Saudi Gazette
JEDDAH — Many in the Gulf are calling for a ban on ‘Mariam’, a new Saudi mobile game, as it was causing the problem of insomnia among its players.
The game that can be downloaded from apple store, will also be available for android users by the end of the month. The game starts with the appearance of a white haired girl standing against a dark background.
According to Times of Oman newspaper, the player should escort the girl to her home before hiding from her father, who is suspected by users to be the skeleton figure present in the game’s thumbnail.
‘Mariam’ focuses on asking the player a series of questions. Some users believe that some of these questions are very personal such as the location of their houses. It also asks a few political questions annoying the users.
During the last couple of days, social media was awash with several rumors about the game. Some posts mentioned that the game is a ploy by Qatar to glean persoanla inofmrtaion of individuals in the Gulf. Other posts warned that the game could develop suicidal tendencies as was the case with ‘Blue Whale’ game. The game is believed to have caused many players to commit suicide.
Many trending hashtags are talking about the game and demanding it be banned in the Gulf.
According to Al-Watan Arabic daily, Salman Al Harbi, one of the game’s developer, explained that the game was downloaded in the Kingdom for more than half million times. He described it is a social engineering game that focuses on the intelligence of the player and the game is licensed from apple store.
Because of the recent adverse reactions, the team of game developers has put a warning that the game was not meant for children less than 10 years.
Although many people are against the game, some youth perceive it as a normal time-pass activity with many even liking the design of the game.
Salwa Ali, a Saudi female in her 30, said: “I think it is a normal game. I did not play it, but I know that our society likes to exaggerate about most of the new trends.”
On twitter, one of the users named shahad, mentioned that people are so unwise that the marketing team of the game is laughing so hard at the free advertising that people are doing for them.
Another user tweeted: “Can we appreciate the graphic designer for this game though, this is art.”
“Seriously people have to stop being over dramatic and chill,” Reem, another twitter users added.
