Korean man dies from WoW binge
 

I found this on Google -- thought it was interesting...

Seriously, this can't be real. World of Warcraft isn't that awesome.



I was reading the paper today about a man in South Korea who went on a 50 hour binge playing World of Warcraft and died of heart failure, caused by dehydration and starvation. Can video games become so engrossing that it numbs all effects such as hunger, thirst, or pain? It's hard to believe that he would not grab something to eat after playing for a little over 2 days straight. The article said that this kind of thing happens all the time in South Korea, not to the extreme of dying though.

Man Dies From Playing World Of Warcraft

It has very little to do with the game itself, and more in how certain people with addictive tendencies react to the never-ending nature of the game itself. The game does have to offer that kind of ongoing gameplay or else many players would stop playing fairly quickly.

Also, if a person's life status isn't all that great, games like WoW can provide the escape they crave. Being an all powerful whatever online can be so empowering and superior to "reality" that a person could easily lose themselves in the make-believe universe and leave the real one behind.

Note: I never have, nor ever will, play WoW. Never was immersed in the game realm, and I'm completely opposed to the monthly pricing model.

It sounds reasonable...I've heard lots of horrible things that have happened from playing that game. This doesn't surprise me in the least.

I heard about this a LONG time ago, when my friend was looking on a website that dealt with video game-related deaths, which basically means deaths where video games have been mentioned, in a "oh, by the way, the killer played Halo every night until 4 A.M. with his buddies" kinda thing or "His parents took his game system away so he shot and killed them with a gun."

And I'm actually not surprised this would happen. People get addicted. It's not the game's fault, I'm sure the people at Blizzard never intended it to get that bad but it's not their fault. It's people's responsibilities to know their limits. If that's how it works with drinking, smoking and gambling, that's how it works with video games too.

That is insane. The longest playing time period I've ever had in a row was 3 hours playing online. 50 hours? Seriously, what the heck?

I am sorry for him and his family.

Wow, what level did he get at? I'm curious!

This was from a few years ago, and he was playing Starcraft

BBC NEWS | Technology | S Korean dies after games session

i remember hearging about that. they are real dedicated to their starcraft!

MMM,


That's why I figured it wasn't true... What South Korean plays World of Warcraft?



Starcraft, now that I can believe :D

They love it there. Don't ask me why.

I know way too many people who are obsessed with that game. I personally don't like it. But to be that obsessed with it that you forget to eat or drink anything? >.< Come onnn!

A lot of Koreans play WoW. If I'm correct, they're one of the largest supporters of WoW, alongside France and the States.

WoW is hugely popular in Korea.

Still, this "news" is from 2005 and is about Starcraft. And I am not sure why we needed a thread about it now.

"Funny", Seriously?

Let's not be too insensitive.
I don't think the man knew that he would die from his decision. The high likelihood that he wasn't aware of the consequences makes this case an unfortunate accident.

It's alright. I know you weren't trying to be rude.
And, you're right, he is at fault.

I just think it's a little harsh how people are simply labeling him as a fool.
A fool or not... The guy was someone's son; he had family. I can't help but feel that it's wrong to criticize an innocent dead man.

Well, I would call him a fool. He was old enough to make his decisions and he chose to play WoW for 2 days in a row... and died - a very foolish decision if you ask me.

I'm really not surprised in this article, because I already seen too many of them before. I still remember when 10 years ago when I was in a Internet cafe when somebody loudly read an article about a Korean boy who died from exhaustion for non-stop chatting in Internet. Later, another article showed up about another Korean who died for playing Quake 2 non-stop. Then, it was StartCraft, Counter Strike, and now WoW. There were some articles about Chinese too who died by same circumstances, but Koreans are No. 1 when it comes to this nonsense.

No, I wasn't denying that he was a fool.
But it's the fact that people only look that far that irks me. Hence: They simply label him a fool.

I'm not suprised by this article. My boyfriend plays Warcraft far too much! I even stumbled across a 'warcraft addiction' website D:

That aside, it's very sad that he died. I could not imagine someone simply forgetting to eat. Some people get so immersed in that game though, I can imagine it's quite surreal. Even though it wasn't Warcraft, it was Starcraft [which I haven't heard of!] it's probably the same principle.

As a person who used to live in South Korea, all I have to say:

1. The only-male conscription system is making all the young Korean men into zombie-like people who are very insecure and resort to extreme electronic entertainment for comfort. +2 years of South Korean military will spiritually kill a man forever.

2. Bad education system that only young South Koreans are better off studying Canada en mass. Bad education system leads to alternative way to comfort the reality; gaming is there.