Man Dead After Two-Day Gaming Session
Just wait till anti-gamer Jack Thompson hears about this.
A 28-year-old South Korean man collapsed and died last week after spending 50 hours playing an online game in an Internet cafe, the BBC is reporting. According to reports from the city of Taegu, the man fired up a game of Blizzard's popular strategy title StarCraft on August 3rd and didn't stop until his death two days later.
Police suspect that the man's heart failed from exhaustion after the abnormally long game session in which he slept little and ate less.
This is not the first such incident. South Korea has seen explosive growth of online games over the past decade, with many people able to turn their pastime into a profession. This has had the unfortunate side effect of drawing in people who are more likely to develop addictions.
Gaming addiction has long been a scourge in the online gaming world. Before the deaths started being reported, there were the so-called EverQuest Widows - people who saw their relationships crumble as their partners succumbed to Sony's popular online game EverQuest.
Experts have warned people to take regular break while playing games.
Alex Wollenschlaeger
Editor, Kikizo Games
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