If I go to sleep, everyone is going to die -Game Addiction, not a joking matter-

The Russians did again.

Whether it is dying from 12-hour sex marathon

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,500645,00.html

or

a  hairdresser turning robber into her own sex slave:

http://indiehunk.wordpress.com/2009/04/18/russian-hairdresser-makes-a-sex-slave-out-of-a-robber/

it seems like crazy news is emerging from Russia every few weeks this year.

Now, a Russian teen got hospitalized after 40 hours of nonstop gaming marathon!

You can read more here:

http://www.mosnews.com/weird/2009/06/08/40hours/

Reported on June 8^th, a 15-year old was required to have medical attention after playing PC games non-stop. The shocking event happened because his parents restricted his gaming time.  Unlike most geeks, he wasn’t able to enjoy his geeky activity without lowered grades.  When his parents went away from the weekend, he did what any teens would do, and did whatever he pleased without parental supervision…. In this case, it resulted in extremely low blood pressure, then, say, hung over or engaging in an event that feeds the school rumour mill.

The most annoying thing about this article is that they don’t tell us what the game was!!  Which game is so addictive that you can play for 40 hours!!??

I was thinking of researching similar cases in order to write this entry, but the writer of the article has kindly done it for me.

“In 2007, a 30 year-old Chinese gamer dropped dead after a three day online marathon at a cybercafe. Earlier that year another Chinese, a 26 year-old obese gamer, died in a similar situation.

In 2002, a 27 year-old Taiwanese collapsed after playing computer games for 32 hours non-stop.”

Jesus.  I feel sorry for these guys dying, but think of their families!  How would they feel, knowing that their sons died from excessive gaming?  Think of the questions you get in the funeral!

Gaming addiction is not a joking matter.  Treatment centers that specifically address online gaming addiction can be found in South Korea, China, the Netherlands, and the United States.   In Korea, where the Internet is highly advanced – so advanced that vicious rumours spread over the net have been linked to suicide – special treatment centers with boarding facility for under-aged online game addicts are operated by the government.  Online gaming addiction has been a social issue in countries such as Korea, China, and Russia since the beginning of  2000s.  A book entitled “Netoge Haijin” (Netoge = abbreviation of Net game, haijin = cripple, a slang for addicts) which was published in Japan last May protests that the online gaming is starting to become a problem there as well.

Osamu Ashizaki, who wrote the book, details the youths that had their real lives ruined by their obsession with the game.  He describes a young woman, who lost the interests in friends, fashion, and the desire to go out, brothers that take turns playing games 12 hours a day, and a female highschooler that was hospitlized from too much gaming, the doctors being dumbfounded.

The author postulates that these people cannot stop playing games, not because they are fun, but because they feel the responsibility and pressure to keep on playing.  For example, in the popular “Final Fantasy XI,” players are teamed up in a group of six.  Playing without one person causes such a disadvantage that the party might disintegrate.  An addict was quoted in the book, sorrowfully saying “if I go to sleep, everyone is going to die.”

Games are made to be entertaining; in order to do so, the manufacturers create them in a way that fuels the player’s curiosity, sense of achievement, and eagerness to keep playing.  A video game nowadays can easily take up to 100 hours to complete.  Online games are made so that players who play more will have stronger characters.

Square-Enix recently announced that Final Fantasy XIV will be an online game.  The game manufacturers may not care as long as they make more money from the addicts, but the governments need to pressure the manufactures to implement rules that are more user-friendly.  Perhaps a system where a player can only log in for the maximum of five hours a day.  I’m not sure.  Saying that, if the current online games rewards the players for continuously playing, it will foster an environment where more addicts are made, paving for a way for a murky issue which the governments are forced to address.