Teen hospitalized after four-day Call of Duty marathon

[Blue_Tires]

An Ohio teenage boy was hospitalized this week after a four-day Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 marathon led to "severe dehydration," reports local NBC affiliate WCMH-TV. According to the boy's mother, the Columbus teen only emerged from his room to grab snacks and to take a short shower.

The boy collapsed multiple times after playing Modern Warfare 3 for "at least four days", and was admitted to a nearby hospital, where doctors placed an IV to replenish his lost fluids. He is expected to be just fine, but his mother has taken away his Xbox 360.

Activision had not returned requests for comment as of press time.

Emergency physician at Nationwide Children's Hospital Dr. Mike Patrick told the news outlet that gamers should exercise common sense. He recommends drinking plenty of fluids, taking breaks for physical activity, and getting sleep.

Earlier this month, a Diablo III marathon session resulted in the death of a 18-year-old Taiwanese man in an Internet cafe.
http://www.gamespot.com/news/teen-hospitalized-after-four-day-call-of-duty-marathon-6390768

http://www2.nbc4i.com/news/2012/aug/07/hardcore-video-gamers-risk-health-problems-ar-1129944/?sc_cid=CMH-NEWS-7amDlyNews

[RedCappedBandit]

1. Where the hell was his mother?

[monmouth]

2. You just typed my words..n/t

[FSogol]

3. Will Activision send him a Purple Heart?

[Curtland1015]

4. "Activision had not returned requests for comment as of press time."

I don't know exactly what they want Activision to say about it...

"We're sorry this kid has stupid, negligent parents?"

[Dreamer Tatum]

5. "What a fucking idiot" - Activision spokesman nt

[frylock]

6. why the hell would Activision be contacted for a comment?!

is GM asked for a comment when a drunk driver gets in an accident?

[Swede]

7. Virtual war is hell.

[1-Old-Man]

8. and it didn't occur to his mother to take away the X-Box on day 3?

[progressivebydesign]

9. Parenting FAIL.

Yes, I raised two teens. They enjoy playing video games sometimes, BUT I never let it take over their lives. I can imagine that kid also has some other health issues now... Parents, let your kids have some downtime, but make them unplug for most of the day. You're killing your children, and ruining their brains.. it rewires brains.

[Xithras]

10. The XB360 has a TIMER built in to stop this sort of thing. The parent just has to use it.

My kids play MW3. My XBox 360 has a family timer activated that shuts it down if someone tries to play it more than two hours in any given day. I've lost track of the number of times that they've come begging to me asking for "more play time...just 30 more minutes", and I have a standard response for them: "I'll give you an extra 30 minutes for every two hours you spend outside playing". More often than not, when they finally drag themselves back inside four or five hours later, they've forgotten all about the game.

There's no excuse for letting your kid play for days on end.

[Marrah_G]

11. In Korea they have had people drop dead in internet cafe's while gaming

I am a gamer and I've seen marriages and relations fail, lost jobs, failing out of college, etc. Addiction and obsession can be a dangerous thing. Gaming isn't bad, but as with many things, a small portion of the community can't regulate their playtime and spiral into addiction.

There were times I got way to focused on a game and would play for 10 hours straight easy, but I was fortunate to catch myself and take a break from it for a few months.

Now I am off to kill dragons in Azeroth.