S.Korean man dies after 50 hours of computer games


SEOUL (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 on-line 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.


http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/newsArticl...KOREA-GAMES.XML



pfft, only 50 hours?
Sucks though. Not really much point in playing so much games if you're not gonna live to gloat about it afterwards.

Another excuse for lawyers to ban videogames

this week's economist has an article entitled "beeding evil?:the real impact of video games". i have not read it yet (yes, i read non-scientific publications)

Candidate for the Darwin's?

God, you'd think there'd be something better to do than spend 50 hours straight on games

What game could be so addictive?... these occurences are truly sad

Basically the first MMORPG you ever play. (Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game)

Indeed.. I used to play Everquest. Very addicting. The nickname for that game is "Evercrack"

Two games: Battlefield 2 and Neverwinter Nights

i heard of other gaming deaths...each incident however was with asian people...japanese ppl mostly...the one was like, 10 japanese kids were all playing for an uberlong time and died, and two or three others were after cybercafe game binges...moderation ppl, moderation

what ever happen to having a life, i mean come on.

Is it just me imagining it, or does the same guy die each year, in exact same way. I feel a canspiracy theory coming on!

Wowwww!! I had a ex that would go out for the new Final Fantasy game or any new game and sit from morning to night drinking beer and playing it--kinda liked it when he did it though cuz then we spent more time together. But he was never stressed. Cuz he works in summers and has winters off, so it wasn't bad at all.
But my spouse I'am with now could never do that. He likes life too much and so do I...But I have had moments of being hooked to those games especially if I'am replaying FF.hehehe lol

I RECKON THIS KINDA THING IS PROPAGANDA.
WHEN THEY'RE AIN'T MUCH NEWS TO REPORT THEY'LL PRINT ANYTHING. I'M CERTAIN A GUY DID DIE AFTER A 50HOUR COMPUTER BINGE BUT ALMOST ANY ACTIVITY CONTINUED OVER LONG PERIODS WITH LITTLE REST CAN CAUSE EXHAUSTION.
AN 80 YEAR OLD PERFORMING RAPID MASTURBATION FOR 50 MINUTES COULD KILL THEM --- WOULD THEY REPORT THAT. IT'S JUST THOSE FEW JOURNALISTS THAT SUCK WHEN THEY PLAY MULTIPLAYER GAMES WITH THEIR FRIENDS THAT TRY AN INFLICT DAMAGE ON THE INDUSTRY.

GAME ON BROTHERS