Gamer Dies After Computer Game Marathon

bringitdown

Computers addict dies after games marathon
10/08/2005 - 07:49:06

A South Korean man died of exhaustion in an internet café after playing computer games non-stop for 49 hours, police said today.

Lee, 28, who lived in the southern city of Taegu, who was identified only by his last name, collapsed on Friday after having eaten minimally and not sleeping.

He refused to leave his keyboard while he played the battle simulation game Starcraft.

Lee was quickly moved to a hospital but died after a few hours, due to what doctors are presuming was a heart attack, police said.

He had been sacked from his job last month because he kept missing work to play computer games, police said.

Computer games are enormously popular in South Korea, home to professional gamers who earn big money through sponsorships and television stations devoted to broadcasting matches.

© Thomas Crosbie Media, 2005. http://www.breakingnews.ie/2005/08/10/story215457.html

Stephen

What a retard. It always seems to be south korea that this happens in!
And starcraft? pfft

Deadwing

i think im getting desensitized to this sort of thing. coming from sth korea it really doesnt even shock me anymore.

Setun

People like that shouldn't be playing games (but sure who'd stop them I suppose).
Gives gaming a dodgy name.

qz

As Deadwing says, this has become all too common to make a real impact anymore, especially coming from an Asian country.

angeldelight

:eek: Seems a bit extreme imo!

http://www.breakingnews.ie/2005/08/10/story215457.html

Computers addict dies after games marathon
10/08/2005 - 07:49:06

A South Korean man died of exhaustion in an internet café after playing computer games non-stop for 49 hours, police said today.

Lee, 28, who lived in the southern city of Taegu, who was identified only by his last name, collapsed on Friday after having eaten minimally and not sleeping.

He refused to leave his keyboard while he played the battle simulation game Starcraft.

Lee was quickly moved to a hospital but died after a few hours, due to what doctors are presuming was a heart attack, police said.

He had been sacked from his job last month because he kept missing work to play computer games, police said.

Computer games are enormously popular in South Korea, home to professional gamers who earn big money through sponsorships and television stations devoted to broadcasting matches.

Mr E

Next thread down!!

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=288292

monkeyfudge

I'm still not sure I beleive these stories...

As before this one doesn't give away many details about the guy other than his name was 'Lee'

What's his full name? What about his family? What hospital was he taken to?

These all details you'd expect to find in a proper news story.

angeldelight

Hrm whats more worrying is I did check before posting *stumbles off to find more coffee* apologies

K.O.Kiki

Nope, it's probably genuine.
S. Korea has prob. the biggest gamer culture in the world, and lots of otaku (dunno the Korean word for that, 'cos I don't speak it...)

They're pretty f***in' mad, if ya ask me.

Cravez

Daddio wrote:

People like that shouldn't be playing games (but sure who'd stop them I suppose).
Gives gaming a dodgy name.

True Daddio,Korea has the largest home land line connections to the internet, in proportion, to the rest of the world. Most households in korea has access to the internet and basically Gaming over in Korea isn't just a favourite past time..... it's a way of life for them.

Zapho

Come on, I'm sure more people have died from playing golf or football or even tennis or chess then playing computer games.

monkeyfudge

K.O.Kiki wrote:

Nope, it's probably genuine.
S. Korea has prob. the biggest gamer culture in the world, and lots of otaku (dunno the Korean word for that, 'cos I don't speak it...)

They're pretty f***in' mad, if ya ask me.

Yes.. and all the more reason for gaming to be demonized in the media...

There have been several stories like this one and I haven't read a single one that was backed with any details that would allow someone to corroborate the story.

Zulu

heard the exact same report a few months ago, but he was playing counter strike and suffered a heart attack

jaggeh

lightweight, 49 hours?
my god im not even in good shape and even i have lasted over 100 hours. (5 days baby!! although sleeping for 2.5 days nearly straight is bad for you)

Retr0gamer

So somebody dies of natural causes while playing videogames so it must be because he was playing videogames for so long. Nobody has ever died as a direct result of not getting any sleep. Must be a story from the Sth Korean equivalent of the Daily Mail.

jaggeh

49 hours is nothing

Rhyme

Then again, StarCraft is still massively popular in Korea... wimp

seamus

Zapho wrote:

Come on, I'm sure more people have died from playing golf or football or even tennis or chess then playing computer games.

Yeah, but there's an inherent risk in these past-times. Conventionally, video gaming has been the lazy, safe past-time. You can't die from twiddling your thumbs surely?

Nobody has ever died as a direct result of not getting any sleep

Of course they have. Acute sleep deprivation (i.e. not sleeping at all) is extremely serious and can be fatal. Remember that while this guy is playing video games, it's not like he's sitting on his ass vegetating, he's still using up a lot of energy concentration, he has adrenaline pumping through his body, his heart beating rapidly from excitement, etc.

Of course, no other factors are mentioned. Perhaps he was very obese, or suffered from a heart condition, or a multitude of other things which were not mortally serious, but simply served to expediate his death by exhaustion.

Raiser

Finally - something I can be good at

- Though I'd probably mess it up and re-spawn

Draupnir

retrogamer wrote:

Nobody has ever died as a direct result of not getting any sleep

untrue, sleep deprivation was a common form of tortue in ancient Japan and China. It involved cutting off the persons eyelids so that they couldnt close there eyes, thus being unable to sleep. Without sleep, a human being will either go mad and his body will start to shut down or he might be fortunate enough to skip the mad stage and just die.

Catsmokinpot

man dies after playing starcraft for a reported 50 hrs

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/4137782.stm

poor muppet!

mang87

Zerg Rush Kekekeke!!

Kare Bear

Zerg Rush Kekekeke!!

zefer

Catsmokinpot: LMAO at the title of your post!

Poor strange F*cker is right though! :eek: