Cross-Border Conflicts in Gaming: Indo-Pak Tensions inCompetitive Multiplayer Spaces

India and Pakistan share a deeply complex and tumultuous history stemming from their partition in 1947.This division was driven by religious and political differences and resulted in one of the largest migrations in human history, marked by widespread violence, displacement, and loss of life, leaving lasting scars on both nations.Since then, the relationship has been defined by wars (1947-1948, 1965, 1971, and 1999), territorial disputes, and frequent skirmishes and ceasefire violations, further solidifying the animosity between the two countries.These geopolitical tensions manifest not only in real-world interactions but also in digital spaces like social media and discussion forums, where negative interactions perpetuate animosity and reinforce stereotypes (Javaid & Sahrai, 2020;Nawaz et al., 2022).However, the nature of online interactions between Indian and Pakistani players in multiplayer video games remains largely unexplored, even though players from both countries frequently connect to the same servers due to geographical proximity and similar ping rates.This gap in research is particularly notable given that nationalism and national identity often manifest in cross-cultural multiplayer gaming spaces (Gavrilovi, 2019;Lin & Sun, 2011).This exploratory study aimed to examine how geopolitical tensions between India and Pakistan manifested in cross-border social interactions within multiplayer games.Specifically, games with competitive and PvP elements were chosen, given that they are widely popular among players from India and Pakistan and feature competitive structures where success depends on collaboration and communication.Examples include Rust (Facepunch Studios, 2018), Valorant (Riot Games, 2020), and Counter-