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K.B., whose life was in danger after starting to play the Blue
Whale game, was saved by the Green Crescent Training and
Counseling Center (YEDAM) shortly before fulfilling a final
deadly task. K.B. managed to hold on to life, and discovered a
talent for painting thanks to the development training received
at the Green Crescent Training and Counseling Center. K.B. is
now counting the days until the doors open on their painting
exhibition.
K.B. is a young personwhose life came
under threat from his obsession with
the Blue Whale game. S/he started
to play the game at the age of 17,
fulfilling unconditionally the tasks
assigned via a mobile application.
As K.B. continued deeper into the
game day-by-day, the assigned tasks
became more dangerous. On several
occasions, K.B. climbed a building to
jump off, but was afraid to complete
the assigned task. At this point, K.B.’s
salvation began, being directed by a
familyphysiciantotheGreenCrescent
Training and Counseling Center. In
interviews with psychologists at
the Green Crescent Training and
Counseling Center, the shy and
timid K.B. explained their descent
into game addiction: “I was deeply
shaken when I lost my job due to my
epileptic seizures. After losing job,
my loneliness increased significantly.
To make matters worse, I had almost
no friends. To begin with, the game
was like medicine for me. I was both
passing my time and feeling like I
was communicating with something.
Naturally, I started to spend most of
my time playing the game, and was
dragged into this vortex.”
Declined the deadly mission
Despite wanting to quit the Blue
Whale game out of fear and deleting
it many times, K.B. could not give
up the game. S/he would delete the
game, but would then reloaded it
out of curiosity about the next tasks.
Following the instructions given in
the game, K.B. shaved his/her head
and even scratched his/her wrists.
Once the psychologists of the Green
Crescent Training and Counseling
Center won K.B.’s trust, it became
easier to talk about the instructions
given in the game, putting his/her
mind at rest. K.B. brought a bag full of
pills that were to be carried as one of
the assigned tasks. K.B. also said that
s/he had gone up to the roof several
times to jump off, but had been too
scared.
Counting the days to the opening of
a painting exhibition
To begin with, the Green Crescent
Training and Counseling Center
psychologists informed K.B. about
the dangers of the game, through
which it became obvious that the
main purpose of the game was to hurt
people. They told K.B. that the game
administrators were able to see those
playing the game through the phone
camera, and so were aware of what
they were doing. With K.B.’s consent,
the front and rear cameras of the
phone were covered with tape and
the game was deleted. Subsequently,
accompanied by psychologists, K.B.
went to the family physician center
again. The doctor accessed the
family’s address from the patient
information record and notified
the police. K.B. was then referred
to Erenköy Psychiatric Hospital by
the doctor in the family physician
center. Throughout this process,
K.B. kept in touch with the Green
Crescent Training and Counseling
Center, and discovered a talent for art
during the development training. K.B.
started attending the Green Crescent
Training and Counseling Center 3 or 4
days a week to develop his/her newly
discovered drawing talent, and is now
counting the days until the opening of
his/her own painting exhibition.
SAVED FROM
BLUE WHALE
BY GREEN
CRESCENT
31