Categories
Web 3.0 Tech Law Tech

Pixels to Possibilities: Unravelling India’s Gaming Odyssey

Written by : Ankita Sambyal on Digilah (Tech Thought Leadership

Who isn’t fond of video games? From teens to adults, isn’t it? Some play video games as a source of living or to relieve stress. 

The genesis of video games dates back to their early development when a human being used to interact with a massive video device and an analog remote to give commands to the machine to move a pixelated character. 

The earliest recorded U.S. video game patent dates back to 1948, known as the ‘Cathode-ray tube Amusement Device.’ Some of the earliest video game examples include the Nimrod Computer, a massive machine weighing over a ton, as well as Oxo (1952), Tennis for Two (1958), and Spacewar (1961). 

However, these early video games were not available for public purchase due to their immense size and high costs.

The evolution in video game technology has witnessed the progression from classic games like Mario to multiplayer gaming and now to the concept of metaverse gaming.

 Ralph Baer, the Father of Video Games, played a significant role in advancing the Gaming Industry.

In 1967, he invented the prototype called the ‘T.V. Game Unit #1,’ followed by other inventions like the ‘Brown Box Light Gun’ and the ‘Pump Unit’ in 1967-68. In 1972, Baer introduced the Video Game Console named “Odyssey.” 

The Global gaming industry experienced substantial growth, with a valuation of USD 231.34 billion in 2022 and a projected value of USD 353.35 billion over the next five years. 

The year 2023 shows promising developments, including the introduction of generative AI support that simplifies gaming development and increased investments in the metaverse.

In contrast, the Indian gaming industry was valued at USD 2.8 billion in 2022 and is expected to reach USD 5.0 billion by 2025.

Considering the exponential growth of the gaming industry, it becomes crucial to establish and enforce regulations to protect the interests of players. 

These regulations should focus on promoting fair play, ensuring player safety, safeguarding minors, protecting intellectual property rights, and preserving the confidentiality of data and sensitive personal information of gamers.

 Additionally, such regulations should consider the financial interests of both the gaming industry and the players.

“Most Parliamentarians don’t have a clue as regards the challenges or the opportunities the games industry faces” – David Puttnam

A videogame can be classified on the basis of mode: – 

    1. Online Games

    1. Offline Games. 

Further, Online and Offline Games can further be classified on the basis of interaction: – 

    1. Game of Skill

    1. Game of Chance.

    1. A Mixture of Game of Skill and Chance.

On 6th April 2023, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology of India proposed Amendments to the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, which gives a comprehensive framework for Online Gaming Ecosystem, however, these amendments still fail to address the vital connotations of the Gaming Industry. 

Although, the endeavour has been made through implementing these Amendments to define and explain the terms like “Online Game” (Sec. 2(qa)), “Online Gaming Intermediary”(Sec. 2(qb)), and “Online Real Money Game” (Sec. 2(qd)), however, the definitions and explanations are not comprehensive enough, and there is still a significant gap in the interpretation of these terminologies to fit in the practicality of today’s gaming that we are witnessing in and around.

In 2020, the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) in partnering with Ernst & Young (EY), released a report stating that USD 817 million has been garnered by the Indian Online Gaming Industry, which involved real-money transactions which depicts that 71% of Indian players are involved with ‘Online Real Money Gaming’. 

Therefore, Regulators need to take a nuanced approach while defining online games and should consider different examples and illustrations to help clarify the distinction between games of skill and games of chance.

    • In situations where monetary transactions are involved in an online game (skill-based or chance-based), it is crucial to adopt a risk-based approach and enforce mandatory KYC verifications for the players utilizing that platform. Additionally, the platform should implement restrictions on financial transactions based on spending limits to ensure responsible and controlled monetary involvement.

    • The legislative amendment should provide clear and detailed explanation of fraudulent activities, that occur in the virtual realm, including services that hijack gaming accounts, theft of virtual identities, fraudulent manipulation of in-game items, cheating and hacking through the use of bots, deceptive game modification, Phony Game Currency Sellers, etc.

    • The legislative amendment should provide detailed and clear distinction of gaming intermediaries and their roles involved in the virtual realm such as online gaming platforms, game developers, publishers, marketplaces etc. along with their roles and responsibilities such as hosting game servers, game distributors, facilitating communication among players, offering customer support etc.

    • The gaming platforms must be legally obligated to provide clear and explicit information on their websites regarding the nature of the game mode in which the player is engaging, distinguishing it is primarily based on skill, chance or a combination of both. By doing so, they will ensure transparency, promote user awareness, and facilitate a fair gameplay environment in compliance with legal requirements.

“The people are pieces of software called avatars. They are the audio-visual bodies that people use to communicate with each other in the metaverse.” – Neal Stephenson

As we have transitioned from traditional gaming to more immersive and interactive experiences facilitated by VR Headsets, we may also witness the emergence of evolved forms of criminal activities in this virtual space. 

Some Countries like Hong Kong are policing the Metaverse to design ‘user safety’ and to educate the public about the potential dangers associated with Web 3.0 and the Metaverse. 

In conclusion, it is imperative for India, which is having a base of 421 million of online gamers and is likely to reach over 442 million by the end of 2023, needs to take a thorough revamp of its gaming regulations to encompass games such as Blockchain-based gaming, Metaverse Gaming. 

By proactively, embracing and regulating these advancements, can help protect consumers, prevent problems of gambling, and ensure a fair and level playing field for all participants that can help India to position itself as a leader in effectively overseeing the Gaming Industry. 

This strategic approach will ensure that India remains competitive and doesn’t lag behind in effectively policing the dynamic and evolving gaming landscape. 

Most asked questions

What is the current size of the gaming industry?

What are the job opportunities in the gaming industry?

Most searched queries

Fastest growing gaming company

Mobile gamers in India

Hello readers! Hope you liked what you read today. Click the like button at the bottom of this page and share insights with your colleagues and friends!

For more such amazing content follow Digilah

Categories
AI Tech

𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐟𝐚𝐫 𝐝𝐨 𝐰𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐠𝐨?

Written by : Marcus Parade on Digilah (Tech Thought Leadership)

𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐟𝐚𝐫 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐰𝐞 𝐠𝐨?

There will be a time sooner than we think, when you will not recognize the difference of a human being and a human robot said an expert of robotics already 10 years ago.

We are still in our early days of AI and robotics and already now, amazing advances have been made in a very short time.

In concern of AI, all kinds of industries are or will be affected, where huge amounts of data are accessible to be processed.

𝐀𝐈 𝐬𝐨𝐥𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐯𝐢𝐝𝐞 𝐢𝐧 many cases better efficiency, insights and incredible time savings and therefore also support an increased competitive advantage. 

AI is one of the most exciting and rapidly advancing technologies of our time.

𝐖𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐞 𝐠𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬, 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐥𝐥 trying to figure out the legal and ethical implications of a content world increasingly turned on by AI, is the progress of this technology advancing “day by day”.

𝐖𝐞𝐥𝐥, 𝐥𝐞𝐭’𝐬 𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐤 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐀𝐈 𝐜𝐚𝐧 do now for us 🙂💡. We’ve all heard of Alexa, Google and Siri Assistants – these are all examples of AI in the form of virtual assistants

But AI is also being used in a far more wide range of industries – from healthcare to finance to retail and much much more.

For example, AI-powered diagnostic tools are being used to help doctors identify diseases like cancer more quickly and accurately. In finance, AI is being used to detect and prevent fraud.

And in retail, AI is being used to personalize shopping experiences and make precise recommendations to customers.

AI is also being used in many other industries such as transportation, manufacturing, law, astronomy, agriculture, energy – basically 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐧𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐢𝐭 and again – the AI is getting better day by day …

𝐁𝐮𝐭 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐟𝐮𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞 🌎? 𝐖𝐞𝐥𝐥, 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭’𝐬 where I find things get really interesting. Some experts predict that AI will eventually be able to do just about anything a human can do and I personally think even far far beyond in many fields.

For example, AI can be used to perform complex surgeries and improve our mobility and here I do not only mean self-driving cars, but also the overall complexity of traffic and logistics and more.

AI is also expected to play a key role in fields such as natural language processing, image recognition, climate prediction and the bit scary part – military weapons and operations.

What I particularly like is that AI might even find out more about the languages of our whales singing 🐳🎵🐋 as well as other animals 🦅. This will teach us a lot about language structures, communication, emotions of animals and even ourselves.

𝐀𝐈 𝐚𝐥𝐬𝐨 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐨𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐭𝐨 change the way we consume information, and how we interact with our world 🌏. As AI becomes more advanced, it’s expected that it will be able to “understand ” natural existing and ancient languages, and carry on conversations with humans that are indistinguishable from conversations with other humans.

𝐌𝐚𝐲𝐛𝐞 𝐰𝐞 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐚𝐜𝐜𝐞𝐩𝐭 AI as an additional mega tool that helps our lives to make our challenges easier. 

A bit questionable I personally find though, that there are many start-ups now, tapping markets for people, that want to hold conversations with their beloved ones that have passed away 💛.

Whereas it is often a big challenge to cope with a lost life, I think it is also important to strive forward towards our future. But everyone should decide for themselves and I think experiences will solve many questions.

AMAZING 𝐀𝐈 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐚𝐥𝐬𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐭𝐨 process and understand images and videos, and make predictions, decisions and summaries based on all kinds of data. 

What has been recently released for example is the AI used for texting called chat.openAI.com (COAI). The provided data for this platform here is the complete internet that is open and not secured.

𝐍𝐨𝐭 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐨𝐧 𝐢𝐬 Google on “red 🚨 alert”, as their business strategy is nowadays being questioned as them not being up to date enough in comparison to the progresses of AI.

Whereas the search engine of Google relies on their algorithms to search for the most relevant results, will AI be able to provide more and more precise SUMMARIES of different sources combined of what you are searching for.

𝐁𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐬𝐞 results, so far the results of the AI and COAI are amazing, but when I read some of the AI texts, you will be able to detect some limits at the stage of today. So far the texts of COAI sound quite emotionless and yet quite perfect in many cases.

As an example, job applicants have been invited for job interviews by letting AI write ✍📜 them their resume as well as the attached letter. In the end, we humans have to decide, if we want to use the AI proposals, adjust it or leave it out. 

And such as in the example with the job interview, no AI can play your individual role, your character and your true emotions while talking in real life face to face.

𝐀𝐥𝐬𝐨 𝐢𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮 ask the AI for jokes on COAI for example, I found them 𝐬𝐨 𝐟𝐚𝐫 a bit middle range. I asked for example 3 times, to tell me jokes about AI:

“Why was the AI sad 😪? Because it had no emotions.”

“Why did the robot 🤖 go on a diet? Because it wanted to reduce its “byte” size!”

“Why was the AI cold ⛄❄? Because it left its algorithms open!”

𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐬𝐞 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝐨𝐧𝐞 some examples, where the AI so far is still hitting its limits. It is also possible that these jokes existed already in the internet and that the jokes were not independently combined.

But as mentioned, AI gets better day by day. The AI will even be able to adapt to your personal writing and speaking style and you will be able to “outsource” many kinds of texting AND research.

In my opinion, ANY industry that is involved with any kind of texting or large data research – even companies such as creating advertising spots and many many more, will be affected “massively” by the progress of AI. The innovative ideas however I will stay in our power 🤜 – if we choose to.

𝐀𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐈 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐬𝐚𝐲 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 need less employees, as any kind of texting can be done much faster. And the AI even at this stage can deliver very good outputs in order for people 🎭 to have a much faster start with the usage of COAI.

In my opinion, “luckily” so far, the human evaluation and creativity is more than absolutely needed, but let’s talk again in let’s say 10 years again – the dice 🎲 might roll on improved adapted ground …

𝐁𝐮𝐭 𝐢𝐭’𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐛𝐨𝐰𝐬 🌈 𝐚𝐧𝐝 sunshine 🌞 – some people are worried that as AI becomes more advanced, it could lead as mentioned to widespread job losses and even the rise of a robot 🤖 “rebellion”.

There is also a concern that AI could be used to create autonomous weapons, and to gather data on individuals without their knowledge or consent.

𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐦𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐤 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 Elon Musk, but I find his quote about AI very interesting, that AI could be the biggest threat for human kind. 

Logically I think however, it should “easily” be possible to create secure gateways for AI not be able to become independent and to totally restrict opportunistic behaviour in favour of AI so far.

𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐟𝐚𝐫 𝐝𝐨 𝐰𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐠𝐨?? I personally believe that most technological advances will be tried out if it is more or less promising for a competitive advantage.

It’s also integrated in our genes for our survival instinct to strive for technological advances. As AI provides competitive advantages and an easier life, this is and will be part of our evolutionary processes of technology surrounding us. 

It will accompany us now and for our common & united future. As the scientist Darwin already stated “Survival of the fittest”.

𝐄𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 standards will need to be set, as the AI is extracting and combining data from all kinds of previous inputs that is found in our internet. For example the first upload bans for AI artwork have started. 

I can follow these measures and as of now, I think AI inclusion should a t least be identified, but this could also be wishful thinking…

𝐎𝐯𝐞𝐫all, AI has the potential to make our lives better in countless ways. 

AI can helps us be more efficient and productive, it can help us make better decisions, and it can help us to understand and interact with the world in innovative, inspirational and faster ways.

And who knows, maybe in the future we’ll all have robot butlers to do our chores and make us 007-🍸 Martinis or whatever … 😁

𝐒𝐨, 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 – we – 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐢𝐭 – 𝐚 brief overview of what AI can do now and what our future might hold. 

It’s an exciting time to be alive and to see how far AI has come, and it is going to be even more exciting to see what our future will reveal.

The possibilities are quite endless and I am most curious to see how AI will shape our world in the coming years ahead to our common advantage.

𝐓𝐨𝐝𝐚𝐲’𝐬 𝐀𝐈 𝐢𝐬 still narrow and often yet not so very intelligent, but it soon will be, as the tech is getting better day by day – like the harnessing of electricity – that has changed the very fabric of our human life. 

Some scientists proclaimed that in 2029, AI will be “smarter” than us humans – others say quite a bit later…

𝐋𝐞𝐭 𝐮𝐬 hopefully only go as far, as where we humans still remain the ultimate decision making power without opportunistic behaviour. AND having unifying sustainable goals supported by AI, to save our lovely planet with humans living on it 🌍

💛🌹🌞

𝐈 𝐡𝐨𝐩𝐞 𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 much you like or found my article somewhat inspiring – 𝐈𝐅 – perhaps you might like to comment or place a 👍 or so? 🌞

Most searched question

How far can we go with AI?

What Will artificial intelligence be like in 20 years?

Most searched queries

How long till AI takes over

Is AI harmful in future


Hello readers! Hope you liked what you read today. Click the like button at the bottom of this page and share insights with your colleagues and friends!

For more such amazing content follow Digilah