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S.Korean man dies after 50 hours of computer games
Tue Aug 9, 2005 11:44 AM BST

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

I will dress my links, or I will be sodomized by a spiked dildo for 50 hours straight!

link clothed. ~fg

EDIT: Someone move it but kept my reply, which was stupid

Okay as a seperate topic, yeah. I wonder what game he was playing, that's the real issue here.

Ack ack, sort out that link it has made the thread unaligned and hard to read!

what else but an MMORPG? Probably WoW, if I were to guess.

I'd really like to be able to say I'm surprised he was Korean and so avoid stereotyping. But, knowing the Koreans that I do know... I can't.

Knowing simply the kind of status and cultural significance gaming has in Korea allows me to be unsurprised.

It probably was World of Warcraft; I myself racked up almost a hundred hours of gaming during over five days of open beta back in October.

How was they guy's overall health? Because if he decided to quit his job becasue he really wanted to spend more time playing video games, I can imagine he didn't bother following a proper diet or exercise routine either, leading to a nonstop 50-hour session being fatal to his body.

How many does this make now? This certainly isn't the first time I recall hearing about stuff like this on the forum . . .

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.

Might have been WoW, does not sound like it though. Another slightly mentaly off person who did himself in through overdoing it.

However that said, I love Korea, for the simple fact that virtual sports are valued as much as real ones. That and the shear pollution around Seoul makes indoor activites about fifty times more attractive than outdoors ones.

General Zod wrote:How many does this make now? This certainly isn't the first time I recall hearing about stuff like this on the forum . . .

Over the years I recall a handfull of people who have died while playing video games, ranging fron suicide, accidental death/health failure, to being murdered* while playing.

*Specifically, I recall a 30-40-something year old man in the Middle East who was either unemployed or fired and played Everquest almost endlessly, who was killed by his 60-70-something year old mother, who he lived with about a couple years ago.

[Jack Thompsen]See? Videogames DO kill people![/Jack Thompsen]

General Zod wrote:How many does this make now? This certainly isn't the first time I recall hearing about stuff like this on the forum . . .

The other ones were like a Chinese dude killing his roommate over a virtual item, and parents leaving their child home alone to starve while they play games.

This is the first person that actually died himself as a result of the game, rather than causing harm to another (whether through negligence or murder).

That reminds me (or perhaps I just noticed), shouldn't the title say "Korean man obsessed with game dies"? The title as-is is about as unsurprising as one can get.

Utsanomiko wrote:That reminds me (or perhaps I just noticed), shouldn't the title say "Korean man obsessed with game dies"? The title as-is is about as unsurprising as one can get.

Nah, it was unnecessary. I didn't even realize it lacked "and dies", I just knew it instictively because of all the other koreans that have bit the dust over their gaming obsessions

Thread Title: Korean man obssesed with game

Me: And the sky is blue

For some reason, I knew he'd died before I even opened the thread.

Appearantly guild wars is dominated by koreans...


also I doubt the man died from exaustion from sitting in front of a computer for 50 hours, he probably had some other health issues we don't know about.

That is amazing. I can barely stay awake for 24 hours.

Son of the Suns wrote:also I doubt the man died from exaustion from sitting in front of a computer for 50 hours, he probably had some other health issues we don't know about.

I doubt 50 hours sitting on one's arse would help though.

Praxis wrote:This is the first person that actually died himself as a result of the game, rather than causing harm to another (whether through negligence or murder).

Actually, not quite - back in the days when Opie & Anthony were on terrestrial radio, Halo was the big thing, and my bed was propped up against the north-east corner of my room right where the window is, I was listening to the boys when one of them brought up one of those stories about some pathetic guy they laugh at and mock for ten minutes or so. The way it supposedly went, a guy playing Everquest got bumped off, and couldn't get back to his body in time (or however the deal works - maybe it was one of the other big games at that time) to save his stash, which supposedly included extremily rare, one-of-a-million items, Having lost what essentially amounted to his character's lifetime of work, the guy was so upset that he went and turned a gun on himself.

A similar incident also got mentioned on the show, too - guy was on a game-a-thon, was going for something like thirty hours, and up and croaked from coagulation or some clot., which is probably the culprit in this case as well.

Stofsk wrote:

Son of the Suns wrote:also I doubt the man died from exaustion from sitting in front of a computer for 50 hours, he probably had some other health issues we don't know about.

I doubt 50 hours sitting on one's arse would help though.

Maybe it was deep vain thrombosis that killed him, like it does on long flights when the passenger doesn't move their legs enough due to lack of room

Full article

A South Korean man has died after reportedly playing an online computer game for 50 hours with few breaks.

The 28-year-old man collapsed after playing the game Starcraft at an internet cafe in the city of Taegu, according to South Korean authorities.

The man had not slept properly, and had eaten very little during his marathon session, said police.

Online gaming in South Korea is extremely popular thanks to its fast and widespread broadband network.

Games are televised and professional players are treated, as well as paid, like sports stars.

Professional gamers there attract huge sums in sponsorship and can make more than $100,000 a year.

Starcraft?

Good greif! I'd get bored of it after three hours!

This sounds almost exactly like a story I've heard of a year ago.

Dartzap wrote:Full article

A South Korean man has died after reportedly playing an online computer game for 50 hours with few breaks.

The 28-year-old man collapsed after playing the game Starcraft at an internet cafe in the city of Taegu, according to South Korean authorities.

The man had not slept properly, and had eaten very little during his marathon session, said police.

Online gaming in South Korea is extremely popular thanks to its fast and widespread broadband network.

Games are televised and professional players are treated, as well as paid, like sports stars.

Professional gamers there attract huge sums in sponsorship and can make more than $100,000 a year.

Starcraft?

Good greif! I'd get bored of it after three hours!

I don't know if it still is this way over there but back in Starcraft's heyday, it was reportedly as popular as football is over here. Famous players were treated like celebrites and games were broadcast on TV.

It was supposedly the game that kicked the cybercafe phenomenon into full gear over there.

^^

Dartzap wrote:Starcraft?

Good greif! I'd get bored of it after three hours!

I've seen a video of a Starcraft competition. There were hundreds of people watching it in a concert-type atmosphere, most of them carrying huge plush toys and cheering on their champion. When they started, guy 1 built a hatchery at a ramp, and guy 2 found out. Then guy 2 sent all his scv's and guy 1 tried to get a sunken colony up, but with 1 marine and six scvs he managed to kill like 6 zerglings and six drones, and killed the sunken colony before it popped.

At the pro level it becomes all about micro. They regularly hit 200-300 actions per minute with their mouse and keyboard, and custom map their keys to that they are all on the left side of their keyboard and they don't have to lift their hands away at all. Expansion is dangerous since if they spot you you're finished (what guy 1 tried to do and failed), and every morsel of resource counts. Attacks happen fast, every few minutes, and usually are not pitch-battles since the loser quickly retreats if he sees he can't win. Attrition is the name of the game, and if you manage to kill one more guy than your opponent and retreat to heal, you are winning. There is never a huge imbalance, since at this level nobody makes any mistakes and if someone makes a mistake or is far behind he just quits the game, knowing that he will lose in the long run and not wanting to waste his time.

Brian

If you sit for a long fucking time you'll end up with blood clots forming in your legs, and then as soon as you stand up they break free and can travel to your heat or brain with fatal results. The same thing occasionally kills people who never stand up for the duration of very long air flights. I would strongly suspect blood clots did this guy in, and not his heart failing because of being awake for a mere 50 hours.