A mother who's WoW addiction caused her to fatally neglect her child has been sentenced to 25 years in prison. In 2006 the 28 year old women was playing WoW so much that her three and a half year old child died from malnutrition, at the time of her death the little girl only weighed 23 pounds and only managed to scavenge some cat food and lived with an overflowing cat litter tray and the stink of cat urine.

The day the little girl died investigators found out the mother had been playing WoW and socialising with Internet friends for around 15 hours.

Stories like these where parents play games so much their kids suffer or the physically abuse the kid because they disturbed them playing farmville or w/e make me so angry, its not the games fault and terrible neglect like this is nothing new but its usually caused by drink or drugs and you see people whose lives fall apart because of gaming but kids suffering because of a game just makes me sick.

Kotaku article, http://kotaku.com/5808501/five-years-later-mom-in-warcraft-neglect-death-goes-to-prison

Things like this make me angry, sad and frustrated all at the same time.

Angry that the mother let this happen, game or no, you need your dang priorities in order, geez.  How you manage to put a game over everything else is beyond me.  Completely beyond me. I don't even understand how thats possible.  I'm an avid gamer have been for going on 20 years now. Never have I once ever put games over a job, food, or other people.

It makes me sad that a kid had to die like that from the mother being so irresponsible and not looking after the kid like she should have, it's just sad all around

It makes me frustrated because i know the media and certain sects are simply going to use this to further either their viewer ship (with regards to media) or to try and prove games are somehow dangerous and further try and stop it.  I feel with that art thing we just manage to say games were actually a good thing to people and then...this happens.  They won't see the mother at fault. No they'll see the game at fault.

For all my general mehness towards WoW it and it's developers don't need something like this happening.

People really need to get their priorities in order and understand what is important and what is not.

wow there is a speical place in hell for people like this.

My brother had to give up all computer games when he had kids becasue he would lose himself in the game and he would forget the world around him. For some people gaming is similar to an addiction. I hope such people recognise if they have a problem and put their computer in a box when they have kids.

Unfortuantly current technology is begining to allow such games to also get on our phones. this makes it harder for game addicts to give up their habit and focus on their loved ones. luckily a phone's battery needs recharging occassionally.

Why isn't she sentenced to life? 25 years means she is out by 53, and may have a chance to have another kid.

Maybe she can get labelled as child killer, and unable to have another child.

It's people like this that embarass the gaming community and everyone within it. People will only ever hear of bad things such as these from the mainstream news channels, and instantly their opinion on gamers lies with that...

or the moms addiction made it happen and that is ofcourse a bad excuse becouse what happened to get child is terrible. but gaming addiction is for real while i am a gaming addict i can still put my prioritys and everything goes first before i game (the crappy mmo market currently helps me with that alot lol) but for other people they are unable to make those priorities their mind wont let them or their addiction is just alot heavier then that of others.

while everyones says it is not the fault of the games and it isnt but they do make it happen. Go find some atricles of how games like WoW keeps their players addicted and playing what systems they use for that that works on alot of players. and it really isnt with fun and challanging gameplay.

i wont look weard that if in the future they would give every ip a daylie limit of internet usage time. bad things happen more and more becouse of out of control internet usage.

Yeah, these people give gamers a bad name

This woman is obviously messed up. The game addiction is an excuse. Her motive wasn't to play games, it was to get away from the responsibilities of raising a child.

Replace gaming with - going out to the clubs at night with friends. The neglect is still the same. Replace gaming with - spent the day shopping while leaving the kid in the car to cook in 150 degree heat inside a closed car in the south-western heat. Replace gaming with - "left the windows open to air out my 6th story apartment" allowing the child to fall to her death.

It pains me to think about how stupid some people can be. But, people like her are not stupid. They are selfish and cruel people that look for any excuse possible to relieve themselves of their lifetime commitment. Emphesis should be taken off of the gaming addiction. Anything in life can become addictive. Whether it be gaming, watching sports, clubbing, painting, reading, writing, jogging, working out or jerking off. All I hear from people these days are excuses. It's not the addiction that needs to be looked at - it's the person with the addictive personality.

Originally posted by Kaelaan21

This woman is obviously messed up. The game addiction is an excuse. Her motive wasn't to play games, it was to get away from the responsibilities of raising a child.

 

Replace gaming with - going out to the clubs at night with friends. The neglect is still the same. Replace gaming with - spent the day shopping while leaving the kid in the car to cook in 150 degree heat inside a closed car in the south-western heat. Replace gaming with - "left the windows open to air out my 6th story apartment" allowing the child to fall to her death.

 

It pains me to think about how stupid some people can be. But, people like her are not stupid. They are selfish and cruel people that look for any excuse possible to relieve themselves of their lifetime commitment. Emphesis should be taken off of the gaming addiction. Anything in life can become addictive. Whether it be gaming, watching sports, clubbing, painting, reading, writing, jogging, working out or jerking off. All I hear from people these days are excuses. It's not the addiction that needs to be looked at - it's the person with the addictive personality.

Trust me when I say that it is not an excuse, some people get really locked into the game. i have seen my brother who just shuts off all outside sensation and is like a zombie in the game. Such people seriously have to stop playing games as they do just shut off during the game. My brother does not use it as an excuse, he seriously can not help being focussed on just the game. The only option he has is to stop playing.

Such people do not deliberately ignore the world, they start playign and before they realise it 5 hours has passed. i once saw my brother play 9 hours straight without eating before we literally had to wave our hand in front of the screen to stop him. He thought it had only been 2 hours. He has learnt and no longer plays ANY computer games.

You may sit on your high horse and say that such people are selfish, and uncaring, but the reality is that they have a problem they have to learn to deal with in order to care for both themselves and their friends and family. It is not a choice that they have the problem, and to suggest that it is their fault just shows how uncaring you are, not them.

My brother is not selfish, he is one of the least selfish people in the world, but he does have a problem he has learnt to live with. The best thing for such people is to have a family and friends that help them deal with who they are, not people that sit their and critisize them.

Something probably drove her to play like that, perhaps having a husband who was absent most of the time had something to do with it, maybe depression, or just an addictive personality but the real issue here is that gaming is addictive and until people can come to grips with that then stuff like this will continue to happen. Is this any different from parents doing drugs instead of caring for thier kids? I don't think so. People die from neglecting themselves while playing games, it's no surprise that children die from it too.

I'm happy to see that the father is going to jail too.

25 years seems a little on the harsh side for an obviously mentally ill person; Psychotherapy could have helped the family to recover but I guess nobody was there or nobody cared.

Well, no use argueing about the 'Hang 'em, I say'-mentality of US-american law, makes me sigh though that now the child is dead society goes on obliterating the life of a young, mentally ill woman. As if that helped anyone...

M

 There is plenty of neglect going on in families that don't game. This person supports the fact that people have no clue what they are doing when they have children. Neglect comes in many forms, unfortunately this one involved total neglect. Humans are having children because they can, not that they should. How many pregnant families have "planned" the child? Having a child is not a right! .

 The demise of the human race won't be from war or natural disaster. The human race will fall from it's own greed and stupidity.

Addiction, doesn't necessarily mean drugs, alcohol or gambling, anything one does, that one finds enjoyable can become an addiction. Gaming is one of those things.

Take the bad with the good...

Maybe the problem here is she shouldn't of had kids...

Soo my note to gamers: DON'T HAVE KIDS K? k

Originally posted by haratu

Trust me when I say that it is not an excuse, some people get really locked into the game. i have seen my brother who just shuts off all outside sensation and is like a zombie in the game. Such people seriously have to stop playing games as they do just shut off during the game. My brother does not use it as an excuse, he seriously can not help being focussed on just the game. The only option he has is to stop playing.

Such people do not deliberately ignore the world, they start playign and before they realise it 5 hours has passed. i once saw my brother play 9 hours straight without eating before we literally had to wave our hand in front of the screen to stop him. He thought it had only been 2 hours. He has learnt and no longer plays ANY computer games.

You may sit on your high horse and say that such people are selfish, and uncaring, but the reality is that they have a problem they have to learn to deal with in order to care for both themselves and their friends and family. It is not a choice that they have the problem, and to suggest that it is their fault just shows how uncaring you are, not them.

My brother is not selfish, he is one of the least selfish people in the world, but he does have a problem he has learnt to live with. The best thing for such people is to have a family and friends that help them deal with who they are, not people that sit their and critisize them.

You may want to re-read my post.

People like your brother may really be addicted to video gaming. However, that doesn't make it the addictions fault for murdering another person. If you finished reading what I said - I mentioned that we should start looking at the people themselves and not concetrate on the addiction. This is exactly what your brother (with the help of his family and friends) did. 

People need to stop thinking in black and white and realize that one answer does not fit every situation. When I said people like this woman are cruel and selfish. THEY ARE! Just because your brother had a gaming addiction and this woman had one - doesn't mean they are alike. 

Your brother obviously isn't selfish. The examples that I gave are stories that I would listen to nearly every day while I lived in Mesa, AZ. They weren't caused by video games. Is it shopping addiction to leave your kid in a car and let them bake in oven temperatures? Is it cleaning addiction when purposely opening your windows to let your kid jump to their death?

No, they are excuses... as simple as that. Most alcoholics will tell you that they drink to self-medicate. It's the reason behind their addiction that needs to be examined. Articles like this (and not just limited to gaming) cause the public to focus on the behavior rather than the cause.

On a side note: I am glad that your brother is better than letting an addiction ruin his life. Your brother obviously still cares enough about himself and others around him. This is one of many things that set him apart from these people like this woman.

Originally posted by Fazart

Addiction, doesn't necessarily mean drugs, alcohol or gambling, anything one does, that one finds enjoyable can become an addiction. Gaming is one of those things.

 

Take the bad with the good...

Maybe the problem here is she shouldn't of had kids...

 

Soo my note to gamers: DON'T HAVE KIDS K? k

 FUN is addictive. just saying. it really is.

I think the point this person is trying to make is that your brother did not have a kid, this woman did.. That alone changes the situation greatly. Yes it's an addiction, but people need to know that, and need to control that. She didn't, and that cost her a child. A horrible price to pay for a video game... 

and YES, fun is addicting.

When I was a wow GM (Over four years of that) I always made sure to learn about my guildies, we had a couple of mums in the guild with young children and I always ALWAYS made sure that they knew that even though we were a raiding guild that at any point in time if their kid needed them, mid fight, what ever that they put the kid first.

I remember once I heard over vent a kids voice shouting mummy mummy come look at this, the kid sounded really excited the mum started to say in a minute dear and I cut her off mid conversation and told her that she had to go deal with it there and then, the rest of the raid was taking a 15 min break.   People playing MMOs have to take responsability for their real lives too, and the people in charge of guilds and social groups need to be encouraged to do so.

This woman deserves to rot in prison, the thing is this case will now be used as a rod to beat MMO companies with by the same people who continue to collect a wage from the taxs on alcohol.....

Tragic is the only word for this, truley tragic.

This isn't different from going out all the time (and getting laid with random strangers), drug addiction, etc. This is happening all the time and I saw it with a relative of mine that kept going out and dumping her daughter on her roomate or parents that the baby got so sick at one point- now that child is healthy and lives with foster parents.

Originally posted by Sanguinelust

Something probably drove her to play like that, perhaps having a husband who was absent most of the time had something to do with it, maybe depression, or just an addictive personality but the real issue here is that gaming is addictive and until people can come to grips with that then stuff like this will continue to happen. Is this any different from parents doing drugs instead of caring for thier kids? I don't think so. People die from neglecting themselves while playing games, it's no surprise that children die from it too.

I'm happy to see that the father is going to jail too.

      I find this a bit troubling. Im not going to say the father was entirely blameless but he was an active duty air force seargent who had been away for 9 days by the time of the child's death. He did make arangements to get 1 child sent off to there grandparents so he was aware of a problem with his wife's ability as a parent, but probably didnt feel he would be able to come up with a justification to be able to get the youngest child away. Women tend to get rather pointedly offended when you make it too obvious that you feel there a bad mother and he may have been attempting to avioid a divorce when he got back from active duty. Seeing as military personell stand to lose a great deal in a divorce and how its epidemic for military men to come home to family court summons, he was probably hoping he could avoid it and simply mitigate the damage his wife would cause.

     Also trying to report his wife's behaviour to social services, even if done anonymously, would likely have been ignored as is routinely the case when social workers hear of accusations against a mother. Our culture worships the mother-child bond to an unrealistic degree while at the same time denigrates or ignores the father-child bond despite that the vast majority of child deaths due to abuse/neglect is caused by mothers by a huge margin over the same caused by biological fathers.

     The thing i find most surprising about this case is that she actually rec'd a 25 yr sentence. Typically when mothers kill there children, even actively, a sentence of this magnitude is actually pretty rare.