Ruckus

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17379748/

Online gamer dies after ‘marathon’ session

Spent ‘almost all’ of seven-day holiday break playing online games

Feb 28, 2007

BEIJING - An obese 26-year-old man in northeastern China died after a "marathon" online gaming session over the Lunar New Year holiday, state media said on Wednesday.

The 330-pound man from Jinzhou, in Liaoning province, collapsed on Saturday, the last day of the holiday, after spending "almost all" of the seven-day break playing online games, the China Daily said, citing his parents.

Xu Yan, a local teacher, said the "dull life" during the holiday prompted many people to turn to computer games for entertainment.

"There are only two options. TV or computer. What else can I do in the holiday as all markets, KTV and cafeterias are shut down?" the paper quoted Xu as saying.

China has seen an alarming rise in the number of teenage and young adult Internet addicts in recent years, despite attempts to restrict minors from cybercafes and limit online game playing times.

About 2.6 million -- or 13 percent -- of China's 20 million Internet users under 18 are classed as addicts, state media have reported.

Kyrsten

Seven days straight? Christ, and I thought I had no life.

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Dirge / Defiler / Guardian

Illuminator

If only we could get the Middle East camel fuckers to play WoW, we wouldn't be dealing with half the bullshit.

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Bow down before the one you serve. You're going to get what you deserve.

Arangor

Now that might be the saddest fucking thing I've ever heard.

Rinion

that they shut down everything to observe some dumb holiday?

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"Before one can identify anything as "gray", one has to know what is black and what is white. In the field of morality, this means that one must first identify what is good and what is evil. And when a man has ascertained that one alternative is good and the other evil, he has no justification for choosing a mixture. " Ayn Rand

Arangor

That and younger people feel that there's nothing to do when stores are closed. Actually I don't care so much if businesses are closed for a holiday, theres a million other things you can do but play wow for 168 hours straight...Even if you don't have any friends.

Illuminator

I beg to differ. When you have no friends, computer games are everything. I used to go on round-the-clock Baldur's Gate 2 and Deus Ex rampages even with work the next day.

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Bow down before the one you serve. You're going to get what you deserve.

Morara

330lbs. Christ. When I was heavily addicted, I was on the opposite end of the weight change spectrum, losing weight because I cut down to 1 meal a day to save time, but I also didn't play for more than 12 hours at a time (which is still pretty damn sad).

Arangor

I'm a video game addict, but playing for 7 days straight is over the top. Was your excuse for playing BG2 all the time because there was nothing else to do, or because you were addicted and chose to do nothing else?

I don't know, I would expect people to think that after at least 48 hours they should take a break for a while.

Wump

Pretty sad story ...not sure why simply because he was Chinese this deserved to be in the Farmer's Almanac section though.