Boy collapses after playing WoW for 24 hours
Source: Tom's Guide | Keywords: world, warcraft, sweden, lich, king | Themes: Digital Entertainment
A 15-year-old Swedish boy collapsed after a marathon World of Warcraft gaming session.
The boy, along with six of his friends, had just purchased the newest WoW expansion, Wrath of the Lich King and began playing the game Saturday afternoon. According to the Times Online, the boy eventually collapsed because of the lack of sleep and food.
The parents told the newspaper that the kids ate very little while playing and added that their son only slept two hours the previous night. So it’s no wonder that 15 hours later or approximately 2PM on Sunday, the boy began having epileptic seizures and his parents rushed him to the hospital. Fortunately, the kid will apparently make a full recovery.
Logging in long hours after a game’s release is a badge of honor for many hard-core gamers. Yesterday we wrote about “Nymh” who leveled his character to level 80 in 27 hours after the WoW Wrath of the Lich King expansion release. And to be fair, thousands of people manage to put in hours of gaming with no adverse effects.
But there have been a few instances in the past of people dying after long gaming sessions. Back in 2005, a 28-year-old South Korean man died after playing Starcraft for 50 hours straight. In 2004, a 13-year-old Chinese boy jumped to his death after a 36-hour World of Warcraft stint.
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Has parenting gone by the wayside these days? You don't let your 15 year old kid continue playing especially when you know he's not eating or sleeping. Where's the intervention?
Agreed - and this has little to do with the game and everything to do with the behavior of the individuals. However, knowing human nature, there will be hoards that will point to the "evils of the game" and try to restrict or ban them.
Exactly, I'm a hardcore gamer AND "new" parent (4yo daughter & 1 1/2yo son) and I've done a LOT of marathons/LAN parties/etc... but we would always eat like crazy (pizza/chips/burgers/etc... food would always come FIRST!) and slept very little, but still took breaks every 2-3 hours.
Would I stop my kids from playing games? hell no (as long as he "deserved it") Would I stop them from doing the same I did? No, but I'd give them money to buy food damnit lol, or at least host the marathon at my house so I can check on them from time to time.
I hope to god my kids won't be stupid enough to go without food or have less than 4 hour sleep in the past 48 hours... that's just brain dead moronic.
Has responsible reporting gone by the wayside? If it's news that someone was first to level 80 then of course a bunch of teenagers are going to try for that same type of fame.
What's next? "Boy breaks leg trying to emmulate Tony Hawk"? Quick -- ban skateboards!
Michael
Has parenting gone by the wayside these days? You don't let your 15 year old kid continue playing especially when you know he's not eating or sleeping. Where's the intervention?
Exactly!!
I haven't even purchased the expansion to WoW myself. It doesn't seem like that big a deal to me. Sad thing is though, it's not only 15 year olds that play this much. Lots of folks spend every minute available doing this. It's sad.
MMOs are a plague, but it's a good example of things to come if technologies such a VR (virtual reality) ever come to life.
Most MMOs are quite immersive, but VR would be the pinnacle of immersion (obviously) and probably screw up our society completely.
MMOs are a plague, but it's a good example of things to come if technologies such a VR (virtual reality) ever come to life.Most MMOs are quite immersive, but VR would be the pinnacle of immersion (obviously) and probably screw up our society completely.
Only the idiots it would screw up. Which is ok because idiots are screwed up all ready, all it would do is make them more screwed up.
Too bad the kid didn't die, would of been natural selection at work. Really sad that idiots like him can still survive today.
StarCraft is not a MMO. Hmm, it is a Blizzard game though... Anyway, MMOs and other addictive games might be a plague but the responsability should always go towards the gamer, not the game. We're not gonna ban games because some kid abused it and collapse. Like we're not gonna ban cars because people drive recklessly or ban guns because they kill people... In our society, we always try to blame things for our behavior but the problem is, and will always be the people. We have to take responsabilities of our own actions.
The whole danged internet thing should be outlawed!
They should ban freewill and let the government control everybody!!!
w00t for idiots
i used to play for up to 2 days strait sometimes little food cuz we didnt have any... but i was just fine. Must be the kind of person that is more at risk for ill effects of lack of sleep and low food, i mean its 24hrs...
StarCraft is not a MMO. Hmm, it is a Blizzard game though... Anyway, MMOs and other addictive games might be a plague but the responsability should always go towards the gamer, not the game. We're not gonna ban games because some kid abused it and collapse. Like we're not gonna ban cars because people drive recklessly or ban guns because they kill people... In our society, we always try to blame things for our behavior but the problem is, and will always be the people. We have to take responsabilities of our own actions.
should we ban drugs, even though we know they are harmful? (smoking cannabis won't hurt anyone in the near vicinity like alcohol... or an excessively tired gamer trying to drive home)
The whole danged internet thing should be outlawed!
no it should not....
Has parenting gone by the wayside these days? You don't let your 15 year old kid continue playing especially when you know he's not eating or sleeping. Where's the intervention?
AGREED!!!
Besides, who plays WoW anymore?
(that was a joke, though wow does SUCK)
I await to hear about how this same kid jumps in a swimming pool with no water in it. GG everyone.
Only 24 hours? Korean man lasted 50 hours, Chinese boy 36 hours and a Swede 24? What happened to all the good social service/health care we heard about? I bet most American can last at least 48 hours.
I did close to a couple of 20hr sessions in Everquest, but because there was downtime I went to the washroom, always drank water and always made room to eat. and We kicked ass of course I was crazy then and young and I dont play MMO anymore because they are to addictive for me but hey they should be eating atleast
The parents knew that he was playing this long and didn't stop? Is this a joke? Someone please take this child away from his parents who obviously don't have a clue how to raise a child.
I bet you those parents would blame a gun for killing someone.
I bet you those parents would blame a gun for killing someone.
Sadly, that has already happened.
Now you bring up the issue of firearms. What good is a firearm if you lock it into a safe and someone comes into your house? Maybe you should teach lil' johnny "Hey if you touch this YOUR GONNA DIE SLOWLY", about a 90% he will leave it alone, especially if you threaten to ground him too.
Parents are getting so pathetic these days. And DHS doesn't help none either.
i always thought i had strong will power, i never let myself get addicted to anything... even mmo's, when i feel like im getting to into it, i quit. obviously, it has to affect my life very negatively i.e. friendships lost, parents mad... etc etc
but yeah this is ridiculous, im sure there are plenty more of these stories
24 hours? Thats nothing.
I did multiple 72 hour everquest stints, ive stayed up 24 hours too many times to count(not just playing games).
Althought i find it much harder to stay up for more then a day these days. It was easy till my late 20s. High elevation and being older makes it harder. Its easy as a kid/young adult tho.
This kid getting ill has nothing to do with playing games. He obviously has health issues.
I think None1212121 hit the nail on the head. The kid probably has pre-existing health issues. Of course, the two hours of sleep the night before probably compounded the fact.
damn. UNFORTUNATELY the kid will apparently make a full recovery. More kids like this should die and stop wasting the earth's resources.
If he had an epileptic seizure, it's because he was predisposed to epileptic seizures.
i agree with none1212, that kid probably does have health issues. and i agree once again, 24 hours is nothing. 72 hours from you is probably too much for me, but i've pulled 36 hour sessions from Diablo2 years ago before. and 24 hour runs were frequent. if you can't stand the fire, stay out of the kitchen! son!
people these days think they are hardcore gamers, they don't even know what that is.
Well he's a WoW player, what did you expect?
Well he's a WoW player, what did you expect?
That's not very nice. Poor child was lured in by the evils of modern science.
THIS JUST IN:
-KIDS ARE IRRESPONSIBLE
-TEENS NEED 8+ HRS OF SLEEP PER NIGHT ON (semi-)REGULAR BASIS TO FUNCTION NORMALLY (NO CAFFIENE DOES NOT HELP MUCH UNLESS YOU'RE OVER THE AGE OF TWENTY-SIX)
-YOUNG GAMERS STILL FAILING IN ENGLISH CLASS
Heya,
Where the hell were the parents? Do they not pay attention to what their kid is doing? Any living organic creature that will pass up FOOD to keep having their eyes mezmorized has a problem, and any sane parent should have taken that as a fair warning that there was trouble brewing.
Kid: You lived. Learn from it.
Parents: Your kid lived. Learn from it.
Both: Go take a frigg'n walk, you clowns.
Cheers,
The boy only played 15 hrs thats nothing he had to have had a pre-exisiting condition healthy people don't collapse after such a short period.
Healhy people have reserves stored in there body and don't have seizures even kids.
My bet if they check him out he prob has epilepsy there are a number of causes but they better do a full brain scan on him.
I blame it on the parents and if I were the authority, I would prosecute the parents. Its amazing that parents will complain and go haywire when religion or ethics are thought to their kids but they have no problem letting their 15yo son get to the point of epileptic seizures. Parenting no longer exists and those that do parent their children, are constantly getting criticized. Unbelievable but true we've managed to take well being standards and flip them upside down..