Slashdot Mirror


GameToo Much...... And Die!

A 24-year-old South Korean man died after playing computer games nonstop for 86 hours, police said yesterday. The jobless man, identified by police only by his last name Kim, was found dead at an Internet cafe in Kwangju, 260 kilometres southwest of Seoul, they said. Quoting witnesses, police detective Oh Myong-sik in Kwangju said the man had been virtually glued to the computer since late last Friday and had no decent sleep and meals. The man collapsed in front of the counter early yesterday but soon regained consciousness. He then went to the toilet where he later was found dead, the police officer said. Initial investigation ruled out the possibility of murder, police said. An autopsy was planned. Source Article can be found in The Sydney Morning Herald In related gaming news: sam_handelman writes "In an article on the front page of the online edition, (free reg required) the new york times takes a rather negative look at the rise of broadband gaming in South Korea. The author, Howard W French, is a Times staff writer, with a background in staggering human tragedy, which may help to explain why he thinks my hobby is an epidemic. There was a wired article about Korean broadband (summary: they have lots), which we already discussed."

4 of 851 comments (clear)

  1. Skip NYTimes reg by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative
    This link will go directly to the article in question, no reg required.

    Thank you, Google News!

  2. Re:Anyone know what game he was playing? by greenfly · · Score: 5, Informative

    For those of you who *don't* remember that, the negative worlds were an easter egg of sorts in Super Mario 1 that I believe the developers put in there to test the water levels.

    You go to level 1-2, which is underground, and go to the very end of the level, but not through the final pipe, if you stand on top of the pipe and knock out all the blocks to the left of it (but not to the right) and jump backwards a special way, you can walk through the wall and jump in one of the warp zone pipes before they list worlds 3, 4, and 5. If you do that you will warp to a negatively numbered world which is an water level that keeps going.

  3. Re:Deep Vein Thrombosis? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    IAA physician. (BTW, do Americans (or is it a New Zealander in this case?) really call all physicians "doctors"? Cute.)

    isn't it the case that sitting anywhere for too long can cause blood clots to form in the legs?

    No. You get a harmless and physiologically normal venous pooling of blood, but if you get clotting from sitting still you suffer from a disease.

  4. Sleep Deprivation is VERY bad for you. by alchemist68 · · Score: 5, Informative

    Dude, do you have any idea the brain damage you inflicted on yourself? Sleep deprivation is very bad for you. Go to a Medical College Library and look up a book called "Principles of Sleep Medicine, Vol.1 & Vol.2". What you can read in there will scare the shit out of you so much that you'll go to bed every night for the rest of life consistently on time if you don't want to be either dead at 50 or drooling and smiling at a wall when you're 65. Sleep deprivation is very VERY bad for you.

    Why?

    Sleep not only controls our circadian rhythms, but also apetite control, immune system function, and cognitive performance. I think you can see where this is going.