Long gaming sessions can kill

tomred1

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-south-yorkshire-14350216

Not to make light of this young lads death, from DVT but who has ever played a game for 12 hrs or more. I personally could only play for 4-5 hours before my eyes start going wonky. What the longest seesion people have played?

NTMK

How the hell anyone could do something for that length of time is beyond me ive had longer sessions than 12 hours but i will get up and walk around every 1-2 hours and stretch

RedXIV

Used to do some mega sessions alright, although i think i'd usually throw in the towel after 9 or 10 hours.

Simple solution? get kids. you'll be lucky to sit down for half an hour.

ShiverinEskimo

Wonder does having your feet up help/worsen the risks of DVT?

Suppose it lessens it given you don't get DVT by spending 8 hours plus asleep every night.

johnny_ultimate

Sitting down for twelve hours in any situation is risky. It happens on planes, can happen with games, TV, whatever.

Three hours is the max I'd ever play in one sitting. And even that would include breaks for drinks, food, toilet or whatever.

ShiverinEskimo

As Johnny Ultimate suggests I too would regularly get up and move around not least because as I get closer to my 30s the number of pisses I need to take a day matches my age.

And sure if you're going for a piss you may aswell make a cup of tea.

Kiith

Saying it's risky is a bit over the top imo. If you are in decent health, the chances of something like this happening are very very slim. I mean, it's not like the guy in question was on his first 12 hour bender. He did this all the time from what i've read. I've done longer gaming sessions before, but i'd also exercise and walk around regularly.

The Sun's headline was a joke though...Death by XBOX!
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/3723107/Lad-of-20-is-killed-by-blood-clot-caused-by-playing-his-Xbox-for-up-to-12-hours-at-a-time.html

NTMK

Kiith wrote: »

The Sun's headline was a joke though...Death by XBOX!
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/3723107/Lad-of-20-is-killed-by-blood-clot-caused-by-playing-his-Xbox-for-up-to-12-hours-at-a-time.html

Do you expect anything less from the sun.

ShiverinEskimo

Love the way the Sun has a picture of Halo Reach. :rolleyes:

BlitzKrieg

I remember before broadband came to Ireland Netshop in temple bar use to do 12 hour all night gaming sessions of CS RA2 etc etc. A few internet cafes did it, but netshop was the first one I went to.

Did it a few times. Good nerdy times...

Wossack

done well longer then that in my time

Dermo

Kiith wrote: »

The Sun's headline was a joke though...Death by XBOX!
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/3723107/Lad-of-20-is-killed-by-blood-clot-caused-by-playing-his-Xbox-for-up-to-12-hours-at-a-time.html

They didn't want to go with Death by SITTING! in case it started riots of people too afraid to sit and the burning of couches.

Burgo

BlitzKrieg wrote: »

I remember before broadband came to Ireland Netshop in temple bar use to do 12 hour all night gaming sessions of CS RA2 etc etc. A few internet cafes did it, but netshop was the first one I went to.

Did it a few times. Good nerdy times...

Did the same in dnc in temple bar, was always good craic.

Sarky

I'm no stranger to 16 or 18 hour Morrowind binges. Although I was working night security at the time, so that was messing up my sleeping patterns anyway...

BlitzKrieg

Burgo wrote: »

Did the same in dnc in temple bar, was always good craic.

been to dnc a few times. I perferred Netshop cause it was a more organised affair (smaller so everyone there were playing in the same match)

but I am sheepish to admit after a formal affair went sour I did end up in DNC playing CS in a tuxedo at 4am in the morning til the first train home.

EL_Loco

These days I don't get as much time as I used to to play, but even at that after a few hours I'd find myself not tuned in as much, just running about the place, getting killed easily etc.

I find it far more satisfying to play to my best for even a half hour and stop then happy that I'd played a bit and did well. Mainly a PC gamer this weather anyway so even in time sinks like MMOs I like to get on and do something straight away and get out, other wise it's just a glorified chat program you're using.

I try to balance things as much as I can, so if I find I'm doing too much gaming I'll go off and do something else. There's diminishing returns in these things, 3 hours of play isn't necessarily twice as much fun as an hour and a half. I've often played for long periods only to be completely frustrated by the time I've finished, which defeats the purpose.

Pity about the young fella, very young age to die. Again, another gaming bashing article too. There's a happy medium, rarely are things bad in and of themselves. It's all about the balance, or lack thereof.

PseudoFamous

Long *anything* sessions will kill you if you don't tend to your physical needs. Still, marathon gaming is unlikely to ever kill as many people as road deaths, or even vending machine related ones, so it's really just a kneejerk reaction expected from the Sun.

marco_polo

ShiverinEskimo wrote: »

As Johnny Ultimate suggests I too would regularly get up and move around not least because as I get closer to my 30s the number of pisses I need to take a day matches my age.

And sure if you're going for a piss you may aswell make a cup of tea.

Now I'm no medical professional but I think that may be the source of your frequency problem rather than your age :pac:

ShadowHearth

"His father David believes the condition may have been triggered by long gaming sessions."

after this it was a bit pointless to read as its not a fact he died from video games.

just a few things, before they will blame all on video games.

1. look at him, he is not "sexy bikini model 2011", so exercise is not his strongest point ( i am on fat side myself, so fudge of moral police), sitting on his hole was one of his favorite activities. i bet if he would watch telly and died from same thing, they still would blame computer games.
2. He is 20 and he could play 12h on console... that is prety much same thing as getting a medal at pulling a fast one. I presume no work? no studies? one of those Social welfare heroes just starting out?

I can spend a lot of time at my pc, but i would newer ever could sit out 12h in one spot by my pc, not even talking about limited console entertainment.


GAMES DONT KILL PEOPLE, IDIOTS KILL THEMSELVES THEN BLAME GAMES!

Fnz

hmm... and I make a half-hearted effort to sort of shift about a bit upon reading this.

Sad news.

ShiverinEskimo

marco_polo wrote: »

Now I'm no medical professional but I think that may be the source of your frequency problem rather than your age :pac:

Yea, I re-read that a little later and had a eureka moment.

Potential-Monke

As i said in AH, he was overweight judging by that picture, and that would help contribute towards DVT, as would sitting upright in a chair staring at a pc screen for 12 hours.

I have a giant leather beanbag i mould into, tv angled down towards me, hips in front of my torso so no weight lying on the legs. Also, and a little trick i picked up in the FCA, i wiggle my toes alot, keeps the circulation going.

His own fault as far as i can see, unless something else emerges to make it different. Still, sad. RIP.

Gandalph

I eat 12 hour sessions for breakfast, amateur!

Tallon

Gaming didn't kill him, fatness and laziness did

I cycle as much as I can when I'm not gaming. Exercise is the essential part.

I've put in many a 12+ hour session on C&C with friends

Local-womanizer

In fairness his father is trying to highlight a problem of immobility, which just so happens to be in his case from gaming. He says it is similar to long haul flights, which it is.

The difference is that people think sitting in your room for extended periods of time playing a computer would do much more than give you a head-ache, sore eyes,make your arse fall asleep and isolate you from your friends....

Fair play to the parents, they realize the enjoyment people get from games and are just trying to highlight some of the dangers of binge gaming.

At the end of the day this guy had no underlying medical problems or a medical history anywhere near related to DVT....

Varik

Went 4 days playing a game just after the steam sale this year as i had free time then, was falling asleep at my desk and was getting up every now and again for food and the like.

Normally 6-8 hour is my limit but i usually get bored of whatever I'm playing after 2 hours and it has to be a good game, not playing much in the last week or so.

martineatworld

Varik wrote: »

Went 4 days playing a game just after the steam sale this year as i had free time then, was falling asleep at my desk and was getting up every now and again for food and the like.

Normally 6-8 hour is my limit but i usually get bored of whatever I'm playing after 2 hours and it has to be a good game, not playing much in the last week or so.

Out of interest, what game did you spend 4 days(!) playing?!

Kiith

martineatworld wrote: »

Out of interest, what game did you spend 4 days(!) playing?!

It was the Steam sale....he probably had about 100 to choose from.

Varik

martineatworld wrote: »

Out of interest, what game did you spend 4 days(!) playing?!

x3 terran conflict.

Going by my steam stats, i played 100.7 hours in the last 2 weeks so since the 20th of july and have 236 hours logged on the game that i got on the 10th. So over the space of 10 days had 136 hours played on that game most of it at the start of the 10 days.

o1s1n

Pair of compression stockings for long gaming sessions - sorted!

Grayhame

OK just on a quick look the only comment i can make is why after 6 hours did the father not think " hey he's been up there for a spell maybe he should come down and experence this thing called real-life" no?

Look its sad to hear that someone that young can die from just sitting down for too long but parents are ment to guide there kids and for one thing inform the of the outside world and how much better the graphics are out there.

Fnz

Grayhame wrote: »

OK just on a quick look the only comment i can make is why after 6 hours did the father not think " hey he's been up there for a spell maybe he should come down and experence this thing called real-life" no?

Probably a multitude of reasons a father wouldn't feel it necessary to check on his 20-year-old son, tbh.

Mr.Saturn

Should've bought a Wii/Kinnect......

Varik

Mr.Saturn wrote: »

Should've bought a Wii/Kinnect......

Totally, there's no way he'd play for the length he did on a wii.

KilOit

Used to play long WoW sessions over 12 hours on expansion releases or so, and long raids aswell, but raid leaders and officers were intelligent blokes and always stopped raids for 20 mins breaks to get up and exercise a bit. really comes down to common sense.

Mr.Saturn

Varik wrote: »

Totally, there's no way he'd play for the length he did on a wii.

Zing. Mind, says alot that he'd rather die than play anymore COD.

Coriolanus

tomred1 wrote: »

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-south-yorkshire-14350216

Not to make light of this young lads death, from DVT but who has ever played a game for 12 hrs or more. I personally could only play for 4-5 hours before my eyes start going wonky. What the longest seesion people have played?

Title fail tbh. Long tv watching sessions could probably kill as well. Long sex sessions could kill. Long birdwatching sessions.

Tallon

The gunn shop just made an video on it with an interesting take on it

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pYr199cjsdU

briany

Thinking about it, I'd say I've had some 5-6 hour Civ 2 sessions back in the day. The Civ games can devour time like nobodies business, as I'm sure many will agree.

I've had longer stretches but with breaks in between. I remember a friend used to, for a period, stay up all night playing skirmish mode in C&C Tiberian Sun and the next morning he would be telling me about it like it was interesting to anyone but himself. Don't get that at all. How fun can gaming be with stinging eyes and a woozy feeling? Some here might say "very" but I like my sleep so not something I would be into.

Wossack

played 1 or 2 total annihilation marathons with a friend in the past

he was the first to relent, and had to go for an hour to get something to eat - said I'd stop playing till he returned, but secretly filled the rivers and lakes between our 2 bases with those little walking spider bombs. He finally arrives back, and the rivers belch forth an unrelenting stream of scurying nuclear death!

Or at least thats what I hoped would happen... he just had to kill the closest one, and the resulting domino effect blew all the others up, and crashed both our computers in the process

ShadowHearth

look at this threa in AH forums on boards.ie on this.

I KNEW IT WILL BE JUST IDIOTIC! those idiots in goverment should just shut the FECK UP!

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056348176

xbox and ps3 will be installed with chips that will let you play only 2h and 12 break... lolz

Agricola

8 hours is probably my max and I havent done that in years. Back in the days of ISS on the playstation.
Nowadays I wouldnt have the the time or inclination to pass 2 hours of play. I get eye strain and headaches from longer sessions in front of a monitor.

steel_spine

http://www.advertiser.ie/galway/article/42462/healy-eames-wants-games-consoles-to-have-in-built-cap-to-cut-time-spent-gaming


*facepalm* So ill-informed, it's just....:pac:

EDIT: Dammit, ust saw the AH thread is the same link. Oh well.

DjFlin

"Sitting still is literally the danger zone. Chris loved to play and would stay up all night"

Looks like I'm safe, I have a tenancy to jump about when playing games online.


I think the longest I've spent playing games would probably be Gears of War 2, myself and a friend played that from start to finish on Hardcore mode because we had nothing better to do.

The longest I generally spend playing games would probably be about 1-2 hours, unless I get a new game, which is rare.

silverpox

hard to know where to start with this nonsense.

- He died from sitting too long. The fact he was gaming was incidental. He could have been reading War and Peace. Lets install time limit chips in books too.

- In the story I read, his family claimed he often gamed for 10 hours. They didn't actually say he had done so prior to his death.

- I'm sure any kind of time limit could be circumvented but that aside why would/should microsoft or Sony implement them?!

- Most annoyingly I suspect the senator knows this already but just wants to get her name in the news, raise her profile. what a gee bag!

jaykhunter

As a Jr Doctor I've been trying to avoid this topic as it aggravates me so much. This unfortunate death is a massive aberration. I sincerely doubt that there weren't other risk factors at work; be it morbid obesity, smoking; inherited blood disorder/+ Family History, terrible parenting etc. It's extremely rare for a 20-year-old to get a DVT and this is completely blown out of proportion. This is an extremely rare case of a 20-year old and his family not looking out for his own health and getting a PE. The public should NOT be alarmed.

Long gaming sessions will NOT kill. Being extremely wreckless with your own health is. This is an EXTREMELY RARE case of a DVT/PE and should be treated as such.

Maybe "taking an extra long nap" should be another risk factor.

Raze_them_all

I will to play for 20 hours in a paid medical experiment if anyones interested :pac: