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Online gaming addict dies after ‘marathon’ session

msnbc.msn.com — An obese 26-year-old man in northeastern China died after a "marathon" online gaming session over the Lunar New Year holiday, state media said on Wednesday. The 330-pound man from Jinzhou, in Liaoning province, collapsed on Saturday, the last day of the holiday, after spending "almost all" of the seven-day break playing online games.

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  • MemoryDump, on 10/12/2007, -12/+63sad sad world we live in.. probably was a WoW addict
    • slothchunk, on 10/12/2007, -4/+49i don't understand how this happens. Do video games turn off the hunger/thirst sensation in some people? (assuming this guy starved to death) I've never experienced that. I have gotten pretty good at getting a drink in between deaths in halo. Sometimes i'll even take a bite of pizza.
    • drunkentoad, on 10/12/2007, -16/+97pwnd
    • sagat, on 10/12/2007, -5/+77If he had put that much commitment into exercise he would have been a bloody olympian!
    • nixonrichard, on 10/12/2007, -4/+84I was starting to get worried that the red dragon was rising and China would soon become the world's superpower, but now I see they will succumb to the Western plague of obesity and video games.
    • Absinthminded64, on 10/12/2007, -16/+6I don't understand this either. Why do we only hear of this happening in China? Do they have a high unemployment rate and an abundance of internet enabled machines?

      What gives?? Has anyone seen this first hand over there?
    • bIuebonics, on 10/12/2007, -16/+10@slothchunk

      there's a good chance he died from lack of sleep.
    • drinkGreen, on 10/12/2007, -7/+31@slothchunk

      forget hunger/thirst sensations. video games can turn off a person's "blink" reaction. I know when I've played Halo or Call of Duty, my eyes frequently hurt because I stretch blink times because I might miss an enemy player.
    • jwyles, on 10/12/2007, -10/+19I saw an episode of CSI where they ruled a man died of drinking too many diuretics (energy drinks in this case) and playing games online for long periods of time without rest. They even threw in the added detail that he had a urine jar next to him so he could continually play without succumming to biological urges. Sounds like life, and now death, imitates art for this man...
    • capiCrimm, on 10/12/2007, -18/+3the Chinese obviously don't have a clear grasp of reality. At least in America we take strong drugs before we think we can take on tanks one on one.
    • Zacharute, on 10/12/2007, -4/+13@slothchunk & bIuebonics

      I dont think food or sleep is what he died of... This guy most likely had a heart attack...
    • RT55J, on 10/12/2007, -1/+17@sagat

      True, but he still would have died because of a marathon.
    • JimmyRyan, on 10/12/2007, -19/+4"pwnd"

      I still have tears in my eyes from laughing so hard!
    • Splizxer, on 10/12/2007, -5/+24I'd say this is a Darwin Award, but I highly doubt this man was getting any sex.
    • TheKillDoctor, on 10/12/2007, -0/+10How does this happen?
      Blood clot forms, reaches heart or brain, you're dead.

      Marathon "sitting in one place for a long time" is never a good idea without taking breaks.
    • ellion, on 10/12/2007, -14/+0fat chinese people should be prohibited by law!
    • huntrm, on 10/12/2007, -6/+4Darwin would be proud
    • belfastbiker, on 10/12/2007, -2/+10I think asians have their own weird quirks when it comes to choice of MMORG, not just WoW.

      I fought the urge to play any online multiplayer game until 3 days ago, when the drug dealer/blizzard offered 10 days for free and a free download on WoW.

      With three characters now uo to level nine, I can testify that World of Warcraft is Digital Crack Cocaine.

    • Khojigybarra, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5he probably played lineage... if its WoW related, I would imagine they would mention Blizzard.
    • foolfromhell, on 10/12/2007, -0/+10"i don't understand how this happens. Do video games turn off the hunger/thirst sensation in some people?"
      He had enough spirit to regen!
      No need for water!
      He was a priest too...
    • Bytor, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4330 lbs. He did not starve.

      This happens every once in while. It is usually heart failure, from being out of shape combined with lack of sleep and endless days of adrenaline.

      Adrenaline is meant for a short burst to spur physical activity. Endless adrenaline with no exercise is very hard on the heart.

    • Asianwaste, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4I've got a great idea!! I'll hire thousands of Chinese people and make thousands of World of Warcraft accounts. I'll have them play the accounts day and night until they die. After which I'll sell the account the recently departed worked on and make millions! It's like sweatshops but since it's not actually cheap labor, I can possibly avoid the feds!
      They like to play World of Warcraft, I like money. It is a win/win situation. It's brilliant!!
    • velvet396, on 10/12/2007, -5/+3how do you kill that which has no life?
    • MouseCircus, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4Considering his weight and all other outstanding circumstances, I'm going to provide an educated guess and assume that he died from heart failure.

      No physical activity while staying almost completely sedentary for days with not much rest at all was too much for his heart to handle.
    • qwertydvorak, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4@bluebonics: "there's a good chance he died from lack of sleep."

      trust me, been there - done that. you eventually just pass out slumped over the keyboard and wake up a couple hours later. you wake the computer from sleep also, and realize you have been logged out of game for inactivity. ;)
    • chijim70, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5@khojigybarra

      I'd agree. Lineage is the game of choice in asia... they have taste. If it was WoW he died of boredom...
    • xinli11, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Another likely possibility is blood clots. There was a similar case of a man in Korea who died after playing video games for several days straight in an Internet cafe. The cause of death in that case was attributed to a blood clot that formed in his legs that eventually traveled up to his heart. Such clots would form if a particular body part is kept in the same position for long periods of time. These clots have claimed lives beyond just avid gamers, including airline passengers on long international flights. The medical term for this condition is deep-vein thrombosis.
    • bLanKer, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0at least he got to play for free.. as quoted...

      "spending "almost all" of the seven-day break"

      assuming almost all = 80%
      7 x 24 = 168 hours * .80 = 134.4 hours
      hour at a pc room about 3 dollars..
      3 x 134.4 = 537.60

      TOTAL SAVINGS OF $537.60
  • flamingmb, on 10/12/2007, -2/+14I was really expecting this to be a guy from Korea.
  • masterofNone, on 10/12/2007, -18/+3dude. go for a walk.
    • NoelGallagher, on 10/12/2007, -5/+16Dude, he can't. He's dead!

      Bwammy!
  • erkokite, on 10/12/2007, -4/+42Mom! Bathroom!

    Sad though. What would honestly possess a person to do such a thing?
    • v3locity, on 10/12/2007, -15/+3OMG!!!! I almost peed myself! I loved that episode. I hate MMORPGS or more appropriately the addicts who play them.
    • thenoblesheep, on 10/12/2007, -8/+3Nice southpark reference to erkokite...That aside it must of been starvation or thirst that did him in, I can see someone being oblivious if they were really immersed in a game and/or if they had gone nearly 7 nights (article suggested almost entire week) without sleep.
    • masterofNone, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6could've been a stroke. he was obese and he was sitting at a computer all of those hours. he might have developed a clot in his legs and when the marathon was over he stood up and walked for the first time in a while causing the clot to move to his brain. embolism.

      same thing can happen on long airline flights.
    • graystar, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Maybe people need to start wearing those DVT white socks when they play online.
    • drmessano, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0Funniest Southpark, ever!

      ....and my reply is misplaced
  • msdaddy, on 10/12/2007, -9/+121Did he drop any good loot?
    • Carsonauto, on 10/12/2007, -36/+2Haha, that just made me laugh, literally
    • micro506, on 10/12/2007, -3/+42@carsonauto

      On digg, we just press the little green button.
    • Steelfox, on 10/12/2007, -18/+2LMFAO
    • daharris, on 10/12/2007, -17/+1ahahaha
    • imikedaman, on 10/12/2007, -0/+29http://www.joystiq.com/media/2006/11/wow4twiw3.gif
    • n00bst3r, on 10/12/2007, -4/+3Yea but it bound when picked up.
    • kevxross, on 10/12/2007, -17/+2@micro506

      On digg, we just press the little red button.
    • kevxross, on 10/12/2007, -9/+4So casonauto replies directly to a post in approval of that post and is dugg down.

      micro506 hypocrytically replies directly to that post in disapproval of that post because the "little green button" is the way of showing approval here on digg (isn't the little RED button YOUR tool for showing your disapproval?). He gets dugg up.

      digg is an interesting beast.
    • dRuNk3nIrIsHmEn, on 10/12/2007, -1/+9You know what's not interesting? You, kevxross.
    • outsid3rNo17, on 10/12/2007, -3/+0F*ck the green button, THAT WAS AWESOME!!! And thank you very much for the picture. I just couldn't believe it!
  • thearrow, on 10/12/2007, -1/+15Sad to see a story like this. Don't try and play any game straight for a week, go outside, get some fresh air, and sleep.
    • Dumbledorito, on 10/12/2007, -3/+21But Warcraft cured me of my pr0n addiction...
    • argonauta, on 10/12/2007, -1/+7@Dumbledorito that's sick!!! how can you live without porn!!!!
    • Nobi-Wan, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6Female Night Elves.
  • NiGHTSChao, on 10/12/2007, -10/+5We need to start having a memorial service for this stuff..
  • Klarth, on 10/12/2007, -3/+22rez pls
    • crouse, on 10/12/2007, -4/+1Can I have his stuff?
    • akaeding, on 10/12/2007, -6/+0Hah...literally lol'd there
      ( the fact that I get that makes me a loser, but it's ok...I'm amongst friends)
  • Supertrout, on 10/12/2007, -12/+2Everquest = Evercrack
    • Dumbledorito, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6Is there anyone ON Everquest anymore? Or is it dead, too?
  • Dumbledorito, on 10/12/2007, -6/+8M-m-m-monster kill!
  • carbonetc, on 10/12/2007, -8/+31But how do you kill that which has no life?
  • naffets, on 10/12/2007, -4/+5I love how they blame the gaming for his death, he died because he was bloody unhealthy, not because he played a game too much.

    Retarded. Still, dugg! :D
  • JJ1337, on 10/12/2007, -1/+13Don't target online game as a source of his death, blame himself for lack of self discipline in knowing what is important in life. It is sad he died; it is not sad if he died because of the addiction to a game.
  • mmarvin, on 10/12/2007, -2/+11amateur
  • 1KrazyKorean, on 10/12/2007, -9/+3War of Warcraft will KILL YOU!@#$
    • crouse, on 10/12/2007, -10/+2Warcraft does not kill you Chuck Norris kills you.
    • dRuNk3nIrIsHmEn, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2War of Warcraft? Old Chuck Norris "humor"?

      Where do these people come from.
  • meanteen, on 10/12/2007, -7/+1Who the ***** made him play so much, ***** retards, they have no life, why play it SO ***** MUCH?
  • dcoolidge, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4I want to play the game he was playing...
    • purple, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2He was playing that new addictive game, eMoo: Dairy Farming Xteme.
    • qwertydvorak, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0he was playing "Hello Kitty Island Adventure" with Butters.
  • milo3600, on 10/12/2007, -1/+18This is ridiculous. If a 330lb guy had suffered a heart attack after a week watching TV how much notice would it have got. It seems even digg is not immune to the gaming-is-dangerous mentality.
    • parax, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Actually, it would have gotten notice especially in the US. Even at 330lbs, that's not the kind of weight that makes a heart attack likely at age 26.

      Time is the biggest factor in heart disease, it happens gradually over many years. Without a secondary factor, like a genetic defect, or cardiac damage caused by trauma, cardiac arrest is an unlikely cause of death for a sub-50 year old man. The cases in which people die of heart attacks before they're 50 are almost always related to trauma of the heart that would not have been affected by lifestyle.

      In essence, if your heart gives out before you're even 30, there was something wrong that could cause death at anytime, regardless of his weight, diet, or activity.
    • werdmath, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2If you would have been watching the front page you would know that a little while ago there was a story about a guy who died while watching TV and wasn't found for a long time.
      It even happened in the us.

      http://digg.com/offbeat_news/Mummified_Man_Found_Infront_of_Blaring_TV_dead_since_2005
  • DrZibbs, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1..and was discovered surrounded by Doritos
  • sysoprock, on 10/12/2007, -0/+11BREAKING NEWS: Blizzard kills another Asian dude.
  • spinesplitter, on 10/12/2007, -4/+0i cant become addicted to MMO's they bore the ***** outta me

    dawn of war i can play untill i die though
  • joeyaltier, on 10/12/2007, -9/+2What do you call a fat Chinese person?

    A Chunk
  • chigdon, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1It seems most people are missing the "state media said" part. I wouldn't be surprised if this is a piece of propaganda to scare teens away from the computer and the Internet.
  • dotlizard, on 10/12/2007, -0/+9wait -- i'm confused. i thought it was the supersized fast food that we blame when a fat guy dies. video games are what we blame when we kill somebody, right?

    it's so hard to know whose fault stuff is these days.
  • SlayerKid99, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1That's how you know someone is a loser.
  • Uranium118, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4How can you even play 7 days. I once played 24 hours of Halo and I couldn't continue, I was so tired I just fell asleep.
    • masterkenobi, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SsSaU9ZMZ48
    • drifterx1x2x3, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0ive hit around 70 hours straight of gaming almost 3 times. Halo once, wow once, and DOTA once. at which point i became so worthless i couldn't play competitively nemore and passed out. I am a game addict though you must see. I think this could very well have happened to me except that i only weigh 186 pounds.
  • lukehan, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I would suspect he died of deep vein thrombosis.

    http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/000156.htm
  • christopherp, on 10/12/2007, -4/+0Wii Boxing avatars can really throw a punch.
  • imabot, on 10/12/2007, -3/+3Leeeeroooooyyyy Jenkins!!111!
  • CanceledCzech, on 10/12/2007, -8/+1"...from Jinzhou, in Liaoning province..."

    Right, because I totally know where that is.
    • purple, on 10/12/2007, -1/+12Breaking News: There is a whole world out there!
  • kolobcreek, on 10/12/2007, -1/+8330 lbs Chinees guy had to be HUGE..... he was probably 5'4"
    • Xspire, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1No matter how racist and sterotypical that was I still can only imagine such a comical sight.
  • KingofHalo, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1havent you people heard of the japaneese kid who died from playing starcraft? and also i can see how you ignore food but what about Bathroom like if you pee ur self while playing a game i find this really sad. and if he did take bathroom breacks could he have grabed somthing to eat?
  • po43292, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2another one?
  • azsupra, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2This isn't exactly anything new. Koreans have been dying from playing online games since AT LEAST Diablo 2.
  • frozendice, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I've been obsessed with MMORPG's before but days straight? 7-8 hour stretches and my mouse hand would hurt. How did he put up with it. By the third day he should have been unable to move the mouse.
  • psychorameses, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1One more reason to get a Wii.
  • nevaseez, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0@DrinkGreen

    Thank you for reminding me to BLINK more frequently while @ the computer screen!
  • SpaceDreamer, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1thanks, Reuters, don't bother to tell us which game he was playing...
  • directive0, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Was actually impressed for a second cause I totally thought he was playing "Marathon".... man I miss that game.
  • popothebright, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0How many fat tards die while watching TV? So because he was playing a video game its a sign something's wrong with the medium?

    Please.
  • s14sh3r, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Lagged out :(
  • MindTrigger, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I've been gaming online for well over a decade now. My idea of a gaming 'marathon" is 5-6 hours on the occasional event free weekend night as an alternative to mind numbing TV shows. Even then I always have food / water nearby.

    FPS games make it much easier to forget about food or water, because of the action, but even then you die and can take a break before respawning in most modern games. MMOs are as laid back as gaming gets except for raids/instances where actual concentration may be needed.

    The guy died from a lot more than his gaming marathon.
  • Stevethegreat, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Maybe I'm a heartless ***** but I have no sympathy
  • badmetaphorguy, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0See you in hell, you fat bastard.
  • masterkenobi, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1No mention of what game he was playing...was it Hello Kitty Island Adventure?
  • Wugie, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I smell starcraft
  • AndrewDB, on 01/10/2008, -2/+2The blood clotted in his arse, and he had a heart attack. I'm guessing that's what happened.
  • azwethinkweizm, on 10/12/2007, -4/+1I'm glad he's dead
  • FAT_PIGGY, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1WoW
  • oknothing, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Holy *****, this dude must've been uber as all hell.
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