Baba Ramdev’s next, after Kimbho – a PUBG-style mobile multiplayer game?

Given the mad interest in PUBG among kids, I do expect Baba Ramdev to create a PUBG-equivalent mobile game. After all, he did try creating a chat app called Kimbho, so why not a game, next?

Only difference – the game won’t be about killing people and the last man standing winning. It’d be about the attainment of nirvana by giving material things away.

And I mean this in all seriousness. After all, the aim of God-men is to reach people with their message (I’m not starting a debate on the validity of the message. That’s a vastly different topic altogether). And they pick communication channels that help them do this the best possible way. They (Like Baba Ramdev’s Aathaa TV or Mata Amritanandamayi’s Amrita TV) started TV channels for this purpose, and then joined multiple social media platforms eventually. The simple logic – fish where the fish lives.

Now, if youngsters are spending a LOT of time on mobile games, I’d definitely expect God-men to create games for them. And there is already an idea about what the game will be about.

I heard the short story ‘Navigators’ by Mike Meginnis recently, on the LeVar Burton podcast. You can listen to it here too.

More than the story, a particular idea from the story was really, really intriguing. The story features a boy and his father as they engross themselves within the world of the fictional NES (Nintendo Entertainment System) video game, Legend of Silence (LoS).

Legend of Silence is different from other games; whereas in Metroid or Zelda the player character became more powerful as he played the game, the heroine of Legend of Silence was diminished by every artifact she found.

So the power-ups in the game are really power-downs. The objective of the game is to give up everything and attain nirvana!

I know there are shedding-type card games (like Uno) where you need to discard all the cards in your hand.

But, is there a video game where the objective is to start with everything and give it all up as you move? And the first person who has nothing left is the winner? I know that sounds distinctly Buddhist, but perhaps such a game may be the need of the hour given how we tend to accumulate everything, and given how minimalism (and lack of ownership in assorted spheres of life) is also catching up at the same time.

And isn’t such game the perfect one for God-men like Baba Ramdev, to engage a newer set of followers?

What’s even more interesting is that the author of the story (Navigators), Mike Meginnis blogged about how his imaginary game, Legend of Silence would look like thanks to a fan’s concept art! Dave Wells, the artist, literally starts with, “The beginning of Legend of Silence, when you must relinquish your crown and begin your quest. Press B to drop your crown”!

Take a look at that more concept arts and thoughts in Mike’s blog post.