[Intrepid Homoludens]

Probably not the game the poor, dumb fellow played, but it's sill a pretty pic, isn't it?

Man dies after online game marathon | CNN.com
Tuesday, August 9, 2005; Posted: 7:02 a.m. EDT (11:02 GMT)

SEOUL, South Korea (Reuters) -- A South Korean man who played computer games for 50 hours almost non-stop died of heart failure minutes after finishing his mammoth session in an Internet cafe, authorities said on Tuesday.

The 28-year-old man, identified only by his family name Lee, had been playing online battle simulation games at the cybercafe in the southeastern city of Taegu, police said.

Lee had planted himself in front of a computer monitor to play on-line games on August 3. He only left the spot over the next three days to go to the toilet and take brief naps on a makeshift bed, they said.

"We presume the cause of death was heart failure stemming from exhaustion," a Taegu provincial police official said by telephone.

Lee had recently quit his job to spend more time playing games ( ), the daily JoongAng Ilbo reported after interviewing former work colleagues and staff at the Internet cafe.

After he failed to return home, Lee's mother asked his former colleagues to find him. When they reached the cafe, Lee said he would finish the game and then go home, the paper reported.

He died a few minutes later, it said.

South Korea, one of the most wired countries in the world, has a large and highly developed game industry.

[stepurhan]

The thing that really worries me about that story is that it happened in a cybercafe. You can imagine someone getting that carried away in the privacy of their own home where no-one can keep an eye on them. Bur surely a cybercafe is going to notice someone doing that. Can they really be that driven by profit from online gaming to let someone play that long?

[Maquisard]

I was playing CSS with a Korean dude the other day. He kept asking "American, Korea Japan like America more?" I'm not sure what he meant. And then he died!

[artwking4]

Originally Posted by stepurhan

Can they really be that driven by profit from online gaming to let someone play that long?

I don't think it would be that evil. The place was probably just staffed by dumbass teenagers who don't know any better. No offense to dumbass teenagers. You don't know any better.

If this is going to be a problem, maybe the games or servers themselves could be programmed to only play for only so many consecutive hours before it forces you to take a break for awhile.

[stepurhan]

Originally Posted by artwking4

I don't think it would be that evil. The place was probably just staffed by dumbass teenagers who don't know any better. No offense to dumbass teenagers. You don't know any better.

If this is going to be a problem, maybe the games or servers themselves could be programmed to only play for only so many consecutive hours before it forces you to take a break for awhile.

Or at least penalise you for playing too long. I heard that World of Warcraft was supposed to have a fatigue setup that meant your character's abilities suffered if you played too long. Taking a decent break from playing made the character "rested" and so, better equipped for adventuring.

Not played WOW so don't know if that turned out to be true.

Oh, and apologies to any dumbass teenagers who don't know better that I might have offended. You've got to get minimum wage jobs where you can find them.

[BenjaminBunny]

It's possible to take anything to excess.

[Aj_]

WoW has a rested bar, you can level faster when that rested bar has points, those points are taken everytime you kill something to level. Someone who has taken a break for a few hours can level the same in a shorter time period has someone who isn't rested. The rested bar doesn't really slow players down, it just allows people who take breaks to catch up (but not that much). Trying to keep your rested bar topped up isn't going to make you level faster than someone who is playing continuously.

You can't limit the time people play, that'd be baby sitting adults, but if some crazy guy is close to dying and I noticed, I would atleast plead with them to take a break, if not ask them to leave. I just don't know how these guys do it, the human body can take a lot, and you would be feeling the pain long before you died.

[smashing]

You can also sucker people into getting more monthly subscriptions by making the progess more gradual.

[BenjaminBunny]

*starts thinking about his lvl 19 pally on DAoC.......*

[Crunchy in milk]

This isn't news. It's probably not even true (and about on par with CNN's average). Its regurgitated filler.

This 'news' item pops up regularly (for years now) with slight changes to the facts. Usually small things like the guy's age and how long he was playing. The internet cafe is usually part of it and he's usually Korean. Sometimes its drastically changed and he's 12 years old and playing on a console at home unattended. More recent versions have been about WOW couples letting their kids die while they're busy playing that game. I'd be more inclined to believe the kid one if they left her in the car. That really happened at our Casino here in Melbourne, the kid died of heat exhaustion though, not cot death.


Here's one from 2002... http://www.theregister.co.uk/2002/10...omputer_games/

Its fun to point at Koreans and shake our heads in wonder isn't it. But wait what's this? a USA boy dies playing 'the pass out game' !??

http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/07/13/choking.game.ap/

What's up with those USA BReAtHErS?

"You wish you could just take the kids and shake them and say, 'What are you thinking?'

Its not like adults have never practiced nor died from auto erotic asphyxiation...

[em-deecee]

The dead guy will probably become a legend among his fellow gamers. I mean, think of it, what a way to go.

But the question remains, did he win the game?

[artwking4]

Originally Posted by em-deecee

The dead guy will probably become a legend among his fellow gamers. I mean, think of it, what a way to go.

But the question remains, did he win the game?

I thought we had you here, em-deecee. I thought this thread would have been under general gaming, increasing your post count to ONE! But alas. No such luck.

[RLacey]

Originally Posted by em-deecee

But the question remains, did he win the game?

You can't win a MMORPG. This is one of the things that baffles me about their appeal.

[Crunchy in milk]

Originally Posted by RLacey

You can't win a MMORPG. This is one of the things that baffles me about their appeal.

You're judged by others according to your status. Kind of like that other game everyone plays.

[RLacey]

Originally Posted by Crunchy in milk

You're judged by others according to your status. Kind of like that other game everyone plays.

Psychonauts?

[Talas]

Originally Posted by em-deecee

But the question remains, did he win the game?

Well, he was playing Starcraft, so I guess he won a few.

http://english.chosun.com/w21data/ht...508080012.html

[em-deecee]

Originally Posted by artwking4

I thought we had you here, em-deecee. I thought this thread would have been under general gaming, increasing your post count to ONE! But alas. No such luck.

I've decided to take pride in being a zero!

[Crunchy in milk]

Originally Posted by Talas

Well, he was playing Starcraft, so I guess he won a few.

http://english.chosun.com/w21data/ht...508080012.html

He was playing lineage in one such article. I doubt there was ever a real one.

[Dasilva]

SEOUL, South Korea - A South Korean man who played computer games for 50 hours almost non-stop died of heart failure minutes after finishing his mammoth session in an Internet cafe, authorities said on Tuesday.

The 28-year-old man, identified only by his family name Lee, had been playing online battle simulation games at the cybercafe in the southeastern city of Taegu, police said.

Lee had planted himself in front of a computer monitor to play online games on Aug. 3. He only left the spot over the next three days to go to the toilet and take brief naps on a makeshift bed, they said.

"We presume the cause of death was heart failure stemming from exhaustion," a Taegu provincial police official said by telephone.

Lee had recently quit his job to spend more time playing games, the daily JoongAng Ilbo reported after interviewing former work colleagues and staff at the Internet cafe.

After he failed to return home, Lee's mother asked his former colleagues to find him. When they reached the cafe, Lee said he would finish the game and then go home, the paper reported.

He died a few minutes later, it said.

South Korea, one of the most wired countries in the world, has a large and highly developed game industry.

So far over 6 people have died due to people playing on line games non stop. Sad days we live in?

[melancholick]

Haven't the majority of those deaths been in Korea and Taiwan, as well?

They need to hire a guy with a broom to just sweep out the dehydrated carcasses once these gaming freaks hit about 40 hours without food or water. Bounce them out like a bar, if they can't unplug themselves.