Attention All Gamers

[Incitatus]

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20050809/od_nm/korea_games_dc

SEOUL (Reuters) - A South Korean man who played computer games for 50 hours almost non-stop died of heart failure minutes after finishing his mammoth session in an Internet cafe, authorities said Tuesday.

The 28-year-old man, identified only by his family name Lee, had been playing on-line battle simulation games at the cybercafe in the southeastern city of Taegu, police said.

Lee had planted himself in front of a computer monitor to play on-line games on Aug. 3. He only left the spot over the next three days to go to the toilet and take brief naps on a makeshift bed, they said.

"We presume the cause of death was heart failure stemming from exhaustion," a Taegu provincial police official said by telephone.

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.

He died a few minutes later, it said.

[merwin]

1. This is a BS news story IMHO

No specific name, no specific location, no specific police officials, no details at all.

[nadinbrzezinski]

2. Why oh why is my BS meter going off the freaking scale??????

[aresef]

11. No, it's been reported in several places

This story is about a week old.

[RoyGBiv]

3. Yeah, it was the game ...

Couldn't have had anything to do with a probably undiagnosed psychological disorder that made him think it was a good decision to quit his job to play games and who then stayed awake for three days engaging in stressful mental activities who probably also ingested nothing but caffeine or sugar or possibly some other substance to keep him alert.

None of that had anything to do with it. It was the game that killed him.

[jim3775]

4. Didja hear, some guy had 50 midgets fight a lion. I saw it on the BBC.

Plus Tom Flocco said that the man was going to be indicted by the Chicago grand jury.

[nadinbrzezinski]

6. you know you should stop readying Prison Planet

or the Moonie times

;-)

[Incitatus]

8. x

[htuttle]

5. ...Impressive...

[VADem11]

7. This happened before

I believe it was very similar to this case. I'm korean american so from my experience, I know koreans really really love their games. They have entire leagues and channels devoted to online gaming. IMO, I don't think it's BS. It mentions a name albeit it's a family name and a location which is in Taegu. It's also from Reuters so I trust it more than I would if it were from Faux.

[nadinbrzezinski]

12. Oh I KNOW some gamers take their gaming way

WAAAYYYY too seriously, where my BS meter goes off the scale is the reason for the Coronary, low food, lots of caffeinne and sugar... lovely combination... is the game a contributing factor? Well if it was not gaming it woudl be soething else.. if you get my drift

And trust me, as a game designer, I KNOW some folks take their games a tad too seriously

[skids]

14. Yes, this is an established phenominon in SK.

The cause of death, though, is usually some kind of strange blood clotting/hemmorhage in the legs, if I recall correctly.

[jmowreader]

9. In the paper it didn't say he "quit" his job

It says they fired him for not coming in to work because he was playing computer games all the time.

[Bluebear]

10. Geez I hope he made the final level! nt

[Renew Deal]

13. Fatality