Bangladeshi esports will suffer for what happened in Chuadanga

On July 20, local police raided a community centre in Chuadanga where over a hundred people (mostly school and college students) were detained for participating in a PUBG Mobile tournament, despite the game being banned in Bangladesh. 

Later that day, most players under the age of 18 were released after their legal guardians appeared. However, many of those over 18 — including veteran PUBG Mobile athletes — were kept in the lockup overnight.

Although this may seem insignificant in the grand scheme of things, its implications will undoubtedly hinder the legitimacy of our country's esports industry. 

It raises the question behind why so many players knowingly violated the laws to play a prohibited game. Regardless of the circumstances involved, organising an event that involved playing a banned game is in no way a diligent move. The fact that esports athletes, who previously represented Bangladesh in international PUBG Mobile events, were involved in these activities makes it even more disappointing.

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Naturally, fans of the game were upset about their favourite teams and players being arrested for merely playing video games. However, instead of engaging in constructive discourse, the general masses ignored the actual narrative and shifted the blame onto the authorities for stopping the event mid-way. Taking to social media with angry hashtags and sentiments only exacerbated the gravity of the situation.

This entire fiasco doesn't only hamper the outward appearance of PUBG Mobile esports in the country, but it sets back years of progress made by major esports titles, such as Valorant, CS:GO, DOTA 2, etc. It will also shroud enthusiastic gamers with a sense of fear associated with gaming in the country, especially since the Chuadanga event portrayed loathsome in extremis.

Pursuing esports as a potential career in Bangladesh was already a path laden with a veritable myriad of obstacles. Even besides infrastructural issues like high latency, power outages, etc,  the general perception towards gaming has always been predominantly negative. Now that news of esports athletes being arrested in Bangladesh are making the rounds, the perceptual trajectory of the entire thing is likely to nosedive into deeper shades of dislike among the populace. 

Esports has a rapidly growing market worldwide and companies in Bangladesh are trying their hardest to put the limelight on the many positive aspects. How successful these attempts will be in the face of antagonism from authorities remains to be seen.