Teen net addicts pee in bottles to stay glued to WoW

British youngsters have become so addicted to the internet that they will relieve themselves into bottles rather than step away from their screens to visit the lav, reports the, er, Sun. It is online multiplayer games such as World Of Warcraft that are coming between children and the toilet, with addictive game play …

[Lee Dowling]

My only comment:

There's only one thing to say about this:

Where the hell is/are the parent(s)?

Everything else is moot in the face of that question.

[Jedit]

"Where the hell are the parents?"

I imagine they are reading that bastion of truth and morality, The Sun.

[Yag]

eek!

First read that as "Where the hell are the patents?"

I should stop reading all those patent-trolling related articles...

[Thomas 4]

Indeed.

This article also has the whiff of someone being trolled. I've known some pretty hardcore WoW players in my time but not one of them has ever done stuff like that. Next we'll be hearing how sweet little Timmy from the Home Counties whores himself out every evening to pay for Farmville items.

[Ru]

Playing the same game in the other room

Like as not.

[Chris Byers]

Hey! It's 3am. I'm not getting up ;)

[Graham Wilson]

@ Lee Dowling - It's not only a teens problem.

It's not only a teens problem, I know of several over-60s with the same internet and game addiction and, to make matters worse, their bladders aren't as efficient as a teenager's.

Internet addiction is a much more serious problem than generally acknowledged although that fact ought to be obvious even to Blind Freddy. Today, one only has to be a vehicle driver to have good anecdotal information to that effect. How many times have you had to make an emergency stop when some iPhone-addicted person blindly walks out onto a roadway in front of you whilst texting?

It's not only people walking onto roadways, in just about any endeavour known to humankind you'll see people whose eyes are glued to their smartphones as if their life depended on it.

Incidentally, I've avoided such annoyances by having both internet and texting services turned off at the telco, my cellphone is just that--a voice phone (life is much more peaceful).

[Oninoshiko]

What is addiction?

"Any activity, substance, object, or behavior that has become the major focus of a person's life to the exclusion of other activities, or that has begun to harm the individual or others physically, mentally, or socially is considered an addictive behavior. A person can become addicted, dependent, or compulsively obsessed with anything."

-- Ruth C. Engs, RN, EdD. Professor, Applied Health Science, Indiana University (http://www.indiana.edu/~engs/hints/addictiveb.html)

I don't know many (any?) people who would pee in a bottle to keep gaming. As far as timing of game sessions goes, I question if waking up early and gaming for a bit qualifies. I would say it does if, and only if, work/school is compromised... I'm not convinced this article established that in cases where the "addict" was getting up early morning to play.

I have gamed early morning, mostly I'm kinda annoyed to be up that early and unable to sleep. I'm mostly a night person, but, due to call, sometimes have my sleeping patterns disrupted. Nothing open, can't go get a coffee... nothing on TV (is there ever anymore?)... don't want to bother anyone (I'm not QUITE that rude)... so I either stare at the ceiling, or go through the normal hygiene routine and play until it's time to go to the office.

I've also texted at inappropriate times, I'll admit it (not an iPhone though, just the company-provided BB). In almost all cases, the person who was texting me was my boss. So, maybe my life didn't depend on it, but not being on the dole did.

[h3]

re Lee Dowling

At 3am the parent will be most likely asleep.

[The BigYin]

@h3

At 3am, wee Timmy should find that his PC is be blocked by the firewall.

[jonathanb]

Wee Timmy knows a lot more about firewalls than his parents do.

[Dropper]

Asleep?

I doubt they're asleep. Most parents I know would be farming Elementium at 3am.

[Captain Scarlet]

Simple

They are thinking whilst he/she is playing that they aren't bothering me.

Its the governments fault they allow games like this

[Captain Scarlet]

EEK

I meant They would probably say "Its the governments fault they allow games like this" and not "Its the governments fault they allow games like this"

[Anonymous Coward]

The one thing to say is...

If they've been fondling their bits to do the bizzo, they then start touching the keyboard/mouse straight afterward without having washed their hands?!

[Dropper]

Where?

It depends what you mean by 'where'. Mostly like they are on the same server, but occasionally a parent will roll for a different faction to keep their objectivity when disciplining their kids for hogging too much WoW bandwidth. If you mean 'where at 3am', my best guess would be farming mats or playing rated battlegrounds.

[Chris Miller]

"Drawing on her experience as a clinical psychologist"

Should be: Drawing on her experience as a presenter of rubbish TV. I'm sure she's a noble ornament to that fine institution the University of Ormskirk and not in any way angling for or promoting a new series.

[It wasnt me]

Indeed...

" Professor of the Public Understanding of Science at Edge Hill University"

Seriously, wtf does that mean? Nothing, I should know. Im a Professor of Spotting Made Up Bullshit Titles at the University of Worthless and Meaningless Qualifications.

She's a proper muppet that one.

[Chris Miller]

Obviously I agree with 'muppet', but you should be aware that there are genuine chairs of 'Understanding Science'. At Oxford, Marcus de Sautoy succeeded Richard Dawkins in the Charles Simonyi chair, and Jim Al-Khalili occupies a similar chair (Public Engagement in Science) at Surrey. But they're at real, rather than pretend, universities.

[Ian Stephenson]

Disgusting

Havent they heard of catheters?

Just run the line straight to the loo and as they say job jobbed....

err no that doesnt sound right either.....

[Peter Murphy]

It's going to get worse, you know.

In the future, there will be gamers who think peeing is not hardcore enough. They'll just hook themselves up to dialysis machines.

[Ian Stephenson]

Why not go the whole hog?

IV feeding, colostomy and catheter

BI2BO

Bag in - 2 bags out

Mines the one with "Colostomy? It's not my bag!" written across the back.

[Graham Wilson]

@ Ian Stephenson - A commercial livelihood methinks.

Check in up and coming IT catalogs, it'll probably be the next big thing in computing. After all, these days it's a desperately needed IT accessory.

An advanced/more efficient model wouldn't need the line to the loo. Its heating arrangement would vaporize the waste. The greenhouse-producing water vapour would be vented directly to the air and the solids--urea, caffeine, pot and other recreational drug byproducts--to a container labeled "To be emptied into the backyard once a year by Mother".

>;-)

[Richard 120]

And we're one step closer to the matrix

[Toastan Buttar]

Texas Catheter

As employed by Case in Neuromancer when "jacking-in" for hours on end.

[Cosmo]

Go one further like Cartman

Do what Cartman did in South Park, and get your Mum to hold the bed pan for you whilst you do a number 2

[Natural7]

Well played cosmo.

I came onto here to be the first to suggest her research was actually just a south park episode....

well not JUST a south park episode, probably the best south park episode!

[Anonymous Coward]

Getting assistance? Amateur.

I have one word for you: 'poopsocking'.

[Anonymous Coward]

Old

We did this playing LAN games, 15 years or so ago. And I'm sure I've heard this story in relation to Chinese cybercafes before on the Reg.

[dotdavid]

Desk job

"Brits' screen-break aversion doesn't bode well for desk job future"

What, your employer doesn't make you do that?

*Angry glare at boss*

[TwistUrCapBack]

wait

Whats the issue ?? I regularly p!ss into a bottle while im reading elreg ..

[horse of a different colour]

Indeed. I often pee in a bottle whilst sitting on the toilet.

[The Fuzzy Wotnot]

Oh so it's you! If I get fooled one more time by those full Rose bottles I keeping finding there....

[Ian Stephenson]

Rose????

If you can't tell by looking something is seriously wrong.......

[MJI]

Luckily there are gaps

Most of the multiplayers I do have between match gaps long enough to have a wee.

But then I have a 90 minute limit before I need a break anyway.

[Anonymous Coward]

If anyone says that's taking the p***, that's it, I'm leaving.

[Anonymous Coward]

Umm

Well it is taking the p***! Literally, into a bottle.

[Anonymous Coward]

Right then, you said it. I'm leaving.

Back in a minute :)

[Anonymous Coward]

Rather Like Campanologists then

i.e. Bellringers

[Anonymous Coward]

This isn't new.

When I was at school we relentlessly took the piss out of someone who got found to do this when playing final fantasy 7.

[Toastan Buttar]

...and what did you do with it once you'd taken it out of him?

[Mike 29]

I call shenanigans

You could pee, make a coffee and change the oil in the family car in the time it took ff7 to animate the summons in one round.

[nexsphil]

life sux. wow all the way.

Perhaps if we hadn't made such a hair-ripping nightmare out of our miserable lives, a digital getaway wouldn't be so alluring.

[ArmanX]

Or perhaps...

Perhaps if everyone would quit wasting their time on their digital imaginary paradises, this miserable existence wouldn't be so miserable? Even just a few minutes in the sun makes you feel better than than hours of video games...

Solution: we need more outdoor LAN parties.

[Pete 2]

So much for individualism

Any parent knows that the hardest thing in the world is to persuade a teen to get out of bed. Yet here we have at least 2 kids who are so motivated by something that they'll voluntarily haul themselves out of the pit (while hopefully not tripping over bottles of stale pee - hey, if it was good enough for Howard Hughes ....) at 3 a.m. to partake of an activity with other, like-minded, people.

Rather than praise their dedication, determination and competitive spirit, she chooses to scoff at their choice of entertainment and criticise their methods of maximising their participation. I can't help wondering if this lady is guilty of a huge double standard: taking the errr, "mick" out of games players yet admiring sports-people who spend much more of each day (and are prepared to suffer more) fulfilling their obsession for equally fleeting successes and rewards.

Maybe she should be less concerned with forcing normative behaviours on children and look instead at how this enthusiasm (or obsession?) can be harnessed into something a bit more constructive than passing comments on how other people spend their time?

[Anonymous Coward]

"I can't help wondering if this lady is guilty of a huge double standard: taking the errr, "mick" out of games players yet admiring sports-people who spend much more of each day (and are prepared to suffer more) fulfilling their obsession"

Paula Radcliff dropped a puddle in the middle of a race but gets millions in sponsorship deals, so the reward is worth the pain, effort and embarrassment. Sitting in your own room, not being paid, and putting yourself through a similar experience for fun is just plain crazy behaviour, it's also disgusting and pure lazyness. The games players in this situation, and keeping the running theme, are the equivalent of your dad whipping out his old chap in the middle of the parents race at a sports day rather than professional sportsperson in a competitive race.

[david wilson]

@Micky1

>>"Paula Radcliff dropped a puddle in the middle of a race but gets millions in sponsorship deals, so the reward is worth the pain, effort and embarrassment.

...

The games players in this situation, and keeping the running theme, are the equivalent of your dad whipping out his old chap in the middle of the parents race at a sports day rather than professional sportsperson in a competitive race."

So sport is only worth doing if you make money out of it?

I guess that makes the vast majority of amateur sportspeople pathetic timewasters.

And as for the 'embarrassment' side, why should people be embarrassed about something they do in private? It'd be a bit different if they were doing it in a room with loads of other people in.

And what's the big deal about pissing in a bottle anyway, as long as you don't start making a collection, or get the bottle mixed up with one you're going to drink out of?

FFS, urine is effectively filtered processed blood, and most people's blood, mine included, is good enough to remove and put into ill people to help make them better. It doesn't become magically evil as a result of passing through the kidneys.

While somebody else's might be unappealing, my own is unlikely to do me any harm.

Ever been alone in a tent in the middle of the night in wild weather when the choice is:

a) get dressed, get out of tent, get soaked, get in tent dripping wet, get undressed, try and find somewhere to put soaking wet jacket.

b) get bottle, use bottle, stick hand outside and empty bottle (or leave until morning)

believe me, b) is a much nicer option.

[Anonymous Coward]

@David Wilson

>Ever been alone in a tent in the middle of the night in wild weather when the choice is:

c.) get bottle, use bottle, drink contents (note: tent optional)

In some situations option c really is necessary. If you choose optoin c when playing a game you need help.

[Anonymous Coward]

@david wilson

"So sport is only worth doing if you make money out of it?"

No, That's not what I said. Sport is only worth suffering for if you are being paid. Amateur sport is fun, if you start to take it too seriously and make sacrifices for it that could be avoided then surely it is no longer fun and is just an unpaid job. A bit like playing computer games...

[MJI]

Peeing in the middle of the night on holiday

Mine is get out of bed, walk to toilet, pee, get back in bed. All I need to do is empty it once a day.

No luxuries these tents.

Nothing like having your own loo while on holiday.

(Owner of large white box on wheels)

[Shakje]

Erm...

"it's also disgusting". I find it hard to square with this, partly because whatever someone chooses to do in their own home with a sterile fluid from their own body is entirely up to them, and secondly because there's plenty of people who have to do things other than go to the toilet when they pee (commodes and catheters spring to mind). Not sure why you find it so disgusting to pee in a bottle rather than a bowl covered in germs?

[Anonymous Coward]

"Not sure why you find it so disgusting to pee in a bottle rather than a bowl covered in germs?"

The sort of person willing to pop a bottle under the computer desk to avoid spending 2mins using the toilet is definitely not going to be caring enough to make sure every last drop goes into the bottle, hence they will end up peeing a little on the floor. If you are the sort of person who is happy to sit in a room stinking of piss whilst spending your life playing WOW then well, I guess explaining why a normal person finds it pretty disgusting is pointless.

[david wilson]

@Micky1

>>"The sort of person willing to pop a bottle under the computer desk to avoid spending 2mins using the toilet is definitely not going to be caring enough to make sure every last drop goes into the bottle, hence they will end up peeing a little on the floor. If you are the sort of person who is happy to sit in a room stinking of piss... "

So I guess that means you've met all those people and individually assessed their fastidiousness, manual dexterity, and choice of receptacle in order to arrive at you definitive statement?

And you know (presumably without experience) that they'll be careless enough not merely to spill anything in the first place, and not merely to pee a little on the floor; but to leave the room 'stinking of piss'?

If the thought of a drop or two of urine on a floor makes you writhe in disgust, what do you do if someone does something *really* unhygienic, like sneezing without a handkerchief?

Remove the carpet for incineration and have the room fumigated?

Or is it just the imagined smell that upsets you, rather than actual *hygiene*?

[Tieger]

Re: Micky 1

good to know, only acceptable to piss yourself when your being paid for it.

so i assume you're fine with the people who have sponsorship deals in wow (yes, really) doing this?

[Semaj]

More like the equivalent of a young lad playing footie with his mates, not being arsed to go all the way back home and instead taking a piss up a tree. No big deal.

[AndrueC]

Very true. I used to subscribe to Eve-Online and it amazed me how much time and effort some people would put it into. People happy to organise and manage corporations with hundreds even thousands of members. People willing to put in several hours preparing strategy for and then fighting huge campaigns. People willing to work out the machinations needed to build stuff and then figure out how to make a profit selling it.

I've not played many other MMORPGs but the complexity of Eve was staggering. Yet tens of thousands of people spent their leisure hours on it and from what I could tell put more effort into the game than they did anything else. If only that effort could be directed into doing something useful.

[Just Thinking]

This is also a little like the open source community. Or wikipedia.

If only *that* effort could be directed into doing something useful. (With notable exceptions of course).

[Uncle Slacky]

Perhaps it's symptomatic of the lack of fulfilment these people find in their real lives, people who may have abilities far beyond those required by their day jobs?

Maybe they didn't go to the right schools, or be born to the right parents to be able to realise their ambitions and thereby make the most of their talents? If so, it's a damning indictment of the structure of "real" society and the "real" economy that these people's efforts go (materially) unrewarded.

[ravenviz]

Re: Eve online

I read somewhere that to produce a Titan (big mo-fo spaceship) takes about $50,000 'worth' of effort.

[Craig 28]

I'm truly disgusted

I could cope with the peeing but World of Warcrap? If you're going to pee in a bottle at least have a decent reason, like the women in the house hogging the bathroom for 4+ hours at a time.

And to think I used to like Blizzard, at least so far as Diablo 2. I loved D2 but nothing since has made me give a damn.

[Anonymous Coward]

Lets hope the call center managers don't hear of this or bathroom breaks will be a thing of the past!

[Anonymous Coward]

Been there

I used to set my alarm to compete in programming contests at stupid times on TopCoder back in the day.

I only used a bottle once, when I was having a lengthy teleconference call from home and had drunk a bit of wine... I filled the whole bottle!

[Anonymous Coward]

Are you sure that it wasn't just British wine.

I actually have fond memories of shifting my sleep pattern to 18:00-01:00, so that I could hold down my job and play EQ with a US guild.

[Anonymous Coward]

Desk jobs?

The whole warning that they wake up at funny times seems to overlook the large portion of our population whose working conditions require them to wake up at funny times.

-- Used to work nights at IBM.

[Blane Bramble]

@Desk jobs?

Or on-call. Seen 4am far too often due to that in the past.

[Anonymous Coward]

taxi

so taxi drivers are no different to WoW players

[Anonymous Coward]

They use a bottle?!

What wimps. Back in the day we just went straight onto the floor.

(Read Indra Sinha's 'The Cybergypsies'.)

[Patrick R]

Yes they do, the article says so, FIVE times.

It's just repeating it again and again for those who've missed the title. And there is not much left.

[Shane8]

So what?

We know there are young males who play Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games (MMORPGs), such as World Of Warcraft, and who, if part of an international guild, will set their alarm and get up at three in the morning to play.

Its our life stop trying to rule what we do!

if we want to play a game we shall

if we want to play all night we shall

Theres alot more concerning things out there than people playing a game.

[jonathan1]

Ah but is the crux, like any addiction, is when any given activity starts interfering with other aspects of a persons life. Such as work/school etc.

Though I wonder, is peeing in a bottle any different when engaged in an activity that requires you to assist others to minimise 'downtime' from me taking a crap outside when I'm out climbing.

[Pete 2]

Do climbers carry umbrellas?

> Though I wonder, is peeing in a bottle any different ... from me taking a crap outside when I'm out climbing

Only the person following you up the cliff can answer that!

[Field Marshal Von Krakenfart]

Cure for addiction

That's easy, make them play farmville for 14 hours without a break

[Michael H.F. Wilkinson]

OMG, internet is addictive??!!

It should be banned!!!

Won't somebody think of the children????!!!!

A will e-mail my MP at once......

Oh, wait.

[That Steve Guy]

They actually do that?!

And here I was thinking the line "hardcore raiders pee in bottles" was just a joke!

Parental controls exist within the game account to prevent this so there is no excuse on behalf of the parents.

[oddie]

wow? it's reefer madness all over again.. or sexting or some other bull

Rant Warning:

I guess WOW is now pretty much dead as it's being used to scare the dreary eyed sun drones out of their small minded comfort zones. It takes ages for cultural phenomenon (and I think WOW now qualifies as one) to reach the intellectual backwaters where sun readers reside.. I used to have all night marathons of Red Alert (just one more map...) before going to school the next day.. but that obv had a pause button so there was never any reason not to use a toilet.. I guess if you are in the middle of a raid the rest of your team might not be that happy about their healer f'ing off for 5 min while they all stand about getting slaugthered. I imagine it's more of a voluntary thing though than peer pressure to bottle it :)

I think it is more telling that WOW has now even managed to enter the psyche of the common sun reader and seemingly having been identified as something bad and confusing that all the kids are doing that they just dont understand and which must therefore be bad.

In reality of course all the cool kids have picked up their favorite urination bottles and moved onto SWTOR :)

Expect the sun to cover that story in about 2 years time.

In the meantime I hope they will do a story about how I have got up at 5 this morning (only 2 hours after these crazy WOW kids!) and have already had 3 energy drinks (over the daily recomended limit already!) just so that I can crack on with work that I didn't manage to get through yesterday. I'm planing on doing the same tomorrow as well, and several others in my office are on the blue stuff as well, its an epedemic!

Makes you wonder where our parents are, but at least we use toilets.

[Anonymous Coward]

@oddie - some hypocrisy there mate

I'm no fan of The Sun , but calling them dreary eyed drones and then apparently being proud of the fact that you "used to have all night marathons of Red Alert (just one more map...) before going to school the next day" in my mind marks you out as a hypocrite and to be frank , a bit of a loser.

[oddie]

Proud? No, just lots of fun.. and quite a bit exciting, commanding armies of tanks across europe... although does tend to leave you a bit tired the next day. Have also had a few late night sessions with civilization during uni :) Quite why this makes you think I'm a bit of a loser I don't understand but maybe you don't play computer games yourself? or only during certain times of the day?

I have dabbled in various MMO games but don't really like them.. at some point you get bored but then 'cant' leave because your level something something tingting needs xp and your guild needs you for raids/stuff. Not like red alert when you finally get bored you can just put it back on the shelf until you fancy working for Kane again :)

What I mean by dreary eyed drones is that the sun is not an 'objective' newspaper (none really are, but some are worse than others). It panders to a certain mindset/world view and reinforces the notion that that theirs is the only real way of life, and that all alternatives are to be feared and resented.

So they become drones, fed the bits of news with an angle that will confirm what they already know/think about the world.. asylum seekers causing cancer, pedophiles hiding in our freezers, etc. At some point someone who is in such a way surrounded by 'yes-men' (imagine having someone tell you every morning that you were right about everything and btw, the things that you don't like are actually worse than you thought) will start believeing that there is such a thing as 'the right way to be' (them, obv), and that everyone that doesn't fit that description are not just strange but down right poisonous to what they perceive/want society to be. I'll stop there before I disgrace myself by falling foul of Godwin's law :P

dreary eyed as in tired, I accept that label as hypocritical at least, as I didn't get that much sleep last night, spent quite some time into the night doing diy to my flat

Btw, I did read what you said about not being a fan about the sun, I'm not suggesting the above pertains to you, just wanted to clarify what I meant by dreary eyed drones :)

Fireball because, you know, red alert :)

[Dick Pountain]

Hmmm, branded pee-bottles... I smell an enterpreneurial opportunity.

[Andus McCoatover]

Thinking the same!

WoW - branded reused wine flagons. (Of course, I'm surprised the kids can get their 'old fellah' into a coke bottle, especially as they must be 'excited' by the game....)

[Stretch]

The parents just rolled a druid. They're busy.

This is why we need European time in the UK - so raiding is easier.

[Anonymous Coward]

Hatstand - fail

""I've worked with kids who will urinate in a bottle in their room, rather than leave the screen," she writes."

Yeah, I am sure that there are a tiny percentage who will do that. In the same way there are small numbers of people who will pee in a bottle rather than miss a second of the Eastenders Omnibus...

She is an idiot and presenting information like this, without any indication of sample size, representation etc, is not just meaningless, but it is geared to promote her personal agenda.

[Mike Smith]

Pah! BTDT, GTGF

GTW = Got The Girlfriend.

Back in 1996, I was trying to get a young lady to go out with me. She was strangely reticent about answering her phone, so when she did pick up, I'd keep chatting for as long as I could.

Anyway, one night I'd had a coupla cans, and was on the phone to her. An overflow warning came through from down below in the middle of our conversation.

Now, I knew from experience if I left to visit the little geeks room, she wouldn't answer if I rang her back afterwards. There was only one thing to do - out with the pocket knife, cut the top off a beer can and piddle in that. While we were chatting on the phone.

She never sussed.

[ravenviz]

I thought you were going to say you cut your cock off!

[Mike Smith]

Well, I did have to be very careful of the can's sharp edges! And I was glad to find my bladder capacity didn't exceed 500 ml.

[Andus McCoatover]

GTW= Got the Wife, or Got The Woman....?

Does this story have a happy ending?

Us El. Reg. trolls wanna know...

[Joshua Sugarman]

Are people going to blame games AGAIN?!

I'm kind of tired of seeing article after article about how gaming is bad, gaming causes stupidity, violence, addiction, peeing in bottles etc...

At the end of the day, the character traits of the people getting addicted to a game such as WoW and peeing in a bottle would do very odd unusual things in many different circumstances, and this is not going to be a behaviour specifically caused by a game or one individual type of activity.

How do I know this? Well, in World of Warcraft raids that can go on 8 hours+, there are very regular "bio" breaks in order for people to sort themselves out (eat, drink, urination etc...) - There would actually be no "need" to sit there and pee in a bottle, because while your doing that everyone else in the raid has actually gone to their physical toilet.

That means it's not the fact that the user "can't" leave the game. It's that they simply "won't". That character trait isn't going to be something brought on by that game in particular (or a similar one), but a character trait that's built into that person because of maybe other issues (aspergers etc...)

The bad publicity games get is simply unjustified - These people already have difficulties and online games will not be causing them.

[Andus McCoatover]

Are people going to blame games?

Can't these losers simply realise they're wasting their time?

Gordon Bennett, I cannot believe my facebook pages (which I use to keep in touch with my kids in UK). They're forever swapping some kind of 'token' between each other.

Could be learnig summat, like speling and decent gramar.

Yoof of today. Sometimes, I could weep.

[Scott Thomson]

It won't be too long

Given that people are being expected to work in excess of 60hrs a week, it won't be long until management decide that it would be more "productive" to give employees pee bottles so that they don't ever have to leave their desks.

Because obviously people can remain at 100% efficiency when they are working 10 hour days, 6 days a week.

<---Foamy Glass under WoW players desks

[Anonymous Coward]

This is not exclusive to kids.

[Anonymous Coward]

Old hat.

They obviously haven't heard of poop-socks.

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=poop%20socker

[DP 1]

Idocracy

At first I thought the film was just a strange idea, now it seems like the predictions in the film are coming true... http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0387808/

[Mr Jolly]

A quality piece of research....

Someone must have told her to Google the word 'Poopsock'

[What? Me worry?]

They'll grow up to be comedy writers

So, they'll grow up to write comedy for Saturday Night Live?

I remember a story from Tina Fey's bio (Reading over my wife's shoulder, mind.:) were Ms. Fey writes: "There is an actual difference between men and women comedy writers, and I’m going to reveal it now. The men urinate in cups. And sometimes jars." She goes on to explain that she found a jar of piss in the Weekend Update writers room.

[Andrew Moore]

In fairness, that jar of piss did go onto playing one of the leads in 30 Rock.

[Anonymous Coward]

Just wait until they hear about poosocking

[Kamira]

Bottles?

I've a friend who openly admitted to using adult incontinence products to assist with his WoW marathons.

[Mr Shouty]

We've all seen 'Make Love not Warcraft'

This is not news.

[Richard Wharram]

Kids play games omgz !!!!!!!1

I may not have peed in a bottle but I used to spend the majority of my waking time sat in front of the original Unreal Tournament. Some nights I organised practice sessions with my clan. Sometimes we played friendly matches. Sometimes we played league matches. Sometimes I adminned the leagues. Sometimes I went on public servers to have a laugh and spot new tactics.

Occasionally I slept.

After a few years though the game wound down, as they naturally do, I got a girlfriend, got married, found other things to do, had kids, and had no free time. Now my every waking moment, outside of work, is taken up again, this time with child-rearing/wife-abating activities.

People have free-time. It will be taken up with something. It probably won't damage you whatever that something is. It's my fucking business not Tanya Byron's.

[Lee Dowling]

To an extent, you're correct.

But when it's your own child's time (and not "free-time" but sleep-pattern destroying, middle-of-the-night, hours-glued-to-the-screen-and-getting-RSI, 'must-do' gaming) then it's your problem as a parent. Free time is the afternoons, early evenings, not 3am unless you're working shifts.

Hell, when I was a kid, we had these things called bedtimes so that we got up for school in the mornings. Now I work in schools (not a teacher) and they have "breakfast clubs" so that kids actually get a chance to eat breakfast because their parents can't be arsed to provide the time for them by getting up 10 minutes earlier (they can personally drop them off to school by 8:30 - but no early because of school rules because the school end up with dozens of kinds at 6am - but they can't be bothered to feed them at 8:20 before they come out), children falling asleep in lessons and not having had simple things like breakfast, clean clothing, a bath/shower, etc. in the morning are actually becoming a big problem for schools (who are then obliged to provide said facilities in the interests of child welfare and chase the parents for years to make them do it). I've seen students having to be escorted to the school canteen at 9am because they haven't had anything to eat since lunch the previous day and you can *hear* their stomach rumbling. One school had to wash the child's clothes because the parent's "didn't have time", etc. They were reported, obviously, but it takes years for anything to happen about that.

Modern life does alter sleep patterns to a crazy extent if you let it, but nobody in full-time education (i.e. under 18 now) should be still up at 3am if they have school the next day on a regular basis, and not just to play a game, and certainly not to the extent that they can't be bothered to pee properly. One-off's, sure. Holidays, possibly. Insomnia, understandable. But it's not unheard of for kids to just not go to bed at all and the teachers to have to cope with that the next day because the parents are too disconnected to enforce a bed time.

There's always a certain amount of hyperbole with stories like this but they do point at an increasing trend. Children, in general, are *NOT* having their phones switched off at night. They aren't stopped from going on the computer at 3am and doing so unsupervised. They are sacrificing huge portions of their sleep for purely social purposes which is having knock-on effects on education, schools and their future careers. They are addicted to the games and social interactions to the point where they don't want to pee. And some parents are entirely ignorant of this and don't really care.

With sensible parenting, it's not a problem, even if the exact incident as described here happens. Who cares? But without sensible parenting, such things are an indicator of a child that will grow up at a severe educational disadvantage, liable to addiction, unable to sleep on a schedule at all, and over-working themselves in the busiest times of life for their brain. Nobody wants to be a nanny, but this sort of thing is an indicator as to what will happen to these children later, and what's going on at home now.

Nobody cares if your kid plays games until 3am. On a non-school night. Or on a holiday. With your knowledge and (appropriate) supervision (which can be zero if you trust them enough). But people do care if they are so addicted to the game that sleeping, or even a short break to relieve themselves somehow becomes less important than talking to their "friend" on the other side of the world.

[Anonymous Coward]

"Will desk-pee-bottles become standard practice as the new generation grows up and moves into the workplace?"

No, not in the long term: evolution will take care of that. One can only hope this behaviour is in the genetic material. Then again, it's 2012, just eleven months more to play WoW or whatever...

[moonface]

#

When we get large pee proof sensitive touch screens. This will be the new control method.

(patent pending)

[Anonymous Coward]

Having worked in a call centre

I know of one company who'd be more than willing to provide pee bottles for their staff. Conduit, the well-known shite employer only allowed a minute per hour for pissing, having dump was out of the question on a short shift.

[TeeCee]

Truth is stranger than fiction.

When I was working on the Czech Republic, there was a news story about some supermarket workers who'd complained to the union about new working practices. The gripe was that trips to the loo were being clamped down on and female employees on the rag were required to wear red "deely boppers" on their heads (I kid you not), to indicate that they were entitled to use the bog more often.

The union's reponse was that they should STFU. The Polish union they were affiliated to was dealing with the problem that the workers for the same company operating there didn't get loo breaks and were instead issued nappies by the management.

[Peter Richardson]

Pee bottles in the office?

Errm, no. These kids will be too busy playing WoW to be bothered with trifle inconveniences (oops) like working. Not that they can get a job anyway...

[Suburban Inmate]

SheWee

I'm guessing the girls are using SheWees.*

* http://www.shewee.com/

[scarshapedstar]

Girls?

THIS! IS! WARCRAFT!

[Boris the Cockroach]

Easy solution

Buy your WoW addicted child a commode to sit on while playing

Hmmm thats a good idea for us wrinkies as well

[John70]

Pee Breaks

They must be in ultra-hardcore guilds.

We have scheduled pee breaks for our raids.

[scarshapedstar]

Sheesh

Just go afk soon as the boss drops, damn.

[Atonnis]

I'm sure....

.....that if you can afford to do it, then do whatever you want.

Over the years I've spent plenty on drinking, been out too late, had hangovers/sickies due to being out too late or having too much fun.

So the favourite area has shifted slightly? So what? Let them stew in their own piss and sooner or later they'll either grow out of it (or bored of it) or they'll just carry on doing what they want to do.

Provided it's in the privacy of their own homes and they aren't getting internet connectivity on my tax money who really gives a crap....?

[TeeCee]

Ah, now I understand.

A few years back you could hear Football crowds singing; "You should have pissed in the bottle!" at Rio Ferdinand.

Now I understand that they were merely making light of his poor attention span in WoW.

[Anonymous Coward]

In need of "The Raiding Chair"

http://www.thenoobcomic.com/index.php?pos=408

[Andy Fletcher]

No actual statistics?

Then this is totally meaningless. And BTW thanks for nothing for me having to visit The Sun to see if there were any stats in the original story Reg. Now I feel like I need to take a shower.

[Anonymous Coward 15]

In other news

New Budweiser bottling plant to be built in the Edge Hill area.

[MJI]

Budweiser

Who has got rights to the name now in the UK?

One is wee, the other a nice Czech lager

[Skizz]

How long...

...before we get gaming chairs based on those in Idiocracy (i.e. built in pan)? Probably an iPatent for it somewhere.

[Crisp]

Master of Orion II

I used to play that til I heard the birds tweeting in the morning.

The odd late night gaming session isn't going to hurt anybody.

[s0lace]

I know where they're comming from.

i'm urinating in a bottle as I type this.

[web_bod]

Urine powered games

http://bit.ly/xpyGBN <- Sega debuts the urine powered TOYLET...

[JM 1]

I'm guessing Leroy didn't have a bottle handy....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zll_jAKvarw

[Anonymous Coward]

No, Leeroy had microwaved chicken.

I personally issue the warning "taking a leak" and put /follow* on the healer of the group. And go to the loo.

People usually waits 30 seconds without issue. Most people confess they take the break and go THEMSELVES TOO when I get back.

* Do I really need to explain what /follow does?

[Anonymous Coward]

poopsockers

[Shagbag]

Sensational

Quote:

"I've worked with kids who will urinate in a bottle in their room, rather than leave the screen," she writes.

No numbers given. 'Kids' (plural) can be as little as 2 children. That's out of the entire UK population of sub-18 year olds.

Another instance of sensationalising by the mass media. (Surely not 'The Sun'?).

[Inachu]

If I can not sleep

Sometimes on the weekend if I can not sleep I'll log into WOW to do something boring that will put me right back to sleep. resource hoarding getting leather and mining can be so testing of the spirit that I just collapse onto my bed sleeping to the music of goldshire.

[John Smith 8]

Eh?

Classic sun journalism, they can't even get the facts right.

1) WOW has different servers for the likes of US and China etc, so nobody is going to be on a wildly different timezone. No getting up at 3am. For other online shooter games, they are largely ping dependent, so same goes.

2) Finding a guild who don't do 7pm-9pm core raiding times, is as unlikely as finding a good sun journalism. Hell, I've considered joining the US wow servers so that I can raid with someone at my time. Same for online shooter games, most matches will be 7-9pm.

[itzman]

As a former employer

it would be welcome if - especially the women - DID pee into bottles at their desk.

The time lost to queuing for a stall, washing, primping, adjusting hair, makeup and occasionally,. clothing, as well as having a dirty joke and a giggle, is according to unpublished studies, massive.

[Martin Huizing]

I doubt this is a problem for Bear Grylls

He'd just call it 'recycling'.

[Anonymous Coward]

Talk about clueless

It's amazing what teens will do to see a little tit and ass in video games.

[Maty]

But if a kid is doing this on a school night, the issue is bad parenting, not computer games.

If the kid is doing is business into bottles, the issue is a lousy guild, not a lousy game. A guild that can't organize a bathroom break should not be expected to organize a decent raid or anything else.

Still, this article does give a new meaning to playing computer games until the wee hours of the morning.

[scarshapedstar]

Sun?

Wot's that? *mashes keys*

[J. Cook]

heh...

three pages of comments and no mention of Jarate.

Mines the one with the Heavy Weapons Guy embroidered on the back.

[David Green]

Amateurs bottle...

...pros catheterize.

[Anonymous Coward]

Note to self....

Never accept an unopened Mountain Dew when visiting my gamer friends.....

[cs94njw]

I spent 2-3 years playing Everquest after graduating and getting a job. Yep, there were early morning quests, but I sticked to a European guild to avoid stupid USA timezones.

Most fun part of my life!

Er... of course, I was a Wizard, so would just overnuke, get summoned, go to the loo, come back to myself being rezzed, and then carry on...

[Anonymous Coward]

See peeing in a bottle so as not to miss a seconds inter web is acceptable...

so why did I get thrown out of the library then?

Joke!

[R J Tysoe]

Kids nowadays...

... don't even know they are born. In the good old days we had to piss into bottles while playing D&D.

[Anonymous Coward]

nothing new

Nothing new here I've been pissing in to bottles year I prefer the 3 litre wide neck ones that really cheap soda or cider comes in. They make a great insulator when piled up at the window. Also boots some times to a buy 2 get one free on Depends, and that helps a lot when coding or gaming.

Those microwave burgers and hotdogs can also be heated quite nice by placing them on your heat sinks takes a big longer to get to temp but works fine and you dont have to move far.

[Qu Dawei]

David Niven

... once had to do this, he wrote, when he was obliged to remain sitting at some tedious regimental dinner where no one could leave until some pompous oaf got up who was also at the meal. However, I guess this would be called "tradition" rather than feckless youth at work...

[Andus McCoatover]

Godalmighty...

You don't get this problem with postal chess, do you?