The pandemic affected people in many ways — some lost their livelihoods, some their loved ones, and others were locked indoors. With everything going virtual, people took time to adapt to the “new normal”, which turned out to be a stressful experience for many. Maintaining a work-life balance became difficult with children and spouses working from the same confined environment.
With everything going virtual, most people were looking for ways to relieve the pandemic-induced stress. Online games turned out to be a boon in such times. Not only were mobile phone and laptop sales unprecedented in the last two years but also the online app and game downloads.
According to a study conducted by the All-India Gaming Federation (AIGF) in June 2021, among 2,400 Indians between 18 and 44 years who play online games, approximately 26% said online games are stress busters and 24% said online games help them earn money. One of the most popular online games that helps people relieve stress while making money is online rummy for cash games which unlike poker is legal in India. Players in many states of India can Play Rummy for Cash legally.
Top online games to bust stress:
Online Rummy:
Historically, card games have been played in India in social situations as a form of bonding. Websites like Classic Rummy have brought the same experience online where you can interact with peers, form groups, and play rummy on mobile for fun or compete for cash. According to recently conducted research, there are over one lakh players playing rummy online at any given time, on various online rummy platforms.
Professional gamers, depending on their skill can earn in the range of Rs 5,000 to Rs 50,000 per month. Online real money gaming platforms like Classic Rummy organize tournaments in which the prize money can go up to a few lakhs per tournament for exclusive Rummy Clubs. Becoming a professional rummy player requires a wide variety of skills like critical thinking, creative thinking, decision making, and problem-solving. And the best part, Rummy, unlike poker, is a game of skill and is legal in India.
Fruit Ninja: A hugely popular calming game that, at one point, had all of us addicted. This game came in with the advent of touchscreen smartphones. It is a simple game of slashing fruits at high speed, and the faster you slash, the higher your score. After three misses, the game is over. Fruit Ninja has three modes — Classic, Zen, and Arcade. With special power-ups, colorful graphics, and thrilling music, you will probably be unable to put your phone down.
Sudoku: Sudoku is just the perfect game for times when you need a break from the mundane and need to give your brain a bit of exercise. It looks like a deceptively simple number game of entering correct numbers in rows, columns, and grids but becomes brain-scratching as you go up levels.
According to a Duke University research, problem-solving games like Sudoku can help reduce anxiety, and negative feelings. “These findings help reinforce a strategy whereby individuals may be able to improve their emotional functioning—their mood, their anxiety, their experience of depression—not only by directly addressing those phenomena but also by indirectly improving their general cognitive functioning,” the study’s lead co-author says.
Experts, however, say that a balance should be maintained while playing any form of online game. While these games provide a quick escape for youngsters from reality, they can quickly become addictive and also lead to people compromising their finances and social life for these games.
Dr. Samir Parikh, a consultant psychiatrist at Max Healthcare hospital says, “The dazzling splendour of the virtual world makes the youth succumb easily. Websites like secondlife.com, gojiyo.com, Farmville, when they are introduced in the panorama of the animated world, affect their mental health to a great extent. Youngsters tend to get cut off from the real world and become engrossed in virtual gaming websites. Eventually, they tend to lose interest in their daily normal activities, start losing interest in curricular, and co-curricular activities and studies appear secondary to them, and winning these games becomes of primary importance,” he said.
With the right kind of balance, online games like rummy on Classic Rummy are great to unwind and beat the stress.
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