Another death blamed on games

[Varrdy]

AND THEN, think of all the people who spend eight hours a day in an office chair at work. Conclusion: WORK KILLS, STAY AT HOME, LIVE ON WELFARE.

I work 12 hour shifts with FOUR monitors to look at and not once have I come over all dead...although some days make me wish I had!

This article wound me up when I saw it too. The headline parped loudly about how games killed him then the article went on to say that the boys Dad "isn't blaming Microsoft" and is just urging people to be more aware.

I read The Sun a lot if I am honest and if I am even more honest I'd be less inclined to read it if they binned the breasts, Jeremy Clarkson on Saturdays and those hilariously bad "Dear Diedrie" photo-casebook stories where people have midlife crises in their underpants.

That said this is the first time they've done something that has made me consider writing to them, let alone starting the letter with the word: "Oi!"

Let's not forget that a family have lost a son and this is a hugely sad and tragic affair and I offer nothing but my fullest sympathy to them. However, The Sun blatantly tried to blame the game(s) rather than tell it how it is and say that the poor guy died from (technically) abusing his freedom to play games.

When someone drives a car into a bus-queue, nobody blames Ford or General Motors do they?

Wardy

 

[AugustFall]

As many have said, he could have gotten this from watching TV for 12 hours a day or reading book for god's sake.

Stop looking for scapegoats, parent your children.


Edit: Also I do feel sorry for their loss. Can't imagine losing a child but my last statement stands.

 

[TonyVonTonyus]

What happened to blaming the person who did it. Why is it always guilt by association? Maybe it's the guy's fault for not, I don't know...GETTING UP every 12 hours or so.

 

[Sizzle Montyjing]

Well this is sort o- oh.
It's from the Sun.
The Sun is the newspaper, in which if it gives a recommndation to a movie, i will avoid that movie.

It's the sun, EVERYONE knows it's bullshit.
Especially since the News of the world phone hacking scandal, they aren't trusting newspapers.

 

[Rumarue]

For all it's worth, I think it's important to note that there is a message in here for people to take away before saying "I play video games 12 hours a day and I'm still alive!" It is a life style that can lead to serious health risks, even if you haven't experienced them yet. There's a reason so many games tell you to take a break after an hour or two.

True, this could have happened had he spent the 12 hours sitting doing something else, but it doesn't EXCLUDE gaming, especially since it's very popular and people often don't see the harm in in. If you're at work, on a plane, reading a book, or just sitting in front of the TV, get up and stretch every now and again.

My sympathies to the family, and props to the dad for not blaming video games, but rather the abuse of playing them. I think it is important to raise awareness about cases like this so we don't see it happen more often.

 

[PAGEToap44]

It's actually because he was a fatass that did nothing BUT gaming and eating.

If I did nothing but lying down I'd die from it aswell.

Ninja'd. And that is all I have to say about that...

 

[MordinSolus]

Are they sure it was games that killed him? I think it was the chair!

Lololololol.

OT: At least near the end, his dad says he doesn't blame Xbox.

 

[jawakiller]

This is actually very serious... I died last week due to the same problems.

No, I'm serious.

Really.

Totally.

 

[Agow95]

We all know that excess gaming is dangerous, BECAUSE THAT'S WHAT "EXCESS" MEANS! anything in excess is dangerous, and just because one idiot played an xbox for 12-hours straight, you can't demonise gaming, you'd probably have a severe medical problem if you sprinted full pelt for 12 hours straight, but we don't demonise jogging or light sprinting now do we. Yes, somebody died, but he is not the norm, everyone who plays on an xbox, ps3, PC, etc, are not in risk of being possessed by the urge to play games until we have a severe medical problem, I can jump off the roof of my house because I live here, that doesn't mean that we should forbid building house more than 5 ft tall, so why don't we apply this logic to everything else, and stop the media claiming that one hour on CoD:MW2 will summon the anti-christ, kill orphan babies, and make people punch nannies in the face. (In this post I mean no offense or distress to the deceased or his family, I am simply trying to express my opinion, unlike the newspapers who are trying to make a martyr of him)

 

[RyanDodd]

I'd have been saved by the need to get up and take a piss every few hours at least.
This is ridiculous someone died like this.

 

[health-bar]

If was a serial killer, i would kill people by beating them to death with gamestations.

Just for the irony.

 

[Nouw]

"Games are fun and once you've started playing it's hard to stop." Guess that was the case for him anyway.

 

[PureChaos]

they don't really blame games for killing him, they seem to understand it was the fact he was sat in one place for so long that killed him

 

[Verlander]

Apprently they hacked his phone to work that one out

 

[teh_Canape]

Are they sure it was games that killed him? I think it was the chair!

oh this brings me back memories of that news piece talking about an asian dude whose office chair exploded and impaled the support bar into his ass

had me paranoid for weeks XD

 

[Wushu Panda]

This is nothing new. It's not even tragic. Looking at the guy I could tell you he looks completely unhealthy, if he died sitting in a chair for 12 hours then its his own damn fault and Darwinism strikes again. I love video games but it's a rare occasion I will sit and play them for hours upon hours without moving. Even when friends and myself want to beat a campaign overnight we take breaks and stretch because it's common sense.

Video games shouldn't be blamed here, it's the idiots responsible for letting the guy do that in the first place.

 

[Aprilgold]

For all it's worth, I think it's important to note that there is a message in here for people to take away before saying "I play video games 12 hours a day and I'm still alive!" It is a life style that can lead to serious health risks, even if you haven't experienced them yet. There's a reason so many games tell you to take a break after an hour or two.

True, this could have happened had he spent the 12 hours sitting doing something else, but it doesn't EXCLUDE gaming, especially since it's very popular and people often don't see the harm in in. If you're at work, on a plane, reading a book, or just sitting in front of the TV, get up and stretch every now and again.

My sympathies to the family, and props to the dad for not blaming video games, but rather the abuse of playing them. I think it is important to raise awareness about cases like this so we don't see it happen more often.

Heres the irony, the tag line says "X-BOX KILLS!" When in reality it was his lifestyle or it was his chair that killed, no game or job ever tells you to GET UP AND STRETCH, the only game that every has was Metal Gear 4. And this is Darwisinism at its finest, if we humans were free of addiction, we would praticually be gods at this point in our lives. Seriously, if this were a apidemic, then I would understand trying to raise awareness for something like this, but it is not, there fore, it should be understood that if your addicted to something for too long, YOU WILL DIE! Its just repeating the phrase, ADDICTION KILLS!

 

[Rumarue]

Heres the irony, the tag line says "X-BOX KILLS!" When in reality it was his lifestyle or it was his chair that killed, no game or job ever tells you to GET UP AND STRETCH, the only game that every has was Metal Gear 4. And this is Darwisinism at its finest, if we humans were free of addiction, we would praticually be gods at this point in our lives. Seriously, if this were a apidemic, then I would understand trying to raise awareness for something like this, but it is not, there fore, it should be understood that if your addicted to something for too long, YOU WILL DIE! Its just repeating the phrase, ADDICTION KILLS!

True, and I'm not saying I 100% agree with the phrasing of the article. Xbox didn't kill him. But you can't deny that in this case there is a correlation between gaming and his death, even if only because it was an addiction.

The reason why I think this article is relevant or important is because, no not everyone will die from gaming, but people may not associate 'gaming' and 'addiction', when it does exist to varying degrees. So even for the few people who may read it and realize that they or someone they're responsible for needs to get up and go for a walk, the article is worth noting. Though it could have been better stated, there's an important message in their.

Also, World of Warcraft reminds the player of how long they've been playing every hour and does suggest they take a break, because they understand the addictive nature of their game. In fact, Super Mario Galaxy 2 has one of the characters suggest you take a break too every so often. Very responsible of them.

 

[CrazyMedic]

I know this is the sun and I hate toe defend them but assuming he did stay in one position for twelve hours at a time it is very likely had he liked gaming he would have lived, I mean if my father didn't have such large blood vessels he would have died of the same thing(he got it from doing wedding and school year books rather than gaming)so while the article is biased it isn't like claiming gaming caused the Oslo murders.

I'm sorry are you saying that the guy hated playing games even though he played them 12 hours at a time?

Either way David Bloom will not be grieving for this tub of lard.

thanks for pointing out that typo fix'd

 

[OsricFromHamlet]

Here's a link to the BBC article on this:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-south-yorkshire-14350216

Can't see anything particularly wrong with the response here. A man has died from being inactive for far too long and videogames are partly to blame (if only in the same way alcohol can be responsible for the death of an alcoholic as a result of excess consumption rather than the alcohol itself). The difference between this an a trans-atlantic flight is you don't sit down for twelve hours if the flight is only four but this man remained inactive (in a dangerous position) for twelve hours of his own accord. Surely that makes a point.

Setting up a website to warn people of the dangers of remaining inactive (and how videogames can cause us to remain inactive which, unless you own a Wii, they do) I really have no problem with. Advising people to watch their videogaming time is no different to advising people to watch their alcohol intake, or how much time they spend driving (consecutively) and so on. No one's forcing you to take the advice (not a fan of that) and if the man's father thinks it will help save lives then all power to him.

I really don't see the problem with this whole affair other than the fact that some people seem to have seen "videogames" and "death" in the same article and lost all their objectivity.