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Games Entertainment

Man Dies After 50-hour Gaming Marathon 177

Posted by Zonk from the quit-making-us-look-bad dept.
Orbital writes "CNN is reporting that a South Korean man has collapsed and died of heart failure just minutes after wrapping up a 50-hour gaming marathon during which he only took short breaks to go to the bathroom or a quick nap on a makeshift bed." From the article: "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."
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Man Dies After 50-hour Gaming Marathon More

Man Dies After 50-hour Gaming Marathon

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  • Any idea what game it was?

    Vaguely surprised to see it wasn't WoW or some other MMORPG...

    FTA:

    "online battle simulation games "

    So does that mean BF1942 or something along those lines?

  • Most important details missing - (Score:4, Interesting)

    by MBraynard ( 653724 ) on Tuesday August 09, 2005 @11:32AM (#13279563) Journal
    What game was he playing?

    And where can I get it?

    Ok, joking. Seriously, he had other health problems for this to have happened and pushed him over the edge. He could have been at the office doing a 50 hour shift or even competing in military training. Somehow there is an unspoken link in the article suggesting that the game killed him.

    My guess is it was either Lineage, or a map-hacked version of StarCraft.

  • In other news... (Score:3, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 09, 2005 @11:32AM (#13279567)
    The average IQ of human population suddenly increased.

  • push push push (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Dachannien ( 617929 ) on Tuesday August 09, 2005 @11:33AM (#13279572)
    As it turns out, if you wire up the part of a mouse's brain that generates sexual gratification to a switch, and then give the mouse access to that switch, it will repeatedly push that button to the abandonment of all other necessities of life (food, sleep) until it dies.

    Apparently, all it took in this case was a game, and the game didn't even involve sex. I wonder what that says about humans.

    • Re:push push push (Score:4, Funny)

      by blighter ( 577804 ) on Tuesday August 09, 2005 @11:39AM (#13279635)
      Just imagine how much worse the effect would be if the game did involve sex!!!

      Now I understand why the rampant violence and cursing in San Andreas wasn't a problem but unlockable low-rez simulated dry-humping was such a huge deal!

      Before I just thought it was uninformed rank lunacy on the part of anti-game zealots and uninformed hypocritcal pandering on the part of politicians but now I see they were just trying to protect us from dying like drug-addicted rats in a cage...

      • Just imagine how much worse the effect would be if the game did involve sex!!!

        Now I understand why the rampant violence and cursing in San Andreas wasn't a problem but unlockable low-rez simulated dry-humping was such a huge deal!

        Before I just thought it was uninformed rank lunacy on the part of anti-game zealots and uninformed hypocritcal pandering on the part of politicians but now I see they were just trying to protect us from dying like drug-addicted rats in a cage...

        This was modded as Funny, but there'

    • I wonder what that says about humans

      I think it says that if there was such a thing for humans, hospital emergency room admittance rates would sky rocket as men flooded in with spontaneously combusted prostates.
    • "Apparently, all it took in this case was a game, and the game didn't even involve sex. I wonder what that says about humans."

      There are over 6 billion people in the world and one dude died this way. If it says anything about humans, it says that the vast majority of us have strong self control.

    • Re:push push push (Score:5, Funny)

      by mapmaker ( 140036 ) on Tuesday August 09, 2005 @01:48PM (#13280797)
      Apparently, all it took in this case was a game, and the game didn't even involve sex. I wonder what that says about humans.

      That we really kick ass at designing games.

    • Variations of that story have been floating around since the 60s. In a more priggish time it was supposedly the "pleasure center" that was wired up. (Larry Niven's "wirehead" stories are, of course, based on this concept.) But I've come to suspect that this is pretty much an urban legend. There's probably some real-life experiment at the core of the story, but I doubt if it's as simple as "I'm wired to want to push this button, so I can't do anything else, like eat or drink or sleep."

      (I could be wrong, of

      • Maybe it is an urban legend, but since I was shooting for "funny" rather than "informative" I figured I'd risk being wrong and let somebody else do the fact-checking for me. ;)

        That said, maybe you're right, and I should at least do a Google search. Well, it turns out that getting info on this phenomenon-or-urban-legend is fairly difficult. The only page I found that has any remotely reputable mention of this is this one [telepolis.com], and it doesn't look like the sources it cites refer to this phenomenon specifically.
        • I seem to recall reading those wirehead rats in a book by Arthur C. Clarke called Profiles of the Future, originally published in 1962. No indication where Clarke got his info. That's probably the source for this particular legend.

          Don't feel bad about spreading an urban legend -- it's something everybody does from time to time. You hear a story that seems to make sense, and is too good to keep to yourself.

      • (Larry Niven's "wirehead" stories are, of course, based on this concept.) But I've come to suspect that this is pretty much an urban legend

        Just wait 300 years
        --Brennan-monster

    • A human does something similar in _Brainstorm_: http://imdb.com/title/tt0085271/ [imdb.com]

  • again? (Score:3, Interesting)

    by enrico_suave ( 179651 ) on Tuesday August 09, 2005 @11:34AM (#13279575) Homepage
    is this like a once a year occurance?

  • Has Hillary Clinton been alerted to this yet? We obviously need more warnings on these video games to stop this kind of horrible tragedy!
    • I realize you're being sarcastic, or at least I hope you are, but there are people out there who will seriously react in this manner.

      Let me point out that if you stay up for 50 hours straight, it's going to result in health problems regardless of what you're doing. In order to stay up for so long you'd need some sort of stimulants to keep your body going. If he'd been drinking coffee or other cafinated beverages and eating sugary foods to give his body energy then it's not too hard to see that this was mo

      • "So let's hope the crazies reason along the same line and don't start proclaiming video games as evil killing machines."

        I agree with your post, but that last line makes you sound kind of crazy.

      • My god. I wish you people would stop saying these things about staying up. Staying, like anything else, will generally only cause health problems in people who already have them.

        My Grandfather once had to stay up for over a week straight in the 50's when he was in the Army going into Military Intelligence, to see what exactly he would do if sleep deprived. All that happened to him was he temporarally lost his colour vision.

        I myself have stayed up for 97 hours straight without sleep, and suffered no il

  • Maybe it's a byproduct of the culture of videogaming in S.Korea. Maybe it's just people with obssessive-compulsive personnalities choosing passtimes they really should not.Maybe it's that videogames are the Devil's tool and need to be restricted. Which do you think the media will repeat ad nauseam? Heh.

  • Heart condition? (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Princeofcups ( 150855 ) <john@princeofcups.com> on Tuesday August 09, 2005 @11:39AM (#13279640) Homepage

    It's sad that he did not find out about his heart condition until it was too late. What does the fact that he was playing computer games have to do with ANYTHING?

    jfs

    • It was reported it was a exhaustion induced heart attack.

      So the most logical conclusion is that it is not playing the game that killed him, but playing it for 50 hours.
    • Why so defensive? The article simply reports the circumstances surrounding some guy's death. I guess they must have figured that an article stating "A man died today in South Korea" would be a little dry if it didn't provide a few details.

      I must have accidentally skipped the part of the article you obviously read where they claim that online gaming is dangerous and evil.
      • "I must have accidentally skipped the part of the article you obviously read where they claim that online gaming is dangerous and evil."

        Article where Jack Thompson makes this exact point because of this incident in 3...2....1....

  • Gamer's Legacy (Score:5, Insightful)

    by UberMenchier ( 906078 ) on Tuesday August 09, 2005 @11:40AM (#13279642)
    Do you think that it was worth it? Did the man die with a smile on his face after 50 hours of intense gaming? I would think so...

    This man actually QUIT HIS JOB so that he could spend more time gaming. Perhaps some better health management could be desired, but the man was the epitome of a GAMER.

    Rest in Peace buddy.
    • This man actually QUIT HIS JOB so that he could spend more time gaming. Perhaps some better health management could be desired, but the man was the epitome of a GAMER.

      OR.... not. Somebody's story is wrong, because this one [chosun.com], which seems to be a Korean news source, says:

      Since being fired early last month over his frequent absences due to his game addiction, Lee had been coming to the PC café every day to play

      He was a slacker. He actually died of slacking off too much.
      • He was no ordinary slacker! He was a slacker MASTER.

        We should erect some kind of monument, I think. Just let me finish this game...
      • He was a slacker. He actually died of slacking off too much.

        Then maybe the Church of the Subgenius should give him a special lifetime (deathtime?) achievement award for amassing so much Slack?

  • PKing obviously is a problem...

    This guy sounds like he had serious problems, quitting his job to play games and basically dropping out of reality. It reminds me the TV show "Intervention" [aetv.com], and the episode with the video game addict.

  • Well at least he didn't die working (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Dr. Spork ( 142693 ) on Tuesday August 09, 2005 @11:46AM (#13279703)
    Seriously, how many readers here have jobs that at one time or another required them to do a 50-hour work marathon with only bathroom breaks and short naps? Statisically, I think many more people die from this than from gaming, because this sort of situation is quite common at some jobs. It just (sadly) too routine and mundane to get widely reported.

    This story is much less sad. I'd much rather game myself to death than work to death. Who knows what would have happened to this guy if he hadn't quit his job?

    • Actually, according to this article (http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/20050 8/200508080012.html [chosun.com]), he didn't quit his job so much as he was fired.

      --AC
    • ... this sort of situation is quite common at some jobs. It just (sadly) too routine and mundane to get widely reported.

      If an event is commonplace, then there is no particular reason to report on that event. Now if there is something to that event that makes it unique, then it has the added characteristic of being newsworthy. You wouldn't expect a news article that some random guy is breathing, but you would expect some interest if that guy was pronounced dead and spent the night stored in a morgue.

      Genera
    • I have done a 50 hour work marathon... over the course of a week. Anyone who stays at work for 50 hours in a row better be living in a third world nation on the edge of starvation and desperatly need the work. If you are living in an industrialized first world nation, you are just a fucking wuss who needs to grow a pair. If your boss wants you to work 50 hours straight, tell him to fuck off. Really, I mean it. There isn't a first world nation in the world where that is even a little bit legal, nor is t

  • After He Quit (Score:5, Funny)

    by wickedj ( 652189 ) on Tuesday August 09, 2005 @11:46AM (#13279710) Homepage
    Obviously, since he perished after quiting the game, it was the "lack" of gaming that killed him. Let that be a lesson to you parents. When your kid says "5 more minutes Mom!", that might be the only thing keeping them alive.

  • Respawn (Score:5, Funny)

    by mchappee ( 22897 ) * on Tuesday August 09, 2005 @12:04PM (#13279860)

    Has he respawned yet?

    MC

  • I just did worse to myself (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Fr05t ( 69968 ) on Tuesday August 09, 2005 @12:13PM (#13279929)
    On the weekend I was playing in a rather large Ultimate Frisbee tournament (high amounts of physical activity). Myself and several of my team mates went almost 50 hours with short naps and consuming large quantities of alcohol. In that time we played 5 games on Saturday (9am - 5pm), and 4 on Sunday (9am-3:30pm).

    Now, by the end of it I may have wished I was dead, but it didn't kill me - soo I'm guessing this guy had other problems.

    • You were drinking alchohol, but who knows what this guy was eating/drinking? One of the articles linked above says he barely ate, but he may have been slamming coffees and Jolt colas for a good chunk of that time, maybe even popping stimulants. Also, if your game of choice is Ultimate Frisbee and not Starcraft, then you are probably in much better shape then this guy was before he started his marathon.

      I guess I'm lucky... I used to play marathon sessions when I was a kid (2-3 days, sometimes), but now that

      • "but now that I'm older I just pass out on my keyboard if I'm up past my bedtime. No risk of exhaustion-induced death there!"

        Just a risk of waffle face in the morning!!

        Soyu must be the guy who was spamming the server with "sdfnbw; vngpgw;/lnlvk nsd,.n!!!!!!!!!!!!" last night... sorry i had to kick you...
    • Alcohol's a DEPRESSANT and slows the heart rate.

      I suspect this guy was exhaused and hyped up on caffeine and Red Bull... (heh, I know I would've been!)
  • Everyone posting on here rushes to defend the game. I don't really get why you are freaking out. People are asking stupid things like "well, why are games even included in the article. He died from a bad heart." Umm, if someone does something 40 hours straight and then dies...it is probably related and would be notable if you filled in games with x. Where x could be sex, work, eating, running, kissing, reading slashdot, etc. The problem is he was addicted and pushed his body too far and died. Everyth
  • He died doing what he loved. Heck, he even quit his job to play more games! The dude loved his games...

    I am reminded of that South Park episode where Kenny is summoned by God to control heaven's army because he's so good at that one video game and never stopped playing it...
  • This kind of reminds me of the central plot of the .hack//Sign anime series wherein a character named Tsukasa is unable to logout of the MMORPG known as The World. It makes me wonder if some kind of continuous login limit should be imposed for online games. I think something sensible like 12 hours with a mandatory 2 hour break perhaps. Now that said, it would all make sense, but I also think that people need to be responsible for their own actions. So while this might be a sensible thing to impose, I won't
    • For the record, Tsukasa is in "computer" induced coma IRL. The game didn't technically put Tsukasa in the coma, but, similar to an addict, Tsukasa really had to want to get out of the game to get out of the coma.

      Login Limits would not have been a factor in that story. I will now return to my coma.
  • Given that he was at an Internet cafe, I do have to wonder why they let him stay for 50 hours straight. I'm not crazy enough to blame the cafe (though you know someone will), but it seems to me it would be in their interests to apply some sort of time limit -- even if it's ridiculous, like 24 hours -- and kick him off so that another customer can get at the computer. (And yes, I'm sure he would have just gotten back in line and grabbed the next computer available.)

    That, and there's nothing in the article
  • GNN Reports: "Some doctors say the guy could have died for not eating or actually after a 50 hour marathon with his heart condition he could have died doing macrame or just walking but for the sake of sensationalism lets just blame the evil, evil videogames, actually word is he was playing GTA with the eating babies mod."

    -"Terrible, terrible news Katie, Im changing the headline to "Horrible game kills man", In other news a man stabbed himself in the chest 20 times while playing Mario bros and died, relati
    • The important point isn't that "Horrible game kills man" but that games can be extremly addicting to some people, not all will die, but that doesn't mean that the addiction isn't causes a lot of problems for them.

  • Devil's Advocate... (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Anm ( 18575 ) on Tuesday August 09, 2005 @12:51PM (#13280290)
    As a gamer, a game developer, and a programmer in a lab that focuses on educational software explicitly designed to motivate students, the technology does scare me.

    The technology to hit the pleasure centers that motivate humans is only in its infancy, but already having effects in addiction. People are already expanding our research beyond simple pavlovian reward stimuli. At GDC 2004, a psychology consultant for Microsoft games gave a talk focused around motivation curves and how to design games that maximized long term engagement (motivation type x will generally degrade at this rate, so after y minutes of gameplay offer new task types, and here are the motivation profiles for those tasks). In the education domain, we are beginning to look at the different effects of various intrinsic and extrinsic motivations on different personailties.

    At what point is it the responsability of the software developer to build shutdown timers into the system? Maybe thresholds of gameplay (actual user input/interaction, not just sitting at a pause screen) over the last 8 hours, 24 hours, and 72 hours will trigger enforced breaks of progressively longer duration or just "have you eaten?" reminders.

    What happens when the same technology is put into marketing? Can adware be designed to engage the user to the point practically gauranteeing a purchase?

    What about the merger of the two domains? Pizza Hut already has code inside Everquest 2. This is from a application that already requires a credit card, and thus could easily look up your address and offer you a timely list of local delivery food every 4 hours. ("You've just played through your local dinner time. I bet you're hungry for one of these fine establishments still open in your area!!") As games become more adaptive, it will be easier for applications to insert more subtle hints. (Two hours into a quest with your party, you come across a ranger's camp with the smell of a fresh roast wafting through the air.)

    Some would say we are beginning to allow machines to dominate human culture. The extreme view is something along the line's of Marshall Brain's Manna [marshallbrain.com] story (fast food workers as the arms an legs of a persuasive computer manager in a headset) and associated Robot Nation [marshallbrain.com] essays.

    Anm
    • What happens when the same technology is put into marketing? Can adware be designed to engage the user to the point practically gauranteeing a purchase?
      These technologies have already been applied to marketing, and no, they cannot guarantee a purchase.

      Consider that very few people have killed themselves with gaming sessions. There is no computer program that can cause people to play for 50 hours with any likelyhood.
      • There is no question we have a long way to go in perfecting the technology. As I said, the technology is in its infancy. So the attempted applications so far do not represent the total potential of the technology.

        I agree that the cases are few and far between so far. And extrapolating the trend is likely rediculous. We may find only addictive personalities are susceptible to serious or long term problems. The issues might only grow linearly with the gaming population until we get better gaming interfac
    • Maybe thresholds of gameplay (actual user input/interaction, not just sitting at a pause screen) over the last 8 hours, 24 hours, and 72 hours will trigger enforced breaks of progressively longer duration or just "have you eaten?"

      Dungeon Keeper II had this, I believe. Around midnight it would mention the flat square thing in the corner being a bed, there were a couple others.
    • Is this so bad? Isn't that the end game for humanity? Get to the point where you can recreate all the time? Isn't that the Garden of Eden? Granted, it isn't terribly romantic to imagine all humans plugged into a wall matrix style enjoying whatever it is they enjoy most. That doesn't mean that given the choice people would choose that over anything else. The only thing the real world could offer that being plugged in couldn't is the belief that what you are seeing is real. Hell, even then, if believin
  • I still don't get how this is entirely newsworthy.

    This isn't the first guy. I mean seriously, the first time it's "OMG. Thats sad and shocking". Now it's like "Nothing to see here folks, move along."

  • old people (Score:3, Funny)

    by Reignking ( 832642 ) on Tuesday August 09, 2005 @01:00PM (#13280365) Journal
    I thought that only old people died from gaming in South Korea?

  • His last words (Score:5, Funny)

    by b1t r0t ( 216468 ) on Tuesday August 09, 2005 @01:26PM (#13280563)
    "I told you I was hardcore."
  • That, ladies and gentleman, is a REAL HARDCORE GAMER. Not like you pansy gamers out there. He played games so hard that HE BEAT LIFE and moved onto the next level.

    RIP man
  • This just goes to show that it isn't only old people who die in Korea...
  • Comment removed based on user account deletion
  • I've heard this before on previous Slashdot stories, I seem to remember that every documented case of this has occurred in Korea. Not necessarily death, but also incidents like the boy who robbed his parents of their retirement money and went off to play games.

    I've heard that gaming has become very deeply rooted in Korean culture. It's so much more important there than it is anywhere else in the world, or so I've heard (television channels devoted to broadcasting multiplayer games, etc).

    Why Korea? Why

  • didn't this happen last year? tho that guy lasted 70 hrs or so.

  • This is a surprise? (Score:2, Insightful)

    by Shano ( 179535 )

    If someone spends half their life playing computer games, there's a 50% chance they'll die playing computer games.

    There's also a good chance they'll be unhealthy, not get enough exercise, and generally be at a high risk of heart problems.

    I'm actually surprised this doesn't happen more often, given the number of game addicts out there.

  • Natural selection still rules, and there is one less brainless retard in the mankind gene pool.

    I hope this guy will at least be nominated for the darwin awards [darwinawards.com]. He really deserves a mention.

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