users under the age of 18 will be added to India's overall gaming population.

According to Danish Sinha, founder of Gamestacy, a game production business, most Indian parents now feel that gaming may be a wonderful stress reliever for their children.

In fact, according to a research conducted by YourDost, an online counselling and emotional support platform, most Indian parents feel that internet gaming is good for children, particularly around COVID-19.

Parents, on the other hand, have fears, the most serious of which is that their children may become hooked to real money online gaming.

China, India's neighbor, has banned children from playing internet games for three hours a week due to a similar worry.

Over 15% of all gamers in China are under the age of 18. So, of China's 720 million gamers, 110 million are under the age of 18.

Back home, about 72 million of India's 400 million players are between the ages of 5 and 14.

Spending more time playing online

Although the number of children playing online games in India is still modest when compared to their worldwide counterparts, the amount of time spent playing online is rising considerably.

Pranav Panpalia, Founder of OpraahFx, an influencer marketing and management business that deals with gaming influencers, stated that on average, individuals spend approximately 7.5-9 hours per week gaming, with children spending about 1.5x as much.

Parth Das, founder of The Collective Ace Group, a gaming service center, stated that COVID-19 has greatly helped gaming, with an overall rise in engagement levels across all players and age groups. So, does this imply that India should prohibit children from playing online?

Play online, but responsibly

According to Panpalia, there cannot be a blanket regulation for everyone under the age of 18. Children of all ages have varying levels of maturity, and they must be addressed accordingly. Furthermore, due to the COVID issue, children have not been playing outside, and such a restriction would irritate children and lead to disaster in every family.

Furthermore, as a result of the rising Indian gaming sector, particularly esports, which is anticipated to reach Rs 250 crore in 2021, according to a 2021 EY research, many Indian families are now adopting gaming as a vocation.

In addition, the prize pool in India is anticipated to rise at a CAGR of 66 percent to Rs 100 crore by 2025. This is why, according to AIGF's Landers, people wishing to be pro-gamers as a vocation will need to spend extra time practicing, just like a sports person would for any physical sport.

He did, however, emphasize that moderation is the key to any activity, including overall screen time and gaming time.

Mandapalli stated that when it comes to teens or children, casual games that require app purchases should control transactions.

When it comes to real money games, he said that the business prohibits anyone under the age of 21 from accessing them.

While industry players agree that children should be taught about ethical gaming, Panpalia believes that implementing strict regulations will simply cause further anguish among young gamers.

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