South Korean Teen Dies After Twelve Hour Gaming Binge

Logan Westbrook

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Feb 21, 2008
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South Korean Teen Dies After Twelve Hour Gaming Binge

Doctors at a South Korean hospital pronounce a young gamer dead on arrival after he collapsed at a local gaming center.

A 19-year-old college student from Ulsan in South Korea, identified only by the surname "Moon," has died following an almost completely uninterrupted twelve-hour gaming session.

Very little is known about the circumstances of Moon's death. He entered a local PC Bang - and internet café/gaming center - at around 2AM, and then played for eight straight hours. He dashed home for a quick meal, and then returned at 10:30AM and continued playing. Sometime after that - presumably after 2.30PM - Moon collapsed, whereupon he was rushed to hospital. Sadly, doctors were unable to help him and he was pronounced dead on arrival. Moon's cause of death is still being investigated.

The New York Daily News [http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/2010/12/30/2010-12-30_south_korean_teenager_dies_after_playing_video_game_for_12_hours_.html] suggests that videogame addiction is a serious problem in South Korea, and that the government has taken steps to try and rectify the problem, especially amongst children. Not only are underage gamers barred from playing online between midnight and 6AM, it is now apparently illegal to open a PC Bang within 200 meters of a school. Sadly, neither of those measures would have helped Moon.

While the information is pretty thin, it's reasonable to assume that it was a perfect storm of events that led to this tragedy, rather than one single cause. Healthy 19 year-olds don't just keel over after a single all-nighter, so there must have been some other element to it that we don't know about. The Korean Times reports [http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2010/12/119_78785.html] that Moon was a habitual visitor to the PC Bang, so it's quite possible that he pushed himself too hard and exhaustion took its toll.


Source: via Game Politics [http://www.gamepolitics.com/2010/12/30/south-korean-teen-dies-after-12-hour-gaming-marathon]

(Image [http://www.flickr.com/photos/joopdorresteijn/3097079659/])



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Phoenix09215

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Dec 24, 2008
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wait, moon? I'm pritty sure thats the name of one of the best Warcraft 3 players in thw world... I doubt it was him because I'd presume he was older but I have a feeling he was korean :S

Either way lets just hope this doesn't explode in to another arguement for why games are "evil"... Yeah lets face it, no one is gonna prevent that!
 

therandombear

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Sep 28, 2009
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I hardly doubt he died from playing to much video game, I should've been dead several times over then, all the times I've played games with my friends all day and night. I play way more then I really should xp

But I bet some news station will ignore that and just say gaming killed "another one"
 

Gigano

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Oct 15, 2009
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Sounds like it was just the straw that broke the camel's back, though of course if he's been doing this for years then the death could reasonably be linked to an "abnormal and extreme video game addiction" (guess which words are important here, and which words will be the focus if the story reach the tabloids...).
 

Reveras

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Have played for a lot longer than that, but well I had food + drinks and such near with mates so we never had a problem.
 

DTWolfwood

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Oct 20, 2009
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cause of death is an act of god, aka random (my bet brain Aneurysm). 12 hours of straight gaming can't kill you, seeing i've done that all through middle/high school/college (especially during my evercrack days.)

How i wish i have the stamina to do that now or the time for that matter.
 

Who Dares Wins

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Phoenix09215 said:
wait, moon? I'm pritty sure thats the name of one of the best Warcraft 3 players in thw world... I doubt it was him because I'd presume he was older but I have a feeling he was korean :S
My first thought when I read his name was this.

OT: I don't know why he died, what was he playing that made him die in just 12 hours, watching TV for 12 hours wouldn't kill you, so he must have had some other health problems too.
 

Kraiiit

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Kenko said:
What a pussy. Ive played for like 14 hours straight and I didnt pass out or anything. I was tired as shit though. Did eat proper meals now and then too.

Ah well, no reason to feel bad about this people! The world has lost a moron! Lets celebrate!
Was the sentiment genuine? Just because he misjudged his limits doesn't mean he was a moron, or deserved to die. No way he did this on purpose, and he's probably left behind grieving relatives.

Hell, apathy is perhaps marginally understandable, but 'celebrating' the kid's death? That's low, man.
 

RicoADF

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Kenko said:
What a pussy. Ive played for like 14 hours straight and I didnt pass out or anything. I was tired as shit though. Did eat proper meals now and then too.

Ah well, no reason to feel bad about this people! The world has lost a moron! Lets celebrate!
That the best you've got? My record is about 2 days, tho can't give an exact time as my memory of the end of it is rather hazy....
 

Veldel

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lol iv gamed for over 30 hours before and yes i know you shouldnt do that XD


Oh well he died the way I want to die gaming :3


I hope the media duesnt go insane from this
 

The Rogue Wolf

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I'm not buying that it was just an extreme case of exhaustion. Unless he was juicing himself up with energy drinks and caffiene (or something more extreme) to an extent where he would've been useless at games anyway, his body would have collapsed long before it could have reached that state. I'm thinking there was an underlying health condition (diabetes or a cardiovascular condition brought on by poor diet and lack of exercise?) that did this. Of course, the fact that this could be the case for a 19-year-old guy is a sad state of affairs in and of itself.

And yes, you just know that the media will latch onto this story as another example of how "them games be evil!".
 

PeePantz

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Kenko said:
What a pussy. Ive played for like 14 hours straight and I didnt pass out or anything. I was tired as shit though. Did eat proper meals now and then too.

Ah well, no reason to feel bad about this people! The world has lost a moron! Lets celebrate!
Kid's a fuckin' n00b.

OT: I think it's due to lack of sleep but I was dieing (no pun) laughing when I read this. There's something about a recipe filled with Koreans, video game(s) (we all know it's Star Craft), the internet, and death that I find humorous. Someone was talking about a monkey dome or something, this is a great instance of him being far out of my monkey dome.

Edit: What's with that weird old guy in the picture playing Star Craft? I blame him.