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Another Man Dies After Marathon Gaming Session

loserMcloser writes "Another Chinese man has died after spending three days in an internet cafe for an online gaming marathon session. He apparently fainted and died at the cafe from exhaustion. 'The report did not say what the man, whose name was not given, was playing. The report said that about 100 other Web surfers "left the cafe in fear after witnessing the man's death."'"

38 of 486 comments (clear)

  1. oblig. futurama by Joe+the+Lesser · · Score: 5, Funny

    Scruffy gonna die the way he lived

    --
    "I only speak the truth"
    Karma: null(Mostly affected by an unassigned variable)
    1. Re:oblig. futurama by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      If you die in the real world, you die in the game!

  2. And the culprit is .... by 140Mandak262Jamuna · · Score: 5, Funny

    ... the lead paint on the game controller.

    --
    sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
  3. anyone else hear that by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    It's the sound of Jack Thompson creaming his pants

    1. Re:anyone else hear that by sentientbeing · · Score: 5, Funny

      Whats the problem?

      He'll just respawn back at the entrance.

      --

      ------
      beware he who would deny you access to information, for in his mind he dreams himself your master
    2. Re:anyone else hear that by chemisus · · Score: 5, Funny
  4. Only one thing to do then .. by PriceIke · · Score: 4, Funny

    Guess we'll just have to ban online gaming. How many more have to die??

    --
    It's not a lie. It's the truth with lossy compression.
    1. Re:Only one thing to do then .. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      No, the last thing they would be expecting is the Spanish Inquisition.

    2. Re:Only one thing to do then .. by mstahl · · Score: 4, Funny

      It worked here for the war on drugs... oh wait.

    3. Re:Only one thing to do then .. by Dirtside · · Score: 4, Funny

      We just need to make it more illegal.

      What we really need is to define the standard metric unit of illegality. Here's some options:

      - Five-megabyte unauthorized song downloads
      - Men's room foot-tappings
      - CIA agent identity leakings
      - Sports memorabilia thievings

      Come up with your own!
      --
      "Destroy science and religion. Science would re-emerge exactly the same; but not religion." - Penn Jillette, paraphrased
    4. Re:Only one thing to do then .. by BorgCopyeditor · · Score: 5, Funny

      the standard metric unit of illegality

      I propose the "hijink."

      --
      Shop as usual. And avoid panic buying.
    5. Re:Only one thing to do then .. by MBGMorden · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Gun control basically is the same thing: for a gun to really be a problem one must already be prepared to break the law. So given that a willingness to break the law is already a prerequisite for a gun crime to take place: do you really think that the culprit is gonna give a damn that he's breaking a law by obtaining or carrying a gun?

      To put it into Slashdot terms: it would be like the government outlawing encryption to prevent terrorists from communicating. If they're talking about blowing up a building do you really think they are afraid to have a copy of PGP installed on their computer? Nope. All outlawing encryption does is take it away from the people who were originally using it for non-illegal purposes, or make criminals out of those who refuse to give it up even if their original actions were perfectly legal. Same applies to guns.

      --
      "People who think they know everything are very annoying to those of us who do."-Mark Twain
    6. Re:Only one thing to do then .. by theridersofrohan · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Gun control basically is the same thing: for a gun to really be a problem one must already be prepared to break the law. So given that a willingness to break the law is already a prerequisite for a gun crime to take place: do you really think that the culprit is gonna give a damn that he's breaking a law by obtaining or carrying a gun? That argument has two major holes:

      a) It is assuming that people are rational beings and that all actions are well premeditated. It's pretty well known by now that people are irrational (hey, how's that for a slashdot audience, this is a blog entry by the gmail creator!). Basically, in a surge of emotion (think domestic fights, a depressed / severely stressed kid (say a highschool shooting)), if one can easily have access to guns (by opening the local cabinet, going to a store, etc.), they can cause massively more damage, significantly more easily.

      b) That the massive number of guns going around in a society will always be used by the people they were intended in the way they were intended. This is patently not true, as demonstrated by kids getting access to their grandfather's gun, or various people we (the west) have massively funded and provided guns to (think Bin Laden and the Mujahideen's in Afganistan vs the Soviets, or Saddam versus the Iranians).

      There's also, of course, a moral argument. The only primary purpose of the gun is to kill. The whole protection stuff is completely secondary; a gun 'protects' by killing, or threatening to kill. I, personally, think that society has an obligation to protect its citizens, and banning a device the purpose of which is to kill is a good idea.

      Guns don't kill people, people kill people. And monkeys kill people. If you give them a gun. (to quote eddie izzard)
  5. Die with a smile by BlowHole666 · · Score: 4, Funny

    All you need is a beer helmet and a chick giving you a blow job and you could die with all your bases covered.

    --
    I smoked pot once. But I DID NOT inhale. Will you hire me?
  6. But is it true? by cduffy · · Score: 5, Insightful

    This is coming from state-run media, it doesn't contain enough details for easy independent verification -- and the state has indicated that combating "Internet addiction" is one of its goals.

    There's a lack of truthiness here.

  7. Re:$5 says... by njfuzzy · · Score: 5, Funny
    So technically that means he died at work? Go figure.

    What? It did say he was Chinese, right?

    What?

    ...I'm just sayin'.

    --
    My Photography - http://ian-x.com
    The Deathlings (comic) - http://thedeathlings.com
  8. The problem with today's youth is ... by 140Mandak262Jamuna · · Score: 4, Funny

    This is precisely the problem with the youth of today compared to my Great Generation. Just one gamer kicks the bucket and 100 others run away from the scene scared. Come on guys, show some courage. Show some sticktoitiveness.

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    sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
  9. Re:Wonder why.. by mark-t · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Well, it *IS* the most populated place in the world... racial differences notwithstanding, statistically the odds are that for any given random human trait, you are most likely to find it there in the highest quantity.

  10. Mega Kill!!! by Cedric+Tsui · · Score: 5, Funny

    Double Kill
    Multi Kill
    Mega Kill!
    ULTRA KILL!!
    M-m-m-monster Kill.
    LUDACRIS KILL!
    H O L Y S H I T!

    R E A L I T Y KILL!!!!!

    1. Re:Mega Kill!!! by The+One+and+Only · · Score: 4, Informative

      LUDACRIS KILL!

      There's no evidence he's ever done that. "Ludacris" is a rapper. "Ludicrous" is the adjective you want.

      --
      In Repressive Burma, it's not just your connection that dies. slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=314547&cid=20819199
  11. Microsoft Vista Prevents this Problem by 517714 · · Score: 5, Funny

    The (lack of) stability of the Operating System prevents running a computer for such marathon sessions.

    --
    The US government have made it clear that we have no inalienable rights; any we do not defend vigorously will be taken.
  12. Doesn't happen here? by king-manic · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I'm an Asian gamer with a mild addiction to warcraft 3. I don't understand how Asia can have a few of these incidents and the west has so none.Is there a distinct cultural difference to explain this? Or is it just statistic's? There i about 2.5 billion people in Asia proper vs 1 billion in all of the west. I don't understand how addiction is going to force you to sleep or drink or eat. I suppose I don't understand because all of my addictions are mild and state endorsed (women, video games, food, and tea).

    --
    "There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy."
    1. Re:Doesn't happen here? by vidarlo · · Score: 4, Funny

      I suppose I don't understand because all of my addictions are mild and state endorsed (women, video games, food, and tea).
      Excuse me sir, but I regret to tell you that you're quite addicted to food. Withdrawal will include death and unpleasantness.
    2. Re:Doesn't happen here? by king-manic · · Score: 4, Funny

      I suppose I don't understand because all of my addictions are mild and state endorsed (women, video games, food, and tea).

      Excuse me sir, but I regret to tell you that you're quite addicted to food. Withdrawal will include death and unpleasantness. Meh.. I can quit any time I want to.
      --
      "There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy."
    3. Re:Doesn't happen here? by happyemoticon · · Score: 4, Interesting

      In my experience, Asian gamers take it a helluva lot more seriously. I used to play SC2 against my roommate. I just wanted to pick it up and play every once in a while, and learn a few tricks. I could beat almost anybody else on the floor. My roommate, though, his goal was to become a monster. And so we were pretty competitive for a few months, and then I lost interest in improving while he just kept at it. He became nigh-unbeatable. It was pretty much the same deal with respect to CounterStrike and two other Asian guys in the building or Starcraft and another set of people who liked that or whatever else we were playing back then.

      As for whether this applies to general work ethic, or sports, or arts, I'm not so sure, but it seems very true of gaming.

    4. Re:Doesn't happen here? by bigstrat2003 · · Score: 4, Funny

      I used to play SC2 against my roommate. Hey man, can I borrow your time machine? Cool, thanks!
      --
      "16MB (fuck off, MiB fascists)" - The Mighty Buzzard
  13. Re:$5 says... by slughead · · Score: 5, Funny

    >He died playing WoW. Do I have any takers?

    If that were true, I'd say his life just improved.

  14. Not really an epidemic by OrangeTide · · Score: 4, Insightful

    A lot more people die from sky diving every year, and I think most of us accept that sky diving is not an epidemic social problem.

    Real problems could include: chronic disease, car accidents, criminal violence, ...

    I think it's more of a problem that 100 people fled the scene than one guy dying from his compulsive personality disorder.

    --
    “Common sense is not so common.” — Voltaire
    1. Re:Not really an epidemic by TopShelf · · Score: 4, Funny

      A lot more people die from sky diving every year, and I think most of us accept that sky diving is not an epidemic social problem.

      Hey, some people are addicted to computer games, some are addicted to gravity...

      --
      Stop by my site where I write about ERP systems & more
    2. Re:Not really an epidemic by GrayCalx · · Score: 5, Funny

      Hey, some people are addicted to computer games, some are addicted to gravity...

      I tried going off gravity cold turkey... I crashed hard.

      /I'm here all week... tip your mods.

  15. Re:And I thought ... by nelsonal · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I'd guess it's one of two things, either he's earning money by farming loot and if he logs/leaves he will reduce his income substantially (because someone else will get his location or it takes a long time to reach). Or he's really just on the receiving end of a variable schedule reward system and he misses the dopamine hits too much to leave.

    --
    Degaussing scares the bad magnetism out of the monitor and fills it with good karma.
  16. Chinese != Korean by ToastyKen · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Did I miss something? As far as I've heard, the only other case of death from gaming exhausting happened in Korea, but the submitter says "another Chinese man"...

  17. hypocrisy by Lord+Ender · · Score: 4, Insightful

    A few weeks ago there was a post about a programming competition sponsored by Microsoft in which students were expected to stay up for 24 hours straight and eat soda and junk food while coding.

    People here are laughing about this guy because he neglected sleep and nutrition to compete in this contest. They are saying "darwin award." Where was this same sentiment when Microsoft caused students to do the same thing for a different contest?

    Health should come before work and play, people! Your job is worthless if you are dead or ill from a terrible lifestyle. Don't let your boss force this behavior on you, and don't let companies like Microsoft force it on students.

    --
    A slashdotter who didn't build his own computer is like a Jedi who didn't build his own lightsaber.
  18. Re:$5 says... by Farmer+Tim · · Score: 5, Funny

    Actually, the first Marathon was fatal.

    Nobody ever learns from history.

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    Blank until /. makes another boneheaded UI decision.
  19. Re:$5 says... by Farmer+Tim · · Score: 4, Funny

    >He died playing WoW. Do I have any takers?

    If that were true, I'd say his life just improved.


    Perhaps he thought his Second Life would kick in.

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    Blank until /. makes another boneheaded UI decision.
  20. Obligatory by sam_paris · · Score: 4, Funny

    Did he drop any good loot?

  21. 24 hours? lol by everphilski · · Score: 4, Insightful

    24 hours is nothing. You've never pulled an all-nighter to get a semester project completed?

    Are you telling me you can't see the difference between a voluntary competition (hint: its kinda fun to pull an all-nighter every now and then... I have a wife and 2 kids and if I come across a fun project, I still do it from time to time) and a man who was either incapable of determining his tolerance or chose to ignore it (most likely the latter)?

    And I suppose you would have people oppose the voluntary fund raiser Up till Dawn as well? I mean, think of the college students that will be kept up all night and have to go to class in the morning!

  22. Backfiring of "one child per family" policy by ObiWonKanblomi · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I heard a really good article a few weeks ago on NPR where sociologists were looking into the root cause of internet/gaming addiction in China. One interesting theory is that this generation of gamers is the product of the "one child per family" policy in China. Essentially this generation in China is full of only-children. This is bound to cause social issues, and this internet/gaming addiction is only a symptom of a larger sociological problem.