video games are DEADLY!

please wont somebody think of the children?!!!

man dies after 50 hours of computer games

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We presume the cause of death was heart failure stemming from exhaustion

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Lee had recently quit his job to spend more time playing games

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Now THATS dedication for you...

Wow. Unreal. I hope he died happy, at any rate.

Probably another form of obsessive compulsive behavior. The "Everquest Suicide" on CNN was another one, I cited that article in a well received paper I wrote some time ago.

It's the same with anything. You can do anything till it ruins your life, sometimes in more ways than one... even things that are supposedly 'good' for you.

Computers are just blamed as a scapegoat. Not referring to you, I know you're a parent (and probably more effective than most), but there are some who blame computer games when their kids go astray.

Maybe I should sue and claim compensation for "excessive hours spent in front of a computer at work" /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif who am I suing.. uhh, hmm.. uhh, hey, anybody convenient, hmm let's start with the usual suspects..... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif

(above paragraph is slightly darker humor, but still meant as a tongue-in-cheek comment, for those who can't 'get it').

Wow, quit his job to play games...

Unreal...I usually quit after 49 hours... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/crazy.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/jpshakehead.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/sick2.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thumbsdown.gif

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but still meant as a tongue-in-cheek

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And when I posted the link to the article, had you looked for my tongue you'd have found it planted firmly in my cheek as well /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif Just didn't want to do too flippant as the guy did DIE after all!

Now, we watch the regular news for more end of the world articles because of video games.

Course, the fact that violence by the gaming age group is actually down and not getting worse with more realistic games is hardly going to end up front page news. Reality is often boring /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif Sometimes something is just so self evident that you can ignore real figures like that...

I used to play baldurs gate.
When ever you would start a new map, it would always give small hints.

one of them said "Remember, while your characters in Baldur's Gate II may not have to eat, you do. We don't want to lose any dedicated players."
I always thought it was a joke. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/icon3.gif

I guess there really is something to worry about.

It's not even the first time...

South Korean man dies after playing computer games nonstop for 86 hours

Ten days after *that* incident...

Taiwanese man dies after 32 hour video game binge

Whew! Finally, a non-Asian gaming death... ( keke ^_^ )

12 year old Russian boy dies of a seizure after 12 hours of gaming

Hookd, the downside (for me) of being korean is that my parents are telling my almost EVERY week that I shouldnt play video games that much (not that I do anyway) and show me an article from the Korean times. I cant blame them for being concerned, but I think they know their son isnt some game addict.

Yes that is rather scary, but I have a feeling that video games weren't this guys only problem. I have friends that I know have put in 110+ hours a week into gaming. Yet my record stands at around 36 hours (with short breaks of corse) I really think you could easily game 50 hours with little or no ill effects if you [bold]got up and walked around once in a while[/bold] and of corse took a few naps, and ate right.

Mags: apparently, online gaming is a major obsession in Asia, particularly South Korea. Online game subscriptions are a billion+ dollar industry.

http://www.gamespot.com/news/2005/05/19/news_6125823.html

http://www.forbes.com/home/feeds/afx/2005/08/04/afx2171858.html

It's not surprising that the Korea Times would periodically print stories about the evils of excessive gaming. In the USA, we frequently hear news reports about teenagers getting in automobile accidents, whereas that phenomenon is uncommon in S. Korea.

Check out this book: Everything Bad Is Good for You: How Today's Popular Culture Is Actually Making Us Smarter

And if you're feeling snarky, you could point out to your parents that online gaming will help S. Korea dominate the battlefields of the future, with swarms of remotely operated military robots:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4199935.stm

Bot rush! Keke ^_^

I'm doing my masters degree thesis on internet addiction. This includes addiction to online gaming. I have to do a study, and prove (or disprove) that it exists by this December.

Basically, addiction to computers or video games has the same criteria as gambling addiction. It interferes with a persons normal cognitive functioning and withdrawal from everyday life. Kids making online friends has devastating effects on their future social lives. (e.g. they have increased social anxiety, nervousness, poor social skills, etc) Playing games like Grand Theft Auto increases aggresiveness.

There are tons of studies done on Eastern Asian societies which are obsessed with video games. But unfortunately, there is hardly any research in the Western world. Video games are popular in America too. Most people don't even think twice about its consequences on children.

I think that "making online friends" is far too sweeping a generalization.

If you don't engage in adequate socialization, then I agree that it can lead to problems. Online communication is really "low-bandwidth" relative to in-person interaction or even a phone call. Text messaging is slow, and carries less information than a voice or face-to-face communication. There's also plenty of room for misunderstanding with just text - no verbal queues or gestures. The lack of bandwidth is frustrating and people often go off if just the slightest thing goes wrong.

I always wonder about video games and the alleged violence link. Most people I know aren't any more prone to violence after playing video games than before. Same thing for aggression. OF course, my sample depth is fairly narrow, and I like to associate with self-described geeks, so read from that what you will...

I wonder if the studies into "internet addiction" and the like are studying symptoms of something far larger - namely the effects of too much success, too much personal isolation, too much communication?

Seriously - no one really has to interact with the people around them anymore because communications are everywhere. You no longer need to assimilate because you can seek the comfort of whatever sub-group you identify with at almost any time - via telephone, internet, etc - for almost no cost. The new American ideal seems to be to live in a giant house isolated from the general populace with a great deal of elbow room - "the right crowd and no crowding" (to borrow from Bruce McCall's Zany Afternoons). While this satisfies the superficial need for privacy and control over your environment, it foils the subconscious need for greater human contact and seems to cause a number of other social ills...

So is cheerleading...