MECO SCRIPT

ANAS
Slide 1: Assalamualaikum, ma’am. Today our topic is Online gaming in Pakistan.

Slide 2: We are group 5 and we comprise of 5 individuals:

I, Muhammad Anas, the group leader, Shafaan Ahmed, Hiba Akbar, Ali Murtaza and Haziq
Bashir.

Slide 3: Coming to the contributions, I was responsible for conducting the surveys required
for the data analysis, and the design of the presentation. Shafaan analysed all the data and
drew up trends and conclusions from them. Ali and Hiba worked on the literary review and
the bibliography. Finally, Haziq was responsible for the introduction and the conclusion of
the project.
Without further ado, I’ll let Haziq take over.

HAZIQ

Slide 4 and 5: Coming to the Basic Introduction, as the world advances with new
technologies, daily Online games are becoming a part of human life. Online games are top-
rated among teenagers and other people who love playing games while staying at home. After
the world has been introduced to covid and we have seen a shift in everything from in person
to online, demand for online games has increased further.
Online games were popular before covid too. People who preferred staying at home and
wanted to spend their time playing games used to do it on their PC’s, consoles, and tablets.
After Covid, when the government imposed the lockdown, teenagers who couldn't play
outside, started playing online games to spend their leisure time.
In Pakistan, online games such as PUBG, DOTA, FIFA, etc. are top played games among
teenagers, and people of other ages have also shown interest in these games.

Slide 6: Here are some advantages and disadvantages of online gaming

Advantages:
- As teenagers play online games daily and have become part of their lives, some
gamers in Pakistan have started earning money through online gaming. They take part
in the different tournaments held in the world or Pakistan. Many gamers get a
reasonable sum of money by winning those tournaments.
- Online games can also improve the learning abilities of children, which is a proven
benefit. Other than this, develop your multitasking skills and your concentration level.
- A person constantly makes quick, small decisions which improves their decision-
making skills.
- It is a good way to spend free time as doesn’t require much effort but is enjoyable.
Disadvantages:

- When gamers spend much time playing online games, online games can be of
disadvantage also. By spending most of the time in front of the screen playing games
can damage your eyesight.
- Playing games all day sitting on a chair can affect your physical health as it can lead
to obesity or weaknesses such as joint pains and backache.
- Teenagers can be addicted to online games also, and they won't concentrate on their
studies, which may adversely affect their future.
- Most games have violent content in them such as killing and bloodshed. Large
amounts of time spent in such activities may cause a person’s mindset to be set in
such a way, thus mental health is damaged.
- Over to you Hiba

HIBA
Slide 7: Thanks, Haziq. Now coming on to the literary review

Slide 8: Esports, a multibillion-dollar e-gaming industry is still finding its feet in

Pakistan. Arsalan Ash, a Lahore-based gamer won the Tekken 7 tournament in
EVO in Japan and later won the Evolution Championship Series (EVO) 2019
finals. Unfortunately, Esports is largely a neglected industry in our country. There
are limited tournaments for players to showcase their skills, and other than Arslan,
no one else here has experienced the spotlight. Portal Esports represented Pakistan
in the IGE South Asia Cup 2018 in Sri Lanka. The captain of the portal esports
Dota2 team, Musawer, won many tournaments including the mountain dew arena.
He pointed out the lack of Dota2 servers in the region which causes the team to
face lags in gameplay. Rahem Shurjeel, a new addition to the team, pointed out the
lack of organization in the team accompanied by the slow working internet services
adds to the difficulty of competing. Therefore even though the Pakistani Esports
industry has grown immensely in recent times, but it still requires further support.
(Goheer, 2020)

Slide 9: PUBG Mobile is one of the most popular mobile games in the video game
industry. However, the game finds itself in several controversies time and then. On
Tuesday, a Pakistani teenager named Mohammad Zakarya, who was a resident of
the Hingerwal district, reportedly killed himself after not being able to complete
one of the missions in the game. This is said to be the fourth suicide in Pakistan's
Punjab province related to online games, which is a worrying number as this is not
what video games are meant for. (Banerjee, 2020)

As online gaming evolved so have the forms that characters can take so that
players can select more detailed representations for their characters. For instance,
for human characters, players can select skin color, hair color, height, weight, and
gender. They also can decide on a character's profession, ranging from a banker,
lawyer, dancer, engineer, thief, bounty hunter, elf, or gnome, depending upon the
game. Each player must choose a name for the character. Some take great care and
pride in determining just the right name. In fact, in some strange way, a character's
name seeps into the player over time. They spend hours living like this “other
person” and begin to identify with a character that feels more real and less fictional
the longer they play. (Young, 2009)

Slide 10: The numbers of online games used for training and education purposes
are currently limited. However, there are increasing numbers of small-scale
research-based experimental projects. Although online gaming is a relatively new
area of activity, its success at engaging large groups of remotely located users has
meant that early research projects and organizations have already begun to use
multiplayer online role-play gaming approaches as a means for engaging and
retaining large remotely located learner groups, and for supporting collaborative
learning objectives and ‘communities of practice.

Now Ali will take over.

Ali
Thank you, Hiba
Slide 11: Let’s talk about the link of online gaming with microeconomics.

Slide 12: In the online gaming industry, just like any other market, people do face trade-offs.
Students must compromise on their valuable time in order to play: time that could rather be
utilized in healthy or beneficial activities such as sports, reading etc. However, you must lose
in order to gain, which can be referred to as the opportunity cost.

This industry has been proliferating since the past few decades in the country.
It has been a source of generating economic activity. Jobs have been created, businesses such
as retailers have been established and customers have been created. This perfectly goes in
line with the fact that markets are a good way to generate economic activity. “According to
unpublished IGDA Pakistan (International Game Developers Association) estimates, upto
$25 million in revenue is earned locally across the industry each year; with more than 8,000
professionals associated with videogame development” (DAWN).

Government plays a vital role in the protection of the property rights of game developers or
sellers. “The copyright subsisting in any work in any member country is protected in
Pakistan. Pakistan is also a member of the TRIPS Agreement which contains provisions of
the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works 1971” (Tribune).
However, pirated and copied software and gaming is quite common in the country:
“Unfortunately in Pakistan, piracy is a major issue. A large number of people watch illegally
copied movies, use pirated software or read photocopied books” (Tribune). This clearly
demands more stringent laws to be put in place and a stricter implementation of the ones
already in place.

Slide 13: How does the market work? The online gaming industry of Pakistan has been
slowly gaining popularity. E-gaming provided a platform for players around the globe to
showcase their skills. The government of Pakistan supported the expansion of this industry by
organizing tournaments including the 2019 Dew Gamers Arena in Expo centre Lahore and
the 2018 KP Electronics Sports tournament.

Slide 14: As the demand of online games changed drastically following the start of
coronavirus, various characteristics determined the responsiveness of the changes in demand
with changes in price. This includes the addictiveness of a game, types of gamers and the
income of the consumer. On the other hand, the supply is affected by various factors as well.
This includes the efficiency of production and the time period available.
Like all other industries the government also intervened at a number of instances. PUBG was
banned by the Pakistan Telecommunication authority following the suicide of a teenager boy
when he was not able to complete a mission. The packet loss scandal caused by the
introduction of a new Web Monitoring System also turned everyone against PTA. This
outraged the public and hashtags including #BanPTA and #BoycottPTA took over twitter
(The Pocket).

Slide 15: About the consumers, producers and efficiency of markets, there is a high demand
for online games in Pakistan. Therefore, many companies such as Apperloft and AI Logica
have started developing games to meet the population’s demand. Mindstorm Studios, a
Lahore based start-up, developed the video game Cricket Revolution, which holds the title to
be the official online game for the Cricket World Cup 2011. Pakistan has a free market for
online video games and therefore, the consumer and producer surplus is maximized.
However, it can be argued that online games have a negative impact on children due to the
exposure and violence normalized in them. Therefore, having a free market for online gaming
may not be the best way to maximize consumer welfare.

Slide 16: The cost of Production.

Firm's main aim is to maximize profit from their products. In Pakistan, the gaming industry is
proliferating. Many firms have started selling different products required for online gaming.
As the demand for online games increases, they have to increase their workers and their
marginal product. Gamers need controllers, headphones, gaming chairs, and different chips to
run their games. Firms that produce these check their marginal product. Firms' cost of
production might change after some time when there is an increase in their production level.
Its average total cost might change in the short run than in the long run.

Slide 17: Firms in competitive markets:

Many firms are competing in Online gaming in Pakistan. Microsoft, Sony, Nintendo, etc..
These firms check average revenue and marginal revenue to keep their firm in a competitive
market. Due to covid there was lockdown, the demand for online gaming increased. These
firms had to sell their products online and deliver them to buyers quickly compared to their
competitors to keep in competition. Firms' supply curve increased, and they maximized their
profit. No one was expecting covid to last for a long time so few firms were competing in this
market, but as lockdown extended new firms entered this market.

Slide 18: Monopoly

The online gaming industry in Pakistan does not operate on a Monopoly market structure.
Online gaming operates on internet, which can be accessed by any firm. Online games in
Pakistan include. PUBG, Fortnite, Call of duty. None have a 100% market share. They do not
set prices as all are free-to-play games. These online games generate revenue by in game
advertisements and micro-transactions like new skins for players bought by 3- 5% of players.
They do have a supply curve as only a limited number of players who can access the server or
it can crash. There is no price discrimination as it is free-to-play in every part of the country.

Slide 19: Monopolistic Competition

Online gaming in Pakistan is most suited to be market of monopolistic competition. As it
fulfills the assumptions, all sellers trying to differentiate their gaming services from
competitors and free entry and exit as everyone can develop a game. Game developers also
have the incentive to advertise to swing more consumers. They approach consumer to play
their games by making collaborations and integrating them in the game. Such as Fortnite
bringing new Marvel Character skins and PUBG bring Liverpool Football Club character
skins in the games.

Slide 20: Oligopoly

The gaming industry in Pakistan does share some similarities with oligopoly market structure
such as cooperation’s like Epic Games and PUBG have the same free-to-play battles and all
game developers use the same resources such as development houses. These firms would like
to act like monopolies, but self-interest drives them toward competition. However, they do
not operate on market of oligopoly. As there is no evidence to support collusion between
cooperation’s. They have no binding contracts for cartels. These firms do not engage in price
wars but mostly try to undermine others game developers by differentiating their games by
adding new features and modes in online games. This market there are a lot of competitors
and it does not stand in the assumptions of an oligopoly.

Over to you, Shafaan.

Shafaan
Slide 21: Thank you, Ali. Now, I’ll be talking about the Data and analytics which comprises
of three parts: Methods of obtaining the data, graphical representations and the conclusion of
our findings

Slide 22: The methods of obtaining the include a google forms survey as shown below,
which greatly aided our research. Moreover, because of certain limitations which we’ll talk
about later, we had to use data from the internet as well.
Slide 23: The online video game industry has become massive and generates billions of
dollars in revenue each year worldwide. Over 3 billion people are playing video games today,
and reports estimate the full value of the gaming industry to be around $300 billion today.
These numbers have risen especially due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Slide 24: Pakistan has a lot of potential in the gaming industry as well. There is a huge
number of gamers in Pakistan. Mobile phone is the primary gaming platform for the Pakistani
population.

Slide 25: Esports is gaining popularity in Pakistan, and Pakistanis have won numerous world-
level gaming competitions and earned a lot of money from it. This encourages the population
to play video games not only for fun but also professionally, hoping for it to lead to a full-
time career as a competitive e-sports player or a YouTube streamer. Therefore, online gaming
has opened ways for the youth to earn money. In an interview, Pakistan’ minister for Science
and Technology said, “The video game industry is worth 90 billion dollars. There is an
annual growth of 20 percent in the video gaming industry in Pakistan.” He also assured that
the government would be supporting and sponsoring local esports players in international
tournaments. PUBG Mobile is the most played video game in Pakistan, followed by other
games like Free Fire, Counter Strike, DOTA, Call of Duty, FIFA, and Tekken. First-person
and Third-person shooters are the most common games; however, the population takes
interest in other genres as well such as MOBA (Multiplayer Online Battle Arena) and
massively multiplayer online role-playing games.

Slide 26: Online gaming provides a platform for people to socialize in a healthy manner. It
can lead to positive outcomes such as meeting new friends, finding people of similar
interests, and improving socializing skills. In our survey, majority of the subjects believed
that video games did not affect their lives negatively.

Slide 27: However, video games today are specifically made to keep the player interested for
as long as possible. This leads to problems such as addiction to gaming. All our subjects in
our survey were students, and a certain percentage of them believes they are addicted to
gaming. It takes up all their time which they would otherwise spend studying or being
productive. The graphs depict all these trends.

Slide 28: Furthermore, people end up spending thousands of rupees on in-game purchases
only for cosmetic purposes. As can be seen from our survey results:

Slide 29: In conclusion, online gaming can provide a platform for an individual to engage
with others in a healthy environment, but too much time spent on gaming is harmful.
Addiction to gaming has significant opportunity cost and has other social and mental issues.
As can be seen from the data, it significantly hinders an individual’s academic progress.
People who spend more time gaming consistently score a lower GPA.
Unless one is set on pursuing a career in competitive gaming (esports), they should not spend
much time and money playing online video games since it has more drawbacks than benefits.
Even for those pursuing a career in this field, there can be a lot of obstacles for them as
despite the efforts of the government, esports and freelance opportunities are just not
common in Pakistan. They are better off having a more centralized goal of studying and
pursuing a different career path.
 ANAS
Slide 30: Thank you everybody. Now this leads to the final parts of our presentation which
are the conclusion, the bibliography and the limitations we faced.
Online games have become part of many people’s lives, especially teenagers. The video
games market is massive in size and therefore promotes economic activity, generating a lot of
revenue. There are many effects on an individual who participates in gaming regularly.
Gaming not only improves learning and adapting abilities of the player, but also develops
multi-tasking skills and concentration level. It is also a way to earn money for many through
esports and streaming. However, there is little representation for Pakistan in the esports
community worldwide, as esports is a neglected industry in the country. Furthermore, there
are limited freelance opportunities for streamers due to problems such as limited payment
options and bans on platforms. Though online games can be used for learning, education, and
provide positive social interaction on a safe platform, there are many caveats concerned with
them. These include negative impacts on physical and mental health, addiction, and even
suicide in the extreme cases. Gaming addiction adversely affects an individual’s studies as
well and distracts them from their practical goals. Therefore, an individual faces trade-off’s in
this field and it has high opportunity cost. Even though bans on games like PUBG mobile by
the government are heavily criticized, they may be beneficial in maximizing society’s
welfare. In summary, even though online games have their advantages and may lead to a
career if proper time is invested, one would be better off pursuing a different career path just
due to the lack of opportunities and stability for the field in Pakistan.

Slide 31: Here are some of the limitations we faced.

š Firstly, it was quite challenging for group members It was challenging to coordinate
as some members were out of the city, some could not be on campus and some had
busy schedules.
š It was hard to obtain data for the data anlysis as a small number of people responded
to the forms. Therefore, some data was obtained from the internet. Even from the
internet, the data about Pakistan was quite limited.
š Linking our findings to microeconomics due to the lack of such firms in Pakistan.

Slide 32: This is the bibliography which consists of the sources we used to aid our research
and explanations

Slide 33: Here is some more of it

Slide 34: Thank you ma’am, that’s all from our side. Please feel free to ask any questions.