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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."
Geez, dude needed to work on his stamina...
Help save the critically endangered Blue Iguana
I just want to know what game he was playing... Maybe another EverQuest victim?
Thats the geek way of dieing with your boots on.
In Republican America phones tap you.
With the winter coming, and only me and quake 3 at home I might be next.
Oh well, worse ways to go.
Medevo
He then went to the toilet where he later was found dead
why wasn't this story called "Go to the toilet... and die!?"
If you mod me down the terrorists will have won
If the guy puts in a quarter quick enough, he may be able to resume where he left Earth...
...I mean off. :-)
Karma: Excellent Birds (mostly as a result of listening to Laurie Anderson)
Unless he was playing Super Mario Bros. 1, and got stuck in minus world. (Yea, I bet nobody remembers that)
free ipod? yeah.
Thank you, Google News!
Hmmm... I don't know about that. Suspects include: (but not limited to) Orcs, Night Elfs, Zerglings, Hydras...
He was fine when he was playing games. Obviously it was going to the crapper that killed him!
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.
-----.----.-------
I'll
. . . pours a bit of Red Bull on the side walk in memory of his homie. I hope I go down in glory like dat.
CEE5210S The signal SIGHUP was received.
Was it the first time in 86 hours that he had used the restroom? That would kill anyone.
He played for 86 hours, as in the X-86 architecture. So what's next? The new Apple Ad?
It went like, beep beep beep, and then I died
.noitacidem deen uoy siht daer nac uoy fI
now he's in heaven shouting "OMFG that was such bullshit!"
Wouldn't it be funny if he was trying to beat Doom II? Or some other old game that everybody's beaten? And especially if he didn't make it past the first level or didn't know how to switch guns or something.
Well, I guess it would be more tragic than funny, but due to the fact that it would be so darwinically sad, that it might get a chuckle or two.
You like that word "darwinically"? I just made it up, hehe.
THERE IS NO DATA. THERE IS O
It'd be such a waste if he didn't. All that effort for nothing...
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
IANA Doctor, but although it's primarily an air travel thing, isn't it the case that sitting anywhere for too long can cause blood clots to form in the legs?
Said clots may detach and make their way to the lungs (causing pulmonary embolus) or brain (causing a stroke).
Sounds to me that this dude just suffered an extreme attack of stupidity. If you're gonna LAN for a week (or take a long flight) then at least get off your arse and walk around every few hours.
gadgetophile.com
This is why they need computers in the Bathrooms! geese!
But then, if he was a true gamer, he obviously died from "natural causes"
I know from my MUDding experiences that it's not uncommon for folks into games to stay up for more than a few days at a time with nothing but caffiene. In college I use to regularly stay awake for 48 hours straight MUDding.
I also know quite a few people who are heavily into methamphetamines that stay up for over a week at a time. I know quite a few folks who brag about having stayed awak for 9 days straight and lived to tell about it.
The best part about having been awake for more than 3 days isn't necesarily the game you're playing, it's the delusious and hallucinations you get. >3 days awake is better than most hits of LSD you get these days.
Duris MUD - The best pkill MUD. Ever.
That many of the internet cafe's there are known for spikeing the water and whatnot. Amphetamine spikeing is common to keep customers in the stores longer and whatnot. There have been several deaths related to this over the last few years.
Also a goverment crackdown has been done once, as you can see...it hasn't made much of a diffrence.
Om, nomnomnom...
W00t! Computer games as an instrument of natural selection, you've gotta love it. And you thought we were doomed as a species....
Nope, it was not intentional. A real bug. Here's a ton of info on it.E2 has the scoop.
Depressed and alone on Christmas break during college, I went on a Counter-Strike spree some day in the age of Beta5 that lasted 97 hours straight, only taking breaks to quit drinking coffee and urinate.
Tiredness did not matter -- everything was a copy of a copy, and I was some sort of killing machine, though I went from top of the list to somewhere in the middle after the first day. After two days, I was screwed up beyond recognition and was hallucinating, thinking that flowers were growing in de_nuke and that Beavis and Butthead were saying "Go Go Go!."
After the third day, my head and eyes hurt terribly, I had pissed myself and didn't notice for an hour as my legs were totally numb, and everything was a nightmare. I was so wacked out I couldn't do anything but shoot at things that weren't there...... but my obsession could not end as I sat alone in my dorm room.
I passed out, collapsed on the floor, and slept for two days (well, about 28 hours) afterwards and was drowsy with a TERRIBLE, GODAWFUL headache for the entire next week, which I pretty much spent in bed.
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...
It's a hard lesson to learn, but that's what happens when you don't take enough bathroom breaks while gaming.
I mean, what a way to "go" . . .
(Was it number 1 or number 2?)
blog
Gives a different meaning to the phrase "Game Over"
Young Korean needs food...badly.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
"First things first -- but not necessarily in that order"
-- The Doctor, "Doctor
The capacity for human ignorance never fails to amuse me.
/., turn off the computer, and get some sun, will ya? ;-)
It's just not worth dying on the crapper in some internet cafe.
Kids, this is what happens when you have a society that lets people become so self-centered that the thought of actually being a responsible productive resident is considered a joke. And here I thought only the US was so encumbered. Apparently we're contagious.
I don't know what the legal system is like in South Korea, but if it's anything like here, the dude's family will probably bring a lawsuit against the gaming room, the game manufacturer, the government, and anyone else they can bilk money out of because they raised a kid with no self control who grew into a man with no self control. After all, it's already happened here.
This whole thing reminds me of the classic experiment by Olds and Milner in which they wired tiny electrodes into the limbic system of rats. The rats could give themselves a jolt of electricity by pressing a little lever. The stimulation of the limbic system was so pleasurable that some rats would press the bar thousands of times an hour for up to 20 hours at a time until they collapsed from exhaustion. When the rats recovered, they'd go right back to pressing the bar. I have a feeling that if we could do that for people, we'd find that some (like this mental midget in South Korea) would push the bar until their heads exploded.
Really people, take a break from
Crocuta
Good thing we Americans are made of stronger stuff.
The spirit of resistance to government is so valuable on certain occasions that I wish it to be always kept alive
I think I saw a similar story with a Korean here some months ago. Are you sure this is not an urban legend?
__
Men with no respect for life must never be allowed to control the ultimate instruments of death.
GW Bu
He's probably either:
1.riding on the meat-wagon
or
2.has been resurrected by the Necromancer.
I am, and always will be, an idiot. Karma: Coma (mostly effected by
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.
Failsafe against 86 hour fatal gaming runs is built into Windows, its called BSODs.
Microsoft intentionally put them in there to make you go get a snack while rebooting, or conversely take a nap.
This fellow was clearly using Mac OSX or Linux.
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...
The jobless man, identified by police only by his last name Kim
A Korean man named Kim...that certainly narrows it down!
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.
The weeklong lan works, because eventually everyone has enough sense to get sleep (and get duct taped to the floor) every once in a while and eat wholesome pizza. This guy didn't.
What? the duct taping isn't required? well shit.
Finally, proof that I'm not as addicted to the computer as my wife claims!
Thank's Slashdot!
Could it be he was trying to impose some Guinnes record?
Anyone knows if there is such record out there?
errera hunamum ets
HOW IN THE HELL?!?! does that get modded Interesting?!
What, are you curious about the precise methodology of feces extraction that was used?
How many of you would have clicked through if there had been a link "Would you like to know more?"
Sickos.
If he died on the toilet it was probably a heart attack - if you have a weak heart, constapation can kill you; stimulant drugs are also a possibility.
Sudden death syndrome maybe, although I don't think they ever diagnose that it anyone unhealthy/obese, if he was, though there is a teat for it.
Until recently (barring drug overdose, genetic or developmental abnormalities) 26 year olds did not have heart attacks. So, looking into my crystal ball, this will be used as ammunition for the argument that videogames reduce your level of physical activity, and are somehow responsible for the recent rise in cardiovascular disease among the very young - I can't find the ref. on google, can anyone else?
If you want to avoid having heart attacks:
1) Get exercise. This is NOT the same as don't game, and I myself utterly reject the notion that videogames are somehow responsible for droping levels of physical activity.
2) Try not to be angry all the time. I know this can be difficult if you are a member of an oppressed minority group or work in tech support. Depression and overuse of simulants = also bad.
The good and new comes from no quarter where it is looked for, and is always something different from what is expected.
Game over man!
Life is too short to proofread.
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.
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.
I wonder how long until the Weekly World News carries this story. "Man catches Computer Virus and Dies"
Get a free ipod.
Critics say the burgeoning industry is creating millions of zombified addicts who are turning on and tuning into computer games, and dropping out of school and traditional group activities, becoming uncommunicative and even violent because of the electronic games they play.
Tsk tsk. Unlike TV, of course, which promotes intimacy, critical thinking, and feelings of peace and contentedness.
It's not hard to see what has the cultural police so alarmed: at last, a form of electronic engagement even more powerful in its spell than TV has arrived to offer young people a reality of their own shaping. And while it's hardly arguable that playing Counterstrike all day is better for you than sitting in front of a TV, there is a key difference.
Counterstrike -- or almost any online game -- can't really be used to indoctrinate. Not yet, anyway (although you might argue that running around with guns killing others for round after round is a type of indoctrination, the fact is that it's largely devoid of political context, and experientially it's all for self-aggrandizement, anyway; however, cf. the US Army's recent slippery entry into this market as the progenitor of the politicization of the FPS game).
The main problem is that you can't use Dan Blather or Brit Spume to convey the wishes of the oligarchy just when the kids have been left perfectly mollified by hours of braindead sitcoms. Cocooned digitally with only pixels and urges to guide them, they're neither being told how to think or what to buy. Online gaming is too much beyond the control of our masters.
That's intolerable to a nation that regards workaholism as the ideal state of being. It also offends our puritan traditions; next to serving your boss, only God is supposed to suck up so much of your devotion. Watch for more efforts at social control coming from such kissing cousins as Joe Lieberman and Jerry Falwell in the near future. The first step will be to apply the social definitions of addiction, whereafter, as long as the present administration is in office, you may see a faith-based solution offered for your Quake jones...
As opposed to the conservatives who just want to lock you up for any mistake unless you're the governor's daughter?
7 November 2006: The day Americans realized corruption and incompetence weren't addressing 11 September 2001
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".
Too much love can be stifling. Too much happinines can make you ungaurded and easy to hurt. too much clean air can lead to hyperventilation. too much good food can lead to obesity. too much good music can lead to deafness.
moral to the story: any positive can become a negative if you try hard enough.
"Me and my girl named bimbo . . . limbo . . . spam" - Captain Beefheart.
My wife says I'm the worst in the world... and now I can prove her wrong.
Actually, now you are.
OddManIn: A Game of guns and game theory.
Personally i hate games in which you completely defeat them and you get a nice big dick in the ass "Game over". That is what happens when you die from not being good enough at the game. "The end" is a reward from mastering the game and not being able to go any farther, hence "the end". Not to say this person reached the end of the game, and not to say he didn't deserve a "game over", but i am venting my frustrations with such games such as final fight for snes, or super smash brothers
Gamers have no political allies. What should we do about it, you ask? Well, I'd like to welcome you to:
The LAN Party
We're a nationwide political party with growing influences around the globe, and our main focus is on the protection of the rights of gamers in America.
Our motto is:
Try us
Realize our goal
Open your mind
Level the playing field
Lead on to victory!
If you are intersted in the LAN Party affiliations, please contact us at lanpolitics@lannational.com
86 hours at the computer? That's nothing! I used to watch windows defrag!
bluHatter
Police later searched for the closest respawn point in hopes of getting more answers to no avail.
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.....
Too much love can be stifling. Too much happinines can make you ungaurded and easy to hurt.
I feel sorry for you if you really believe that.
too much clean air can lead to hyperventilation.
Breathing too quickly, maybe, which is something different.
too much good food can lead to obesity.
Sure, depending on your metabolism.
too much good music can lead to deafness.
No, that's volume.
moral to the story: any positive can become a negative if you try hard enough.
Why do you have to try? That's exactly the point.
"If he thinks he can hide and run from the United States and our allies, he's sorely mistaken." Bush on bin Laden
To all you liberals, grow up and start taking responsibility for your life, and make others take responsibility for theirs.
Self-responsibility is not a liberal vs. conservative issue; it is better characterized as an authoritarian vs. libertarian issue.
Liberals with an authoritarian bent would have the government outlaw "dangerous" things like offensive/hateful/politically incorrect language, games that "promote" racism, etc. Conservatives with an authoritarian bent would outlaw "dangerous" things like homosexuality, games that "promote" immorality or drug use, violence and sexuality on television, etc.
OTOH, someone with libertarian tendencies, whether they were otherwise conservative or liberal, would prefer the government stay out of people's lives. I.E., a libertarian believes people should take responsibility for themselves. They wouldn't outlaw "unsafe" games.
You bring up drugs, GHB in particular, and complain that the government prohibits "safer replacements for alcohol and antidepressants". Ignoring for the moment any debate over the merits of that particular drug, those who would prefer legalized drugs of any sort are strongly libertarian. Many are liberal, as well.
Those who "ask the government to protect them from themselves" aren't "liberal". They're authoritarian, and include just as many conservatives as liberals.
I'm actually quite surprised to see you blaming the outlawing of GHB on liberals- the most vocal proponents of harsh drug laws, generally, are conservative authoritarians.
You, it seems, do not really know who your enemies are. I consider myself quite liberal, but I agree with you that people should take more responsibility for themselves.
I stole this sig from someone cleverer than me.
It's about time the gov't gets hip to the perfect army it has in its own borders. In the USA, millions train everyday on various systems in the electronic art of FPS. It IS an art, it IS a skill and most importantly it IS addictive. Today's youth drafted would fair poorly on an actuall battleground, but controlling robots through various familiar and popular games as their GUI and they would be unstoppable. Imagine the teamwork of CTF Quake or Counterstike fully realized on a battlefield while the controllers sit back comfortably smoking bongs, drinking soda and ordering pizza.
He needs to get a life. Oh, err... sorry...
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