Chinese bloke games himself to death

A Chinese man who indulged in three-day marathon gaming session joined his ancestors after succumbing to exhaustion, the Beijing News reports. The unnamed 30-year-old from the province of Guangzhou collapsed in a net cafe and later died in hospital despite doctors' efforts to revive him. The authorities have "ruled out the …

[adnim]

Manic Miner

Well in the early 80's myself and a group of friends would think nothing of 3 even 4 day gaming marathons without sleep. We would eat and drink and smoke, whilst wearing out the rubber keys on our speccys. One by one we would either fall asleep or disappear to our beds. 48 hour gaming sessions were very common place. This went on for years with the Atari and the Amiga being successive platforms. Now at my age I don't think I am physically capable of playing games for more than 24 hours non stop. To be honest I don't even try any more. I still have the occasional 16 hour session though.

[Jason Harvey]

Proof you can OD on anything

too many electrons in the system. it must have been a shocking experience.

[Anonymous Coward]

Which game was he playing?

Just to be careful thats all ;p

I hope it wasnt wow *eyes rolling*

[Anonymous Coward]

What kind of health was this guy in!

I'm only a year younger and I was able to survive a 3 day marathon of booze, energy drinks and lack of sleep for my buddies bachelor party! I'm glad I didn't die!!! Was this guy obscenely obease?

[Alex Brooker]

what next, man dies on toilet?

Firstly, condolences to the friends and family of this poor man who died.

Secondly, this whole media hype about internet/computer related stories is so old. News stories like 'man meets mugger online', 'someone finds love via the internet', 'someone buys something on the internet', 'someone dies while thinking about buying somehting on eBay'. Guess what? People die all the time, every day, doing things that we all do all the time. Human beings enjoy endorphin producing activities and will always binge. One of UK PLC crown jewels just won a contract that will secure thousands and thousands of jobs and will ensure secure upbringings for thousands more children. British companies keeping this country up with the best in the world in high tech systems - and we hear almost nothing.

[oldfartuk]

re: what next, man dies on toilet?

Why not, Elvis did...........

[Anonymous Coward]

there is a bright side

I too want to extend my condolences.

But there is a bright side, one less lamer in the gene pool. Hopefully he did not reproduce before having met his end.

[Steve]

Asians must have inferior resistance to gaming

I have heard several stories over the years about someone from the east dropping from a gaming session, I just dont get it, Personally, I have had lan parties, PS2 frag fests and so on last for several days, a 48 hour bender is how me and the fiance spend our weekends, and 3 day sessions are not uncommon either, admitedly theres a need for recovery time after words, but honestly, I never felt like I was gonna die, a carton of smokes, a few cases of newcastle and energy drinks and microwavable pizzas, none leathal so far.... maby those asian gamers just lack the constitution?

[John Williams]

Welcome Americans

Spot the American post...

Bachelor Party

Buddies (sic)

Obease

[Anonymous Coward]

Gold farmer

Was he one of those "Chinese Gold Farmers" who hadn't met his quota for week?

[Pascal Monett]

Never been abroad either

The remark about obesity made me smile. Any American who thinks the whole world is just as fat is one who hasn't set a foot out of his borders. Obesity is a rich-country problem, and morbid obesity as purely an American problem.

The rest of the world is rather trim, often starving, rarely overweight. Especially in Asian countries - have you noticed how they are mostly fit and young ?

That's because of their diet, and because their life expectancy does not go over age 60 - whereas in France, Germany, Greece, Spain, Italy and many other European countries, life expectancy is over 80.

I doubt obesity was the issue. On the contrary, I think the guy was thin as a stick and wore himself out.

[Anonymous Coward]

@ oldfartuk

Elvis isn't dead, he just went home :)

[Laurent_Z]

@oldfartuk : Toilet Death ?

Well, indeed, this is a serious subject, and it has been researched before...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toilet-related_injury

Now, a bit of advice before your toilet marathon :

Beware, avidious readers, for Death craps near 8p

(/yeah, yeah, I know, that was lame)

[Chris]

could all have been avoided...

...if this guy had remember IDDQD!

[Anonymous Coward]

Sims gets real

Sims gets real

[Anonymous Coward]

Windows

The most important question is what platform he was playing on... it certainly wasn't windows because that would have crashed giving him a chance for sleep.

However, I suppose it could have been vista - he was just waiting for it to boot and never actually got around to playing any games (wouldn't install or too many 'windows need your permission to continue' boxes)... If that's the case, how long before the family take the american way and sue mickeysoft? That's a court case I would like to see!

[Shaun]

What was he playing?

Anyone know what he was playing?

Now that the Team Fortress 2 beta is available, I wouldn't be surprised if we see more of this.

[Law]

nice

Just wait until the Halo 3 release.... I know at least 3 friends are planning to take sick leave for 5 days so they can all play coop together and not stop until they completed it!! I'm half considering it... but luckily I don't smoke, and I don't "drink & pwn" anymore since my Gears of War marathon which I have never lived down! :(

[mahoney]

What's with all the energy drinks?

Doesn't anyone use drugs anymore??

[Charlie van Becelaere]

How Sad

30 years old and still no name? Don't parents have to supply a name for a birth certificate in China? One wonders how the chap managed to find work and receive payment, even in the People's Republic. Bloody Commies.

[Andy Bright]

Of course he died

And it's rather pathetic really. Any experienced multi-day gamer knows that without the requisite supply of hash, coffee and biscuits you don't stand an earthly.

Energy drinks, fah!

As for all Americans are fat - no, only those that come from Texas, Philadelphia and New York. Barbecues, Cheese-Steaks and Pizza.

The rest are so high on pain pills and meth they forget to eat at all.

Actually go to the beach in Hawaii, California and Florida - there is ample eye-pleasing evidence that not all Americans are fat bastards.

Unfortunately this is mitigated by the fact there is also ample evidence that many are. Oh the horror...

[Anonymous Coward]

So ...

that's why those attacks stopped coming and I was able to 0wn his Zerg base.

</joke>

I've heard about asian folks dying on either Starcraft or Ragnarok/WoW/(place MMORPG game here). Personally I'd say Age of Empires is far more time-consuming than Starcraft on that matter, at least that's a game that bores me to death every time I play that POS game ...

Though it could be an FPS. I remember staying at a dude's apt for 4 days. First night was a LAN party, but the rest were normal days ... for me. This dude didn't even sleep, he just kept on gaming.

[Lewa]

I'm a 19-year-old female,

of short stature (five foot two) and am an average-shaped size 14.

I suggest a challenge. I turn on my Wii, stick in Zelda and try to game, nonstop, for three days.

If I die, you can all officially mock me on Youtube.

Deal?

[Anthony]

Cafe

Is this an Eastern thing? All the shops near me close at 10pm unless they are a takeaway, the nearest Internet cafe closes even earlier than that and has Sunday hours, you certainly can't move in to one for a few days.

[Lewa]

Re: Cafe

A lot of Internet Cafes in Japan are not only open 24/7, but also have beds in them. Scary, huh?

[Oliverh]

Form an orderly queue

a girl?

with a console?

and a gung ho attitude to marathon sessions? <snigger!>

And she'll video it for us too <double snigger!>

Take a ticket and a get in line boys!

[Anonymous Coward]

@ I'm a 19-year-old female,

Oh my word.... am i still sleeping?

I am up for this, my only stipulation is that it happens on 'naked thursday' just need my N95 for 5MP quality

[Anonymous Coward]

Not the first time...

I saw a nearly identical article about this perhaps a year or so ago - probably on the REG.

Perhaps they'll have to put warning stickers on these games now...