Obviously this kid was malnutritioned or whatever. I remember I used to not sleep for the entire weekend once Friday started when I was like 10 years old and I went to bed on around midnight sunday only tired that's all. Thats about 3 days of not sleeping and not only that, when I played video games as a kid I zoned out and hardly ate. All that and I still went to bed only sunday mildly tired.

I mean only 24 hours and he collapses? This was at no part the video game's fault. He was a freaking lightweight and his body was ill equipped for such things as he either A: Hardly eats anything or B: Doesn't eat the right things. I'm guessing this kid's family was poor. That's it.

Its not like it was anything dangerous, just a cramp. Who doesn't get craps now and then when they engage in something for long periods of time. You people should see the cramps I get at football practice when I go at someone the wrong way. Now those are deadly.

@ the one who blamed the government for doing nothing,

the government better not get involved in MMO industry, i heard a hwile back something about taxing ingame items.

anyway on topic,

hospitalized after 24 hours of WoW

24 hours of gaming? first of all once in a while a long sessions is actually fun. a human can easely stay awake for 24 hours straight... (k any student can easely stay awake for 24 hours straight) but you really have to have psychological problems if you forget to eat or drink. its way past addiction when you NEED to stay at your computer and can't take 10-20 minutes to have a meal, or hell, order pizza and eat it AS YOU PLAY!

when i do lan parties (have 5-6 friends over and play for a long period of time) the last thing we forget is the Food. industrial quantities of pizza and beer and/or energy drinks (we are all over 21)

Kid runs away and found dead

again, way past regular addiction. psychological problems once more. when some one can't find something else to do when a game is taken away, i remember back when i was in highschool my parents would take the TV and computer away if my grades where not high enough. what did i do? i read a book, i played outside, i actually did homework.

when one thing in your life takes control so much that you end up killing yourself for it is a psychological problem. and the only person to blame is A the person in questions (even if its not his fault) and the parents if the psychological problem is not genetically adhered.

GTA made me do it?

what do you call a person who cant make the difference between reality and fiction? Schizophrenic?

all in all, all these cases are psychological problems the person in question may have and blaming a game is not a right way. note: that it is always those who trash and bash and for some odd reason want the games to die are the first ones to blame those games.

Yea this is BS.

Only 24h? And it's only WoW?

I used to do 24h sessions of CoD2....and CoD2 requires far more concentration than WoW.

For a Kid to collapse like that he Was starving when he started and didn't drink anything for 24h. Don't blame WoW because some retard can't leave his comp for a lil break. The Kid would have ended up like this no matter what game he was obsessed with.

Well that's what happens when your parents don't love you and you have no self control. Poor kid, pathetic. Contrary to what may be popular belief, it's not the game's fault. To blame Blizzard (as much as I would enjoy it) is ignorant at best, plain idiotic at worst. I can't read Swedish so maybe there's something I'm missing, I'm going by the title.

Originally posted by Squal'Zell

@ the one who blamed the government for doing nothing,

the government better not get involved in MMO industry, i heard a hwile back something about taxing ingame items.

anyway on topic,

hospitalized after 24 hours of WoW

24 hours of gaming? first of all once in a while a long sessions is actually fun. a human can easely stay awake for 24 hours straight... (k any student can easely stay awake for 24 hours straight) but you really have to have psychological problems if you forget to eat or drink. its way past addiction when you NEED to stay at your computer and can't take 10-20 minutes to have a meal, or hell, order pizza and eat it AS YOU PLAY!

when i do lan parties (have 5-6 friends over and play for a long period of time) the last thing we forget is the Food. industrial quantities of pizza and beer and/or energy drinks (we are all over 21)

 

Kid runs away and found dead

again, way past regular addiction. psychological problems once more. when some one can't find something else to do when a game is taken away, i remember back when i was in highschool my parents would take the TV and computer away if my grades where not high enough. what did i do? i read a book, i played outside, i actually did homework.

when one thing in your life takes control so much that you end up killing yourself for it is a psychological problem. and the only person to blame is A the person in questions (even if its not his fault) and the parents if the psychological problem is not genetically adhered.

 

GTA made me do it?

what do you call a person who cant make the difference between reality and fiction? Schizophrenic?

 

all in all, all these cases are psychological problems the person in question may have and blaming a game is not a right way. note: that it is always those who trash and bash and for some odd reason want the games to die are the first ones to blame those games.

 

I agree with you except for the eating part. People can easily forget to eat among other things if you're having alot of fun or concentrating alot on something.

I'd say the overall message we're trying to convey is guns don't kill people. People kill people, the gun was just their choice of "how" they chose to kill. Just like this boy chose WOTLK to aggravate his already poor condition. He didn't have to be doing anything to collapse or get cramps. All he had to do was not eat and sleep for 24 hours because his body was already so weak. Stupidity on him and his parents part.

If anything this story teaches that scrawny little kids shouldn't try and go on long gaming sessions. Save that stuff for the big boys.

Originally posted by Bonemane

Originally posted by Squal'Zell

@ the one who blamed the government for doing nothing,

the government better not get involved in MMO industry, i heard a hwile back something about taxing ingame items.

anyway on topic,

hospitalized after 24 hours of WoW

24 hours of gaming? first of all once in a while a long sessions is actually fun. a human can easely stay awake for 24 hours straight... (k any student can easely stay awake for 24 hours straight) but you really have to have psychological problems if you forget to eat or drink. its way past addiction when you NEED to stay at your computer and can't take 10-20 minutes to have a meal, or hell, order pizza and eat it AS YOU PLAY!

when i do lan parties (have 5-6 friends over and play for a long period of time) the last thing we forget is the Food. industrial quantities of pizza and beer and/or energy drinks (we are all over 21)

 

Kid runs away and found dead

again, way past regular addiction. psychological problems once more. when some one can't find something else to do when a game is taken away, i remember back when i was in highschool my parents would take the TV and computer away if my grades where not high enough. what did i do? i read a book, i played outside, i actually did homework.

when one thing in your life takes control so much that you end up killing yourself for it is a psychological problem. and the only person to blame is A the person in questions (even if its not his fault) and the parents if the psychological problem is not genetically adhered.

 

GTA made me do it?

what do you call a person who cant make the difference between reality and fiction? Schizophrenic?

 

all in all, all these cases are psychological problems the person in question may have and blaming a game is not a right way. note: that it is always those who trash and bash and for some odd reason want the games to die are the first ones to blame those games.

 

 

I agree with you except for the eating part. People can easily forget to eat among other things if you're having alot of fun or concentrating alot on something.

I'd say the overall message we're trying to convey is guns don't kill people. People kill people, the gun was just their choice of "how" they chose to kill. Just like this boy chose WOTLK to aggravate his already poor condition. He didn't have to be doing anything to collapse or get cramps. All he had to do was not eat and sleep for 24 hours because his body was already so weak. Stupidity on him and his parents part.

If anything this story teaches that scrawny little kids shouldn't try and go on long gaming sessions. Save that stuff for the big boys.

really, well i usually get hungry and my stomach lets me know it, i cant skip a meal without feeling it even if i am concentrated or having fun or whatever, there is also conditioning that takes effect.

eating everyday at the same time will make your body get used to it and if one day you dont eat at that time you will just feel weird and very hungry.

if i were to choose who would win between human instincts or WoW adiction, i will always go for human instincs.

but yeah, if you are frail and weak  do not stress your body.

So many people rush to blame the parents or the kid of their stupidity, yet I'd be willing to be that around 50% of the people who posted in this thread have done a 24-hour gaming marathon, and more then once...

My longest was about 13 hours. That was in diablo 2. 24 hours I couldn't handle. The headache and ass ache.

Originally posted by zaxxon23

So many people rush to blame the parents or the kid of their stupidity, yet I'd be willing to be that around 50% of the people who posted in this thread have done a 24-hour gaming marathon, and more then once...

Yes but those of us who have, know our limits and know when to quit. This kid, for whatever reason, decided to go beyond his limits and paid for it. That is why we blame him. His parents obviously werent checking on him to see if he was ok and that is where their blame comes in. I dont see a problem with allowing your kid to game for 24 hours straight if they can handle it. Hell, I was doing that way back when I was 13-14 playing text based MUDs.  When my son gets to that age, I wont have any problem with him pulling off a 24 hour gaming  session here or there, but I will make sure he eats, drinks, etc..

24 hour sessions? man I miss those old EQ power sessions.

Now with my RL commitments I can't log into a single game for more than four hours at a time.

Some people call me an asshole when I have no sympathy for people who die because of their own extreme stupidity.

If I don't know the person, and if its because of extreme stupidity that they die, than I have no reason to cry and whine over it.

Just my 2 coppers.

Originally posted by talismen351

And how is it so much the fault of the parents...as it is of the kid himself? Seriously if the kid at 15 is too dumb to take a break.... I hope the parents take away his PC for a few months....that is what I would do.

Agreed. At 15 years of existance in the world he should know better. There is just no accounting for taste or natural selection.

I blame the parents on two separate counts.

Firstly, they should have taught him to have a bit more common sense as he was growing up.

Secondly, until he is mature enough to get a place of his own it is their responsibilty to ensure he is OK.

Whilst it isn't the parents fault if a kid doesn't grow up to be super intelligent, unless there are mental health issues there is no excuse for them to have no idea how to cope with real life & no common sense at all.

Just my opinion of course. 

WHat a schmuck.

Originally posted by LondonMagus

I blame the parents on two separate counts.

Firstly, they should have taught him to have a bit more common sense as he was growing up.

Secondly, until he is mature enough to get a place of his own it is their responsibilty to ensure he is OK.

Whilst it isn't the parents fault if a kid doesn't grow up to be super intelligent, unless there are mental health issues there is no excuse for them to have no idea how to cope with real life & no common sense at all.

Just my opinion of course. 

I think the parents are partly responsible, but at 15 most parents think their "Young adult is smarter than that" Besides he was probably playing through the day, and you half to consider, his parents thought he was going to go to bed in a while. It is hardly possible to keep tabs when you are trying to get a nights rest youself, should parents be forced to put cameras in their 15 yearold adolencents room to make sure he goes to bed? And if they fail to watch him like 24/7, they are bad parents.

Anyone who is 15+ knows in a practical sense wright from wrong, although stupidity gets in the way of that sometimes. I wont even get started on how his parents raised him, there is no rulebook that is anonymously correct on the matter. For all we know his parents where the most loving people to walk the earth. But that does not stop a 15 yearold from playing allnighters.

Also, 15 year olds have enough maturity in the household to have his own place of privacy, whether he is stupid or not is a completely different matter. For all we know he is an A+ student at school, that doesnt stop you from making stupid choices. Age does not affect this, With what you say, he would need 24/7 supervision till he dies of age. Hell this kid might even act smarter than his own father, and act more mature than most adults,  but that doesnt mean he aint stupid.

My point is, this kind of stupity goes into there 20's 30's and 40's. It keep going, Are we going to blame his parrents when dies in a car crash at the age 55? Your opinion just doesnt hold up. Parents just cannot be 100% responsible.

Originally posted by originalegg

@15 years old, do the parents share part of the blame?  of course.

However a lot of people are in denial in this thread about the addictive qualities of MMOs, especially WoW which is designed around giving player carrots on a stick and getting them hooked.

Some of us can control the amount of time play and balance it with real life, but when you talk about young teens and even younger, they may not have developed that sense yet.  This is where the parents should step in.

Tenspotting's analogy of it being the car's fault if someone drives for 24 hours is just ridiculous as the car doesnt had addictive qualities and that is just someone being stupid.  FACT is that MMOs, especially ones designed round the WoW model, have serious addictive mechanics that younger kids may not have enough sense to balance.

cliff notes:  parents played a big part in this screw up, but the MMO was hardly blameless, if anything its 50/50.

so, the parents should allow their child to play a game for so many hours, every single day, until the child is addicted?

as soon as little johnny's grades start dropping, he's late for supper cuz he has to finish an instance, or whatever the bloody change is that is indicative of something "not good"; that game gets gone, or seriously toned down.

of course if mommy is a pill head and daddy is a drunk; then, little johnny is just following in his parents' footsteps.

the entire jist of your post is that mmos are addictive.  yes, they're intended to be that way in order to keep that monthly sub coming in.  to say that the parents are ONLY 50% at fault is like saying they're only 50% at fault for little johnny watching some XXX channel on tv nonstop.

where are the parents while this addiction is taking over?

Originally posted by denshing

 

 

Originally posted by LondonMagus

I blame the parents on two separate counts.

Firstly, they should have taught him to have a bit more common sense as he was growing up.

Secondly, until he is mature enough to get a place of his own it is their responsibilty to ensure he is OK.

Whilst it isn't the parents fault if a kid doesn't grow up to be super intelligent, unless there are mental health issues there is no excuse for them to have no idea how to cope with real life & no common sense at all.

Just my opinion of course. 

 

I think the parents are partly responsible, but at 15 most parents think their "Young adult is smarter than that" Besides he was probably playing through the day, and you half to consider, his parents thought he was going to go to bed in a while. It is hardly possible to keep tabs when you are trying to get a nights rest youself, should parents be forced to put cameras in their 15 yearold adolencents room to make sure he goes to bed? And if they fail to watch him like 24/7, they are bad parents.

Anyone who is 15+ knows in a practical sense wright from wrong, although stupidity gets in the way of that sometimes. I wont even get started on how his parents raised him, there is no rulebook that is anonymously correct on the matter. For all we know his parents where the most loving people to walk the earth. But that does not stop a 15 yearold from playing allnighters.

Also, 15 year olds have enough maturity in the household to have his own place of privacy, whether he is stupid or not is a completely different matter. For all we know he is an A+ student at school, that doesnt stop you from making stupid choices. Age does not affect this, With what you say, he would need 24/7 supervision till he dies of age. Hell this kid might even act smarter than his own father, and act more mature than most adults,  but that doesnt mean he aint stupid.

My point is, this kind of stupity goes into there 20's 30's and 40's. It keep going, Are we going to blame his parrents when dies in a car crash at the age 55? Your opinion just doesnt hold up. Parents just cannot be 100% responsible.

if this kid is playing wotlk; then, he's NOT a new player to the game.  where were the parents all these months/years that this addiction was building?  how many other times had he played 20+ hours straight?  those parents sure don't know.  they found a $15/month babysitter and yes, they shirked their parental duties just as surely if their child had been smoking crack in the basement all those months.

Originally posted by nomadian

24 hours isn't anything- though admittedly I only ever did this once staying up for a Vox and Naggy raid. I can tell you going to get corpses at 6am in the morning isn't fun...(in fact I straight logged off)

Anyway, are mmos to blame? Not likely but I'd point a finger at mmos and their practises. I know there are a lot of kids getting hooked onto mmos and it really isn't a good thing. When people have to invest hours just to get any sort of progress is it any wonder kids and people play too long.

Some people might take exception to my post but being on a mmo site you aren't going to have very many people say it how it is..

honestly, it's not my fault if others are too weak to walk away.  there's been numerous stories on TV news shows about how some husband was so addicted to a game like EQ, that his marriage of 10+ years fell apart.

if it wasn't EQ, would it have been booze? drugs? womanizing?

addictive personalities will find something with which to be addicted.  it's just a matter of who will be the master of these poor souls.  if you realize you're an addictive personality, it's on you to fight it.  if you don't want to, again, i don't know what others are expected to do for you.

The kid was trying to accomplish something that to him was special.  It is hard to blame the parents exactly, kids are persuasive and stubborn.  Even good parents should not be expected to know the best way to relate to their child these days.  15 years ago..  1993.. gaming was not nearly as big of a deal and to even less of an extent, online gaming.

MMO addiction is a new phenomenon.  Not many know an effective method of treatment.  For me, it was new responsibilities and motivations.

To those that might say the parents should just lay down the law and take away the game, or 'slap the kid silly' need to pay more attention to the hidden dynamics of human interaction.

Everyone is an individual and will live their life according to their own ways, even as young as 15.  All we can do to influence them is teach them perspective and maybe a few facts such as .. health issues with sleep deprivation.

8 pages and no informed answer. Where is this world going to?

The kid played for ONLY 15 hours. Yes 15 hours only. I call him a gimp and have no real sympathy for him. If he doesn't have the stamina to stay awake for 15 hours he is already in a really unhealty state.

Also I agree with Glord. I have no sympathy for people who get killed of their own foolishness.

Also here's the link: www.wowinsider.com/2008/11/17/15-year-old-collapses-after-playing-wrath-for-hours-on-no-sleep/