Boy collapses after 20-hour World of Warcraft binge

[Morg]

Swedish boy collapses after 20-hour World of Warcraft binge

A 15-year-old boy from western Sweden collapsed and went into convulsions on Sunday afternoon after playing the World of Warcraft computer game for 20 hours straight.

The boy was one of seven friends who had gathered on Saturday at the 15-year-old’s home in Laholm for to play the video game, a new version of which was released last week in Sweden.

“They played all day and all night. Maybe they got a few hours of sleep. They ate a little food and breakfast at their computers,” the boy’s father told the Kvällsposten newspaper.

At around 2:00pm on Sunday, the boy had what appeared to be an epileptic seizure.

“We were terrified and called rescue services,” said the father.

At the hospital, doctors said the boy’s bodily systems had been thrown off by a combination of sleep deprivation, lack of food, and too long a stretch of concentrated game playing.

While the boy is expected to make a full recovery, his father said he plans on limiting the amount of time his son is allowed to play computer games.

He has taken it upon himself to warn parents of the other boys about the dangers of extended game playing.

“They also think the boys need to reduce the amount of time they play and will themselves be more vigilant,” said the father.

Officials from the Game Over treatment centre in Linköping in central Sweden have noticed a spike in calls from concerned parents since the release of the latest World of Warcraft installment, Wrath of the Lich King.

“It’s been a huge problem. We have parents who call everyday and ask,” said Game Over’s Emilie Backlund to the Svenska Dagbladet (SvD) newspaper.

She has seen a steady rise in computer game addiction, with most cases stemming from those playing online fantasy games such as World of Warcraft and Counter Strike.

“And it’s not only a problem for young people. Adults have also contacted us and it really doesn’t matter how old you are,” Backlund told SvD.

No potty breaks?

 

[deathshead2]

reminds me of that asian guy who played non stop and died.

 

[louiebling$]

reminds me of that asian guy who played non stop and died.

Did this really happen?

 

[deathshead2]

Did this really happen?

Yeah.

 

[[A]]

Losers

 

[Why Are You Crouching Spock?]

Silly sausage.

 

[GekigangerV]

Yeah.

In fact it happened several times due to Starcraft.

 

[Why Are You Crouching Spock?]

Diablo III will probably give kids the index finger of an 80 year old.

 

[Havok83]

No potty breaks?

who needs a potty when they make adult diapers. People like this need some serious help

 

[Raiden]

This kid could use some adult supervision, and he does need to get out more. I doubt he has a good grade in school either.

 

[Vile]

What a n00b.

I bet he plays Alliance.

 

[chronoic]

What a n00b.

I bet he plays Alliance.

that will be my guess too.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

That's just silly. I wonder if the parents thought they were being "the cool parents" by letting him stay up all night to play it. My mom would've pulled the plug on the computer to make me go to bed if necessary.

 

[EdRyder]

This whole thing doesn't make any sense.. Ya cant get up and make some food???Get some snacks?? Theres always a few minutes of downtime.. whenever you're trying to get rid of your useless wares or cash in completed missions.
Crazy.
Let the record reflect paper D&D never killed anyone.

 

[spidey-dude]

what a neeeeerrrrrrrrrrrd

 

[Why Are You Crouching Spock?]

what a neeeeerrrrrrrrrrrd

Says a dude on a superherohype.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Presumably, spidey-dude at least knows how to get off of Superhero Hype and perform basic functions like eating and sleeping, since he's not catatonic.

 

[Why Are You Crouching Spock?]

Perhaps Blizzard should start marketing feeding tubes.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

WoW players would never, ever leave their computers.

 

[spidey-dude]

Says a dude on a superherohype.

i wouldnt say watching comic book based films was particularly nerdy, nor talking bout them, playing a **** game for over 20 hours without moving however....

 

[TheCorpulent1]

I'm sure he must've moved. He would've had to adjust whenever a butt cheek fell asleep.

 

[Aesop Rocks]

My mom barely if ever came out of her room when she got WoW, I called her a WoW--- and she got mad and kicked me out of the house. I was only allowed to come back after my grandpa died so I could help pay the bills so she doesn't lose the house.

Her room is the grossest thing ever. Ever.

 

[Grommers]

I had a friend in Montreal we were on ventrilo at the time, and all of a sudden he's like "Dude theres an earthquake" and I was like really? I found out later he had a seizure, and everything had started shaking. He was playing 16 hours straight, I was on for about four hours with him.

I mean when someones focused on completing a goal in mind they become dedicated. I think Blizzard needs to force a 20 minute break say after 4 hours of straight play. There games are just to well made and enjoyable.

 

[amazingfantasy15]

I had a friend in Montreal we were on ventrilo at the time, and all of a sudden he's like "Dude theres an earthquake" and I was like really? I found out later he had a seizure, and everything had started shaking. He was playing 16 hours straight, I was on for about four hours with him.

I mean when someones focused on completing a goal in mind they become dedicated. I think Blizzard needs to force a 20 minute break say after 4 hours of straight play. There games are just to well made and enjoyable.

I just can't understand stuff like this, playing 16 or 20 hours straight?!?! I have a hard time playing video games for an hour straight at a time. I like video games sure, but there's so much more to do in life than to waste an entire day playing games.

 

[Spider-ManHero12]

i wouldnt say watching comic book based films was particularly nerdy, nor talking bout them, playing a **** game for over 20 hours without moving however....

Quite frankly, you're on this board, you have a Spidey avatar, and youl ike comic book films, etc, you're a nerd. You should be proud, like me.

Also, I heard about that asian kid who died from playing World of Warcraft too much. The only online game I used to play, which was freakin amazing was City of Heroes. My character's name was American Bolt. Stopped playing about 4 or 5 years ago, sadly. I still love that game even though I haven't played it in a long time.