'Korean Love's striking similarities with Blue Whale, fatal online task-based games behind scores of suicides

Online task-based games like the Korean Love Game, Blue Whale, Blackout Challenge, and Salt and Ice Breaking have once again come into the limelight, proving fatal for children and teenagers. With the horrifying suicide case of three Ghaziabad-based teenagers hitting headlines, the focus on the Korean Love game has taken the spotlight, raising concerns about online safety for kids. 

With limited and unconfirmed details about The Korean Love game, a task-based game linked to Korean culture, it allegedly shares similarities with Blue Whale, another task-based game that led to scores of suicides in the past. Like Blue Whale, the Korean Love Game (or Korean Lover) has deep structural and psychological effect, primarily in how it manipulates young users through escalating tasks. 

What is the similarity between the Blue Whale and the Korean Love Game? 

There are parallels in games' multi-stage format that involve roughly 50 escalating tasks, which have daily activities to build trust and habit. Both the Korean Love game and the Blue Whale reportedly culminate in a final task involving self-harm or suicide. Both games rely on fear and threats from an administrator or "curator" to keep players obedient.

In Korean Love Game, players are exploited with fascinations for K-pop and K-dramas, making players feel 'chosen,' eventually using the fear of losing the virtual lover to coerce them into dangerous actions. The users may adopt Korean names and identities, stop attending school, and distance themselves from their families to focus entirely on the virtual world in the game.  Players in both games tend to withdraw from reality. The games target vulnerable teenagers and minors who are more susceptible to dopamine-driven reward loops and online social pressure. 

However, there is a difference, as Blue Whale was often a "dark" challenge from the start, the Korean Love Game is more insidious because it presents itself as a romantic or caring role-play. 

About the Ghaziabad suicide case linked to the Korean Love game

The tragic incident took place at around 2:15 am last night under Tila Mod Police Limits in the Loni area. The deceased minor girls have been identified as Nishika (16), Prachi (14), and Pakhi (12), daughters of Chetan Kumar, a resident of Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh. The ACP further stated that the minors were immediately taken to a 50-bed hospital, where they were declared dead. DCP Patil stated that the police have found a suicide note at the residence, which clarified that they were influenced by Korean culture. However, no specific name of any game application was mentioned in the note.