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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."
A man recently died after drinking 15 gallons of beer.
Too much of anything is never good... don't people ever learn? First we had that guy who committed suicide after he played way too much EverQuest and spiraled into depression, and now this.
using namespace slashdot;
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It must have been the games that did it!
Force anyone to sit in one place for 86 hours without sleep, food, or water, and I'm sure at least SOME of them would die.
But I'm sure it was the GAMES that killed him.
GoatPigSheep, the 3 most important food groups
Now they can't blame video games for increasing violent emotions and actions. How are you going to be violent to someone if you can't pull yourself away from the computer long enough to eat.
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I'll
I'm REALLY sure this guy's family would love to read your humor. Especially since the guy, well, DIED.
That video games are a bad habit and can kill you!
Wait, no, it's just proof that being a dumbass can kill you. Never mind, carry on.
SIGFEH
Pretty sure the geek way of dying involves electrocution, or maybe immolation (provided it's an electrical fire I guess).
Now if he'd died at the keyboard that'd be a different matter...
It's not that I'm Anti-American - I'm Pro-Freedom
What does this have to do with gaming? If I sat infront of a TV, computer, or alone counting bumps in paint for 86 hours straight, the same thing would happen to me.
Another lame attempt to take a stab at videogames and how EVIL they are...
Not that I don't believe you but you should include some links/citations before making a statement like that (I know, crazy talk). I could only find the following:
Shanghai Cybrcafe Shut Down
The real story here is not how this man died, but where he died. This man was in an internet cafe, surrounded by other people.
People die like this more often than we realize. We don't notice because they they die as shut-ins at home. Most of them are obsessive compulsive or mentally ill, and usually takes a while before their bodies are even discovered.
This man, however, had been playing computer games in a busy public place, nonstop for 86 hours. If any of the staff or fellow users noticed, none of them saw fit to intervene. Since he was paying to use the computer, the staff must have had some idea how long he had been there. Also, I imagine he must have looked quite haggard and ill before he finally died.
The police have ruled out murder, but I hope that they investigate the staff for negligence. Mr. Kim was ultimately the victim of his own actions. However, the staff had a basic responsibility to ensure his health and safety while he was on using their service on their premises, just as a bartender might be liable if he continue to serve an extremely intoxicated customer who later died of alcohol poisoning.
The fact that no-one noticed or cared for four straight days is appalling. Such a pathetic and easily preventable death in a public place reflects poorly on South Korean society, both in and anywhere else that it occurs.
You know, I have heard other stories similiar to this recently...sometimes there is a specific name of the game, but they always seem to be "identified only by their first/last name", and its always around the 80 hour mark. Did the Sydney Morning Herald report a growing urban myth, or is there anything to substantiate this?
Browsing at threshold +3, 37 comments into the discussion so far, and... I can't spot a single sympathetic comment. Most of us are all laughing at this guy's death in some kind of cynical Darwinistic smugness.
The games probably aren't killing anyone, but they've sure done a good job of de-sensitizing a few people...
I don't see why everyone is acting like this is a big joke or something. The guy was unemployed, and likely depressed, and he spent the last 86 hours of his life playing a pointless game, that he coudn't escape from. This isn't funny, it's very sad. That's his 24 year life gone, just like that. You don't know what he did, or who he was. Think about what his friends and family must feel like right now.
I'll probably be modded down as a troll or something, but I don't think death is a joking matter. If someone you knew died, even in a pathetic manner like that, you would not be joking about it. I think all the jokes here are completly tasteless.
And I do think the games are _partly_ to blame. (Note that I said partly, not completly.) Some games are very addictive, and can trap people in for hours. I've had my school mark drop because I've wasted my time on pointless games.
Just my thoughts.
Yes, if Korea was like the US, they probably would do that.
But it's not like the US at all. You just made that whole thing up.
if we hooked you up to the same experiment, you would probably do the same thing, as would many, many mammals.
Same thing as drug addiction. Do you think people get addicted to cocaine or heroin because they are simply "stupid" or "self centered" or weak minded?
Until recently (barring drug overdose...) 26 year olds did not have heart attacks
Two things first, why would you rule out drug overdose? 86 straight gameplaying? Can you say stimulants? I would almost bet on that being positive. And Stimulants can cause strokes, sudden arthymias, and heart attacks...
And I wouldn't rush to heart attack as cause of death, a Pulmonary embolis can kill suddenly and anyone can get one from sitting/not moving for long times. Rhabodmyolysis can cause kidney failure, and in extreme cases shock I think...
He could died of lots of things, almost no actually caused by video games...
DJMD - The fourth man - Planetary
Death happens. Get over it. No one tied him to the computer. :)
Jokes are funny. They lighten our mood and help us deal with the lousier shit in life.
If everytime something lousy happend I couldn't joke about it, life would be even more lousy.
I've had my grades affected by lots of things. I accept that and take responsibility for doing those things. If I forgot about all my classes and just played games all day, I would fail out of school. I wouldn't be able to work as an engineer, but then I wouldn't be a resposible enough person to make important decisions anyway.
I don't really consider the way he died "pathetic". I think it's kinda funny and also kinda cool. It sure would beat dying of hunger or a belly wound.
Hey, at least he died doing something he loved
Joking about death doesn't mean you don't give a shit whether people live or die. Being unable to handle jokes about death, suggests that they and therefore death itself makes you uncomfortable. Death is coming for you. There's nothing you can do to stop it. If you think that's sad, ok. Just don't try and act like that puts you on some sort of moral highground. People deal with death in different ways.
I'm not saying that death is great, just that people comfortable/uncomforable enough with the idea to joke about it, aren't necessarily uncaring, and that perhaps every death isn't tragic.
Life is too short to proofread.
no,no you see most people seem to be missing the point .
you see he quit the game and then died
It's really quite simple quitting ( not playing ) is what killed him
this is excellent news for sony and microsoft , once your hooked it's play or die .
If you wait long enough, almost any event "B" will follow almost any event "A" in close succession. That doesn't mean that "A" caused "B".
Dude, wake up. I live in Holland (probably the country with most unproductive people per square mile in the world) and I don't know anyone who has a full time job and works less than 40 hours, with 4 weeks of vacation a year. However I do know many people who work more than 50 hours a week.
That 'work ethic' of yours is pure fantasy. The japanese work way harder than any donut-eater ever will.
Come on now. Some guy choosing to sit in front of a computer until he dies should not be compared to organized murder.
The atrocities committed by both sides in the middle east are truely tragic ongoing events.
See my other post for some enlightenment about this 'nobody has any compassion' thing.
Tragic problems arise when religous types think that because others do not believe as they do they are sub-human, emotionless animals, etc. Look to the tradgedies in the whole Isreal/Palestine conflict for an example.
If you really want to make the most of your life try to understand others. Try to accept that others may view life differently and that those people are not necessarily bad. Try to promote understanding instead of jumping to conlusions and judging people.
For example: If you choose not to do all those things you listed in you post, fine. I don't consider you a lesser human being because of it. If I choose to drink and get laid, I should not be labeled an infidel. People who don't do certain things because they think it makes them a better human being don't usually brag about it. The people who brag are the ones who think not doing these things somehow makes them better than other people.
I'm not trying to accuse you of this specfically, but your statements about abstinance from whatever don't really tie into this discussion. And your assumption that we have no compassion doesn't make you look good either.
Life is too short to proofread.
Geez... One guy out of 6 billion drops dead on the other side of the planet and everybody's talking about it.
If you don't think you can just drop dead at any moment, I got news for you. You may die tomorrow.
Theres a million ways to die, the easiest for young people would probably be asthma or choking or drugs. This article is worthless without an autopsy.
I think the most amazing thing about these stories is that people are at these internet cafes for DAYS at a time and noone notices or cares.86 hours is literally half a week.I guess the managers who run these internet cafes will happily let you wallow in your own filth as long as they get paid by the hour.
While in architecture school I did 70 hours nonstop working in studio on my project, and I haven't suffered any nahhh naaaaahhhh nhaahaha any side effects. I would have done longer if I hadn't finished my project. I know other people who did longer.
I don't doubt that he died after a long bout of not sleeping, but I don't believe that the lack of sleep is what killed him. I'm more inclined to think a heart attack from all the caffine is what did him in.
I'm out of my mind right now, but feel free to leave a message.....
I have the solution to this problem.
Onlines games should only let you login and be online for at most 16 hours a day. This would force you to snap out of it, and get something to eat and some sleep. This would also be pretty easy to implement, and would have prevented this tragedy.
what is it with you people and these halfass sugar-water caffeniated drinks? double-strong black drip coffee is the One True Way, it's got loads more caffeine than sodas/energy drinks, and nothing else of any nutritional value - which lets you tailor your nutritional intake entirely through food.
it's useful - eat complex carbs (bagels, buscuits, whatnot) in the morning to stock up on glycogen, then switch to sugars (junk food, dew) as you get more and more tired and need simpler carbs, maybe a good whack of protein midday (mmm...red meat...) to keep your muscles from self-digesting. of course, it's got so much caffeine in such a small volume of liquid i find it usually ends up dehydrating me, but that's why i keep a big nalge of plain old H20 next to my triple-size mug.
'course if you really wanna hurt, get a 100g bottle of USP sublimed caffeine...bet you didn't know that 2grams at once makes you hallucinate (and vibrate in place, and throw up, a lot...)
Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored. - Aldous Huxley
This is just another case of obsession and poor judgment. The thing about obsessive personalities is that if games weren't there to obsess over, they'd just find something else and likely invent a new way to kick the bucket.
It is a sad thing, however. And not the most comfy way to pass away.
Especially if he didn't beat the game.
Kalen D'arrie
Most people can't live for more than 3 days without water. Yes, a few have survived longer by not doing anything, but most at least drank dew, rainwater (if they were trapped underneath something, for example), snow, or sometimes even their own sweat. If he truely was playing (which causes water loss through even that minimal activity) 86 hours nonstop without drinking anything, that is pretty good.