Technology 2
The blue whale challenge is one of the most recent psychological cyber games that have
brought a whole new phenomenon on the social entertainment network. Its origin is in Russia
since from 2016 but has since been spread to other countries. Its setting is similar to that of the
‘Nerve’. It’s a dare game comprised of either watchers or players where the players accept dares
from watchers in return of monetary value. The watchers dare the players to do certain tasks as
part of their challenge. Like nerve, Blue whale game involves a series of tasks assigned by the
administrator for 50 days and the final stage of it requires the player to commit suicide. The
game has been criticized especially in Kuwait for its insanity and brain washing technique which
has claimed 130 lives in the past year (Kuwait Times). It has been reported that those who
engage in the game have succumbed to self-harm (e.g. drawing a whale on the skin using a
razor) and crazy acts (e.g. committing suicide) which has pushed the Kuwait government to take
precautionary measures on the effects of the game on the youths.
In the Nerve one of the characters Sydney, accepts a dare challenge from the watchers to
walk on a ladder that is suspended between two buildings and in the process, she drops her phone
and gets scared. She bails out and loses the game. Likewise, two teenagers, 14 and 15 years
threw themselves from the top of a fourteen story building in Siberia after they had completed
the 50 steps series of tasks (Richard, 2017). Because of such incidences, the physical built
environment has been used as the avenue by watchers of the game to dare their victims into
committing such acts of disgrace. Kuwait town which is characterized with one too many of such
tall buildings and the administrator can use such to get their victims to undertake tasks such as
walking on a ladder between the two buildings. Parents are therefore advised to be vigilant with
who/ what their children interact with in the social network platform.
