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back to article Three-day gaming session kills Chinese man

A Beijing man has died at the end of a three-day online gaming marathon during which "he did not sleep and barely ate". According to the Beijing Times, reported via the BBC, the unnamed 30-year-old collapsed in a net cafe on the outskirts of the city, and attempts to revive him failed. He'd apparently worked his way through …

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  1. Guido Esperanto
    Flame

    bloody titles....grrr

    As harsh as it is, this is just Darwins work in full view of the world.

    I've been "into" a game, but as my post attests, I managed to keep my self alive during.

    There are many negatives associated with gaming, all of which are compounded or resolved simply by a choice, do I socialise with people or not.

    Those choices purely affect you as an individual and perception of others.

    However to choose to ignore your body's warning messags and "alerts", do so at your own peril.

    There wont be a shortage of these people, but I dont have any sympathy.

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  2. Sarah 7

    Gaming

    Is this an exclusively Chinese phenom, are are youngish men gaming themselves to death in other parts of the world as well and we're just not hearing about it?

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  3. Anonymous Coward
    Terminator

    Only 3 days........

    Pussies :p I remember, barely, when I went to uni, I didnt sleep for the last 4 days before my final year project had to be handed in, I did have food and drink, but was 4 days. Then in my first year of uni, it must have been 5 - 6 days with no sleep that i remember (dont remember what the hell I was doing in that time) when I didnt sleep, I did sleep a while after that, and again i did eat and drink, from the little i remember.

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  4. Anonymous Coward
    Alien

    "Read more * China * Internet * Gaming * Death"

    If it's all the same to you, I'll pass on that one, thanks!

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  5. serviceWithASmile

    why

    does this always happen in asia?

    i don't think i've ever heard of a brit dying from too much minecraft... maybe an american though.

    what was he playing, and why did an internet cafe let him game for that long without throwing him out - unless he was switching cafes of course.

    seems a bit silly to be honest... is this just a (untrue) story intended to throw more mud at "addictive" videogames? if so, it's starting to get really old now.

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    1. Marvin the Martian
      Reply Icon
      Stop

      You've heard of numbers, right?

      There's a good billion chinese and ad another half of connected SE asian countries.

      There's about 60 million brits.

      So expect in general 25 asian reports per brit; that's all things being equal. So no, you don't have data to conclude a trend; you cannot do sample size Exp[n]<=1 and hope for the best.

      ---

      I would guess your basic idea is right, though: it's hard to see it happen here. The 24h cybercafe culture does actually make the difference (remember cybercafes?). Maybe if there were 24h bingo parlors you'd have the same in the UK.

      To do the same here, you need to either live on your own (so have shown a certain measure of maturity/self-reliance) or live with your parents (who presumably will interfere somewhere before death): there is no possibility like in the cafes to be the anonymous "guy in the back who's been here since before my shift started," to the staff.

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      1. Disco-Legend-Zeke
        Reply Icon
        Heart

        But I AM Addicted...

        *

        ...to posting in El Reg.

        At least when i die it will take CSI three weeks to get the smile off my face.

        *or just in love with SB

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  6. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Three to do what they wana do

    Freedom shouldn't be curtailed in such a manner, if someone wants to 3 net away then they should be three to do so. It is a 3 system that works, a free show if you like, well for some it has been.

    RML

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  7. James O'Shea
    Dead Vulture

    Darwin award

    Anyone who parks his/her (usually his) arse in front of a computer and plays games for days on end and avoids sleeping, eating and (almost certainly) bathing during the session pretty much is going to get what s/he deserves: a prominent spot at <http://www.darwinawards.com/darwin/> with Charlie the Bearded One looking on with disdain. And good riddance, too.

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    1. Anonymous Coward
      Reply Icon
      Thumb Down

      never

      I work days, I play games overnight. Sometimes I sleep on weekends, sometimes not. I used to sleep every sunday when I was younger. now that I'm older, its Wednesday and Sunday. So take your narrow minded opinions and go to bed.

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      1. Fisher39
        Reply Icon

        Hope you're not driving my train

        Title says it all really

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  8. Maty

    And thus ...

    adding a new dimension to the phrase 'Get a life'.

    0 0
  9. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Yet another one

    It does seem rather common for young people in the far east to drop dead in the midst of an online gaming marathon. I suppose you'd have to experience the gaming culture first hand to really understand it.

    And then you wonder why the authorities feel there's a growing problem that warrants a military-style (re)boot camp...

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  10. Prive8 Citizen
    Terminator

    holodeck=death of humanity

    If an online game in a net cafe can drive a person to death, just wait and see what full virtual reality will do.

    ROTMs, indeed.

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  11. disfit
    Stop

    Hype Vulchers!

    http://www.cracked.com/article_18982_5-terrifying-online-trends-invented-by-news-media.html

    Nuff said ;-)

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  12. Anonymous Coward
    Coat

    Give the man an award!

    So it seems we don't need to be too frightened about the chinese workforce. Darwin will level it out.

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  13. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Formal Request under the Freedom of Information Act

    How many Reg subscribers have died while logged on to Bootnotes?

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    1. Anonymous Coward
      Reply Icon
      Dead Vulture

      I did

      but I got better

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  14. MrT

    There seems to be a pattern here...

    Don't forget 'Snowly' - she died in October 2005, (lots of references, but one with her on-line funeral service screen-shot is at http://www.monkeestudio.net/Project3/2.html)

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  15. Morpho Devilpepper
    Big Brother

    There is only one solution...

    Gaming cafes must provide intravenous nutrient and hydration feed, a full reclining cyber-couch, and full neural interface with the game. That way your body can rest easy whilst you slay imaginary goobers with your imaginary weaponry, in your imaginary life that is so much better than your "real" one.

    This would also be a boon to the Chinese government, as it would give them an opportunity to re-program these folks to be more docile and subservient citizens. Direct neural interface is much more efficient than subliminal messages embedded in commercials and cartoons.

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    1. Captain Scarlet
      Reply Icon
      Boffin

      Despair Squid

      Like in Red Dwarf?

      0 0
  16. Newt_Othis
    Stop

    Title

    And so, Farmville claims another victim.

    3 0
  17. Rainer
    FAIL

    What was he playing?

    Must 've been addictive!

    I'm sure, the manufacturer of the game could spin this as positive news.

    ;-)

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  18. Bill Neal
    WTF?

    WHAT GAME?

    What games are these people playing? Crysis(2)? Tetris? What could it be?

    0 0
  19. geejayoh
    Stop

    This is not just about the games

    I live in China and this is a Chinese phenomenon. But people will just say "addicted to games". But this problem is not game addiction per se, and neither are games 100% responsible.

    This problem is actually endemic of something deeper in society. We often comment on the ridiculous bureaucracy and health and safety campaigns in the UK - well it's worse here. People are shit scared of doing anything more risky than walking to work in the daylight.

    It terms of a government that has spent years pursuing a way of fearing its people into submission and trying to make them behave as they want, they are now paying the price. It's simply that a bunch of youngsters really just have nothing else to do.

    It is also endemic of an education system that does not reward freewill, but repetition of mechanical action and thought, something computer games are well designed for and will satiate a hunger / habit for.

    These marathon gaming sessions and their resultant deaths are merely just the logical conclusion of the process.

    Therefore, don't blame the games, blame the society it's happening in.

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    1. serviceWithASmile
      Reply Icon
      Thumb Up

      THIS

      is the answer to the question I asked earlier in the thread.

      well done, you have unlocked intelligent thought 200G

      1 0
  20. George Nacht

    Why in China?

    Maybe there is a simple answer. There are heck of a lot people in China - the gaming community is therefore also large coming humongous - so, statistically, even the most improbable shit happens once in long time. It´s not like chinese gamers were dropping like flies. Yet.

    Makes more sense than nation wide malnutrition or underlying disease.

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  21. Anonymous Coward
    WTF?

    I am a valid title

    "He'd apparently worked his way through 10,000 yuan (£928) feeding his gaming habit in the month before his fatal final session."

    and that was in a single month? It would have been a lot cheaper for him to buy a good notebook and pay for his internet connection at home. He would have saved tons on money, if you keep in mind that he must have been playing for many months.

    what is so special about spending money in an overpriced netcafe instead of buying your own notebook and internet?!

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    1. sT0rNG b4R3 duRiD
      Reply Icon

      Gold farmers.

      I suspect all that money went to gold farmers either to buy gold/currency or special items.

      Some people put extreme high value on virtual goods. Remember that argument over a virtual sword that left one party dead?

      It's easy to stand outside and see the folly but if you're addicted, it's not that easy.

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  22. dcrole
    Grenade

    Terminal Gaming Session?

    Didn't know anyone still used terminals for gaming ...

    0 0
  23. YumDogfood

    holodeck=Pr0n

    FIFY. ;-)

    0 0
  24. Tigra 07
    Jobs Horns

    Why always China?

    Why does it seem so bad in China compared to the rest of the world?

    Could it be that the Chinese have no sense of moderation or that they have nothing else to do?

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