Ban Mariam game, say residents
dubai — Following an outcry in other parts of the region, the UAE residents have sought a ban on an outrageous online game that pushes children to hurt themselves.
The game is a serial text-option game where the user is asked multiple-choice questions.
The game, titled ‘Mariam’, which is available on various app stores, sneaks into a user’s mobile device by asking questions that elicit personal details. Acc-ording to experts, this may result in abuse of privacy. Besides asking personal questions like “where is your home located”, “what is your Facebook account number” etc, it also seeks answers on political questions, which have sparked an outrage among parents.
A social worker said that the game carries non-educational content, as it even asks questions about Qatar and the current political
These kinds of games isolate kids from the real world, directing and mobilising them with concepts that are different from our values and pushing them to do things that are often violent.” Yaqoub Al Hammadi, educational expert
situation in the region. The game begins with ‘Mariam’, a white-haired girl who says she has “lost her way” and asks the player to take her home. She keeps the conversation going to gather as much information about the user as possible.
According to the social worker, the game is an attempt to read the player’s mind, resembling another extreme game called Blue Whale, which has become controversial for abetting suicide among youngsters around the world. Yaqoub Al Hammadi, an educator who works as a social specialist, warned against these kinds of games that isolate children from the real world, “directing and mobilising them with concepts and values that are different from our values and pushing them to do things that are often violent”.
However, the developer of the game, Salman Al Harbi, has said the game was developed purely for entertainment and denied it breaches rights of privacy.