The gaming industry in India continues to be tiny compared to the global market-$300 mn versus the global $36 bn, by 2009, according to Nasscom. And within this the big picture is on the small screen-mobile gaming is slated to garner 68% of the total industry, and will be the key growth driver.

With the number of subscribers increasing, and a slew of mobile gaming developers ready to whip up content for the smallest screen, this is the way for the gaming industry to take. Premium PC and console games still cost upwards of Rs 2,000, while a game download is yours for Rs 50 to Rs 150. The number of handsets far, far outnumber those of consoles and PCs in India, thus laying out the perfect growth scenario for mobile games.

On the positive side games are not just boredom busters. They are known to enhance and develop skills in a person. Better eye-hand coordination, ability to handle stressful situations, improved strategic thinking and planning, better concentration, ability to solve complex problems-for long these are the advantages that have been observed in game players.

As many parents will agree, games are addictive as well. We hear of incidents in which parents see a shocking mobile bill at the month-end-as their 10-year old is spending hours on the high-end mobile. Most parents do not have the time, patience, or knowledge to figure out how to download a ring tone, let alone a game. So when their kids end up playing games, beyond reprimands, we really do not expect much to happen. The problem, of course, is universal. Bill Gates has had to put a time limit of 45 minutes of screen time per day for his son!

Soon we will hear of incidents where some game inadvertently (or may be not) comes up with pornographic content. One download by a senior school kid is enough to ensure that it does the rounds in quicktime. Or there could be cases where a game has a hidden virus which strikes a certain brand of mobiles. A download, and poof...the address book is gone, or worse, dirty SMSes are sent out to all in the contact list. So you don't just pay for the game, but for the 300 SMSes that go out to your family, friends, clients, colleagues...!

Repetitive stress injuries, bad posture-related problems-all issues also seen with PC gaming-could get associated with mobile gaming as well. But by far the biggest thing we should worry about is our youngsters growing up as people with a short attention span with escapist tendencies. As the effect of many dazzling technologies vying for their attention, we could have a set of young people who are unable to communicate effectively. This and other possible problems are getting highlighted.

The problems are ancient but applied to mobile devices they acquire frightening dimensions. It's time to raise the questions to ensure that the negatives outweigh the positives.

Obviously the need is to have a certain amount of legislation supported by awareness and education. Are mobile game developers in sync? Will the cell companies' drive to rake up numbers turn a blind eye to these issues till it is too late-as the recent news items on adult content demonstrate? How can we bring education into gaming-there are many studies worldwide that suggest that the mobile lends itself to be a fantastic teaching tool?

As a country we seem to be specializing in building cars before highways and increasing aircrafts before expanding airports.

So will the necessary steps to aid healthy growth of mobile gaming also come after the industry booms?

Shyam malhotra
editor-in-chief VOICE&DATA
shyamm@cybermedia.co.in