Documented deaths due to Online Game Addictions

1. The boy jumped out of a 24-story window on December 27, 2004

http://www.tgdaily.com/business-and-law-features/21757-parents-blame-death-of-son-on-world-of-warcraft

2. Neglected child dies from suffocating

http://arstechnica.com/journals/thumbs.ars/2005/6/21/547

3. Teenager who committed suicide because of “WoW Addiction”

http://www.networkliquidators.com/article-world-of-warcraft-could-it-be-killing-our-teens.asp

4. A young girl died after playing World of Warcraft for several consecutive days

http://www.joystiq.com/2005/11/04/wow-online-funeral-commemorates-death-of-young-gamer/

5. Lee collapsed to the floor after playing for 50 hours straight

http://au.gamespot.com/news/6132357.html?sid=6132357

6. A player killed a (real life) fellow player who had stolen his virtual sword.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/4183340.stm

7. A 28-years-old man from Beijing

http://news.softpedia.com/news/Two-Fanatic-World-of-Warctaft-Gamers-Have-Died-Becouse-Of-WoW-11821.shtml

8. Death of a Man Unknown to Us

http://news.softpedia.com/news/Two-Fanatic-World-of-Warctaft-Gamers-Have-Died-Becouse-Of-WoW-11821.shtml

9. The 28-year-old father spent all his waking hours playing online

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/08/31/gaming_jail/

10. 13-year-old Tianjin boy

http://www.techtree.com/techtree/jsp/article.jsp?article_id=69299&cat_id=585

11. Chris Staniforth, 20, who would play his console for up to 12 hours, died in May from deep vein thrombosis (DVT)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-south-yorkshire-14350216

12. Xbox addict ‘dies from blood clot’

A post-mortem revealed that 20-year-old Chris Staniforth — who was offered a place to study Game Design at Leicester University — was killed by a pulmonary embolism, which can occur if someone sits in the same position for several hours

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5itdcZAJhnhurpOzUq8nDwHT1D8pw?docId=CNG.d76d1890df3edca8dd08181cb6808c7f.01

13. Xiao Yi was thirteen when he threw himself from the top of a twenty-four story tower block in his home town

Leaving notes that spoke of his addiction and his hope of being reunited with fellow cyber-players in heaven. The suicide notes were written through the eyes of a gaming character, so reports the China Daily, and stated that he hoped to meet three gaming friends in the after life. His parents, who had noticed with growing concern his affliction, were not mentioned in the letters.

Is this a true epidemic or is the media over-reacting and manipulating the facts just to create a news story?  The question that arises is, are these games affecting tomorrow’s generation or just supplying a new outlet for today’s society to socialize and interact with their friends?

By Ben Ferdinands

If you know of a gaming gone wrong story let us know.