There's a new Russian game taking the internet by storm. It is called The Blue Whale Challenge or Suicide Game. This is an online game that can be downloaded onto any device. Once this game is downloaded onto the device, it starts analyzing data and can no longer be deleted.
Suicide game
It is a game in which the participant is assigned a curator, or administrator to assign them their challenges daily. The challenges vary from watching a scary movie alone, waking up in the middle of the night, and carving a blue whale and different shapes into their skin, and lastly, committing suicide to win the game.
After each challenge completion prior to committing suicide to win, the participant must upload a picture to his/her administrator as proof.
In order to get the participant to commit suicide, the administrator makes them feel negative and insecure about themselves. This game makes it so that someone who is suffering from a mental health disorder believes it's just a game, when in reality it is much more than that. It is a ploy that makes it increasingly harder for the individual to live a normal life or to actually continue living their life. It reaches a point where, if a participant chooses that they no longer want to continue these challenges, they receive threats.
Where did the game start?
This game was started by a Russian website called Vkontake, but authorities fear it will spread to sites like Twitter and Facebook. Reports show that this game has spread from Russia to central Asian countries, Brazil, and is making its way to Chile.
There have been reports of over 100 suicides from late 2015 to early 2016 in Russia that can be linked to this game, but investigators have been able to find evidence of this game attributing to the deaths of two school girls aged 15-16.
Yulia Constantinova and Veronika Volvaka fell to their deaths from their fourteen story flat. Evidence retrieved from their computers showed that both girls were members of social media groups associated with the game.
Parents are being urged to monitor and pay close attention to their children's behavior and social media actions, and to also have a conversation about bullying and its risks to mental health, and lastly, to teach their children about online safety to help prevent these situations.
To victims of this game or to anyone who lives with a mental disorder, there are hotlines around the world that can help.
National Suicide Prevention Hotline:
1-800-273-8255
Mental Health Hotline:
1-888-611-3284
