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NY Daily News: "Xbox Addict" dies of sitting-induced blood clot

24

Posts

  • Hexmage-PAHexmage-PA Registered User regular
    People don't even have to sit while playing video games. I don't.

  • FrugusFrugus Photographer MontrealRegistered User regular
    This is a classic case of "Let's blame the fixating point of the said obsession instead of the problem of obsession itself".

    Why and how we choose to interpret such unfortunate events is an entirely other matter.

    Frugus Eggbeater
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  • PatboyXPatboyX Registered User regular
    I can understand how the family would feel. If I lost a family member to a drug OD, I would probably blame everyone but that family member. Particularly at first.
    Obviously, the papers run with it in the same way because it sells better.

    "lenny bruce is not afraid..."
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  • LilnoobsLilnoobs Alpha Queue Registered User regular
    Enig wrote:
    The statement "it is unhealthy to spend long periods playing video games" is quite valid, and in more ways than one. One of those ways, for the majority of games, is the affect being immobile has on your circulatory system.

    Obviously video games are not at fault, but it is still worth warning people against being overly sedentary.

    Replace Video Games with Reading/Watching Television/Knitting or whatever this generation's social pariah may be.

    I must have missed it, but where did someone die of a blood clot while reading or knitting?

  • Hexmage-PAHexmage-PA Registered User regular
    Lilnoobs wrote:
    Enig wrote:
    The statement "it is unhealthy to spend long periods playing video games" is quite valid, and in more ways than one. One of those ways, for the majority of games, is the affect being immobile has on your circulatory system.

    Obviously video games are not at fault, but it is still worth warning people against being overly sedentary.

    Replace Video Games with Reading/Watching Television/Knitting or whatever this generation's social pariah may be.

    I must have missed it, but where did someone die of a blood clot while reading or knitting?

    Dunno, but it most certainly has happened. It's just not very newsworthy. And neither is this.

  • HallowedFaithHallowedFaith Call me Cloud. Registered User regular
    Poor kid.
    Regardless of all the "gentle blame" being thrown around, it's a sad story anytime ANYONE is forced into early retirement, let alone someone who was only 20.

    I'm making video games. DesignBy.Cloud
  • cloudeaglecloudeagle Registered User regular
    My mom got a horrible, life-threatening blood clot at the age of 21. She wasn't fat, or sedentary, or any of that stuff. She just had horrible genetics.

    So could this kid.

    Switch: 3947-4890-9293
  • mere_immortalmere_immortal So tasty!Registered User regular
    Lilnoobs wrote:
    Enig wrote:
    The statement "it is unhealthy to spend long periods playing video games" is quite valid, and in more ways than one. One of those ways, for the majority of games, is the affect being immobile has on your circulatory system.

    Obviously video games are not at fault, but it is still worth warning people against being overly sedentary.

    Replace Video Games with Reading/Watching Television/Knitting or whatever this generation's social pariah may be.

    I must have missed it, but where did someone die of a blood clot while reading or knitting?

    It wasn't an actual example, but all of those things also involve sitting around for long periods of time.

    But they're not the new flavour of the month to blame everything on so don't ever get mentioned.

    Steam: mere_immortal - PSN: mere_immortal - XBL: lego pencil - Wii U: mimmortal - 3DS: 1521-7234-1642 - Bordgamegeek: mere_immortal
  • PatboyXPatboyX Registered User regular
    edited July 2011
    Lilnoobs wrote:
    Enig wrote:
    The statement "it is unhealthy to spend long periods playing video games" is quite valid, and in more ways than one. One of those ways, for the majority of games, is the affect being immobile has on your circulatory system.

    Obviously video games are not at fault, but it is still worth warning people against being overly sedentary.

    Replace Video Games with Reading/Watching Television/Knitting or whatever this generation's social pariah may be.

    I must have missed it, but where did someone die of a blood clot while reading or knitting?

    http://www.webmd.com/lung/news/20110705/sitting-for-long-time-linked-to-pulmonary-embolism

    I think the point is that the reason you are sitting is pretty superficial. It is pretty obvious that the headline is just there for sale / shock value. I don't remember any headlines that read "Tank Kills David Bloom" back in 2003.

    PatboyX on
    "lenny bruce is not afraid..."
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  • The Muffin ManThe Muffin Man Registered User regular
    The best part is, the bolded part is either over simplified or taken way out of context (notice the lack of quotation marks?)
    It was probably something like
    "Would you say it was dangerous to play video games?"
    "Well if you sit in one place for 12 hours, yeah, but..."
    DOCTOR SAYS PLAYING VIDEO GAMES IS DANGEROUS.

  • T4CTT4CT BAFTA-NOMINATED NAFTA-APPROVEDRegistered User regular
    should've bought kinect

  • LilnoobsLilnoobs Alpha Queue Registered User regular
    Lilnoobs wrote:
    Enig wrote:
    The statement "it is unhealthy to spend long periods playing video games" is quite valid, and in more ways than one. One of those ways, for the majority of games, is the affect being immobile has on your circulatory system.

    Obviously video games are not at fault, but it is still worth warning people against being overly sedentary.

    Replace Video Games with Reading/Watching Television/Knitting or whatever this generation's social pariah may be.

    I must have missed it, but where did someone die of a blood clot while reading or knitting?

    It wasn't an actual example, but all of those things also involve sitting around for long periods of time.

    But they're not the new flavour of the month to blame everything on so don't ever get mentioned.

    Oh, so they were made up.

    While the headlines are obviously sensational, I don't see how it's unfair to argue that videogames are more dangerous than knitting or reading. Videogames by design are meant to keep you in your seat for as long as possible. Some videogames are even endless (WoW and MMORPGs).

    Putting videogames and reading/knitting in the same category just because one sits seems to miss a glaring difference. Namely, the intent of videogames are to keep you in that seat as long as possible and then some.

    It's also easy to blame the parents when things like this happens. But study after study shows us that parents have one of the least affects on a child's hobbies, worldviews, and values. So it seems to be a cop-out when things like this happen and people come in saying "well duh" or "the parents are to blame".

  • BeckBeck Registered User regular
    Hexmage-PA wrote:
    People don't even have to sit while playing video games. I don't.

    Suddenly having to pee constantly seems like a cool condition to have. It could save your life!

    Lucas's Franklin Badge reflected the lightning back!
  • SwashbucklerXXSwashbucklerXX Swashbucklin' Canuck Registered User regular
    urahonky wrote:
    Oh great... Now we're going to get on screen prompts every hour telling us to take a break.

    Guild Wars actuallly does this every hour after you've played for two hours. The funny part is that it also never logs you off the server for inactivity, so sometimes I accidentally leave it logged in, go out for the day, and come back to a screen full of "You have been playing for 8 hours. Please take a break."

    Want to find me on a gaming service? I'm SwashbucklerXX everywhere.
  • JarsJars Registered User regular
    reminds me of that BG2 loading screen

    "while your characters do not have to eat please remember that YOU do. we don't want to lose any dedicated players"

    though eating is something most gamers don't have a problem doing

  • ShapeshifterShapeshifter Pants Optioanl Registered User regular
    Died doing what he loved.
    bending over?
    .
    .
    .
    .
    for a stick of gum

    steam_sig.png
  • Zilla360Zilla360 21st Century. |She/Her| Trans* Woman In Aviators Firing A Bazooka. ⚛️Registered User regular
    Chewing Gum: The Secret Addictive Killer

    |Ko-Fi Me! ☕😎|NH844lc.png | PSN | chi-logo-only-favicon.png(C.H.I) Ltd. |🏳️⚧️♥️
  • KalTorakKalTorak One way or another, they all end up in the Undercity.Registered User regular
    Beck wrote:
    Hexmage-PA wrote:
    People don't even have to sit while playing video games. I don't.

    Suddenly having to pee constantly seems like a cool condition to have. It could save your life!

    Colostomy bags - the silent killer!

  • KorlashKorlash Québécois TorontoRegistered User regular
    edited July 2011
    As much as this vitriolic reaction is expected, it's still a bit sad. I think gamers are so used to being unfairly attacked that they now react aggressively to any attacks on video games, even when warranted.

    There is no doubt that frequently playing video games for 12 hours at a time is very bad. People in this thread are skeptical that this was the cause of death, but since none of you examined the body, none of you have any experience in medicine (most likely) and since this is not the first time someone dies like this, I'm going to go ahead and say I trust the assessments of experts that sitting for a prolonged period of time caused the death. Maybe the guy wasn't the healthiest, but it's not like overweight people just drop like stones for no reason...

    You could say "but sitting for 12 hours is bad regardless of what you're doing is bad!", but other than in a plane, in what other circumstances will one person be sitting in the exact same spot for 12 hours? Ever heard of someone knitting for 12 hours and dying of a blood clot? Come on. The addictive quality of video games makes this kind of death possible.

    So yes, I know we're conditioned to rage whenever someone criticizes video games, but for once, we should take this criticism in stride. Maybe if the kid's parents had known that it was possible to die in this manner, they would have acted to prevent this. Getting the word across may save future lives. It's not like people are really demonizing games, or asking for them to be banned. They're just asking people to be wary that this sort of thing can happen. This is totally a noble cause and we really have no reason to be up in arms about this.

    i should also mention that playing video games for extended periods of time, even if you're not quite playing 12 hours at a time, is still unhealthy. So again, it is not so bad to get the message out that kids need to get up and exercise from time to time.

    Korlash on
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  • manwiththemachinegunmanwiththemachinegun METAL GEAR?! Registered User regular
    If a parent lets their kid play games for 12 hours straight, they're not doing their fucking job. Health risks or not.

  • KorlashKorlash Québécois TorontoRegistered User regular
    edited July 2011
    You are judging them without the proper information. You have no idea what the parents may have done to get their kids to do other things. Kids are not slaves, they have minds of their own. And it's not like 20 years olds are the one most responsive to parental authority. It's like blaming parents when their kids fuck up in life: sometimes, no matter what a parent does, the child decides to do things his way. There's little you can do in this case.

    Korlash on
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  • programjunkieprogramjunkie Registered User regular
    Beck wrote:
    Hexmage-PA wrote:
    People don't even have to sit while playing video games. I don't.

    Suddenly having to pee constantly seems like a cool condition to have. It could save your life!

    If you are well hydrated it should be physically impossible to not have to urinate multiple times in 12 hours while playing video games.

    I don't think it is his fault, because dropping dead at 20 isn't a reasonably foreseeable consequence of playing video games, but OTOH, a lack of daily exercise and real world socialization did directly cause this. I play a lot of video games, to the point where it is by far my primary hobby, but work, friends, exercise, cooking my own food from scratch, etc, prevent me from playing video games for 12 hours without moving.
    Lilnoobs wrote:
    Lilnoobs wrote:
    Enig wrote:
    The statement "it is unhealthy to spend long periods playing video games" is quite valid, and in more ways than one. One of those ways, for the majority of games, is the affect being immobile has on your circulatory system.

    Obviously video games are not at fault, but it is still worth warning people against being overly sedentary.

    Replace Video Games with Reading/Watching Television/Knitting or whatever this generation's social pariah may be.

    I must have missed it, but where did someone die of a blood clot while reading or knitting?

    It wasn't an actual example, but all of those things also involve sitting around for long periods of time.

    But they're not the new flavour of the month to blame everything on so don't ever get mentioned.

    Oh, so they were made up.

    While the headlines are obviously sensational, I don't see how it's unfair to argue that videogames are more dangerous than knitting or reading. Videogames by design are meant to keep you in your seat for as long as possible. Some videogames are even endless (WoW and MMORPGs).

    Putting videogames and reading/knitting in the same category just because one sits seems to miss a glaring difference. Namely, the intent of videogames are to keep you in that seat as long as possible and then some.

    You are being a hyper-silly goose right now. Most modern video games take less time to beat than to finish a 1200 page book, even for a quick reader. You might argue MMOs are different, but most video games don't even reward you for playing extended periods at once vs. the same amount of a longer period of time.
    It's also easy to blame the parents when things like this happens. But study after study shows us that parents have one of the least affects on a child's hobbies, worldviews, and values. So it seems to be a cop-out when things like this happen and people come in saying "well duh" or "the parents are to blame".

    He's 20, but if he were 16, it would be their fault, because parents can directly intervene.

  • PeewiPeewi Registered User regular
    urahonky wrote:
    Oh great... Now we're going to get on screen prompts every hour telling us to take a break.

    Guild Wars actuallly does this every hour after you've played for two hours. The funny part is that it also never logs you off the server for inactivity, so sometimes I accidentally leave it logged in, go out for the day, and come back to a screen full of "You have been playing for 8 hours. Please take a break."

    A lot of Nintendo games does it as well. For example, in Ocarina of Time 3D Navi will sometimes ask if you're tired and want to take a break. I don't think that was in the original version.

  • HenroidHenroid Mexican kicked from Immigration Thread Centrism is Racism :3Registered User regular
    Time to mail Professor Colven and politely explain that sitting caused the clot, not video games.

  • VeganVegan Registered User regular
    Peewi wrote:
    urahonky wrote:
    Oh great... Now we're going to get on screen prompts every hour telling us to take a break.

    Guild Wars actuallly does this every hour after you've played for two hours. The funny part is that it also never logs you off the server for inactivity, so sometimes I accidentally leave it logged in, go out for the day, and come back to a screen full of "You have been playing for 8 hours. Please take a break."

    A lot of Nintendo games does it as well. For example, in Ocarina of Time 3D Navi will sometimes ask if you're tired and want to take a break. I don't think that was in the original version.

    Yeah, I remember Mario Galaxy constantly telling me to turn the game off.

    steam_sig.png
  • VeganVegan Registered User regular
    I have to call some sort of bullshit on that Talio, because people have been living just fine for thousands of years dying of many, many horrible things that in no way include sitting on your ass until you die.

    http://www.medicalbillingandcoding.org/sitting-kills/

    steam_sig.png
  • HenroidHenroid Mexican kicked from Immigration Thread Centrism is Racism :3Registered User regular
    Look, people are already reacting wrong to this. Sitting doesn't do it by itself. Other conditions were at play, and the sitting portion was probably some crazy excessive amount. It's like saying "get up and stretch every hour or else you'll die from sitting around for 12 hours a day, every day, for 3 or 4 years straight!" I'm pretty sure within those 3 to 4 years people fucking move around and are active enough to prevent this.

  • joshofalltradesjoshofalltrades Class Traitor Smoke-filled roomRegistered User regular
    edited July 2011
    Died doing what he loved.

    Reaching for his gum?

    EDIT: Oh dammit

    joshofalltrades on
  • DunxcoDunxco Should get a suit Never skips breakfastRegistered User regular
    No, I think we can still safely say that parental neglect had a hand in this.

    But that's highly dependant on a lot of information the articles just aren't giving. Did he have a job? I assume not because if you have a job there are only extreme hours/circumstances that allow you to play for 12 hours a day. Shouldn't they have been nagging the fuck out of him to get off his fat arse and go get a job? Especially if he was living under their roof and not contributing to the running of the household?

  • HenroidHenroid Mexican kicked from Immigration Thread Centrism is Racism :3Registered User regular
    Died doing what he loved.

    Reaching for his gum?

    EDIT: Oh dammit

    It's okay josh, you said it better. :^:

  • Hahnsoo1Hahnsoo1 Make Ready. We Hunt.Registered User regular
    Henroid wrote:
    Look, people are already reacting wrong to this. Sitting doesn't do it by itself. Other conditions were at play, and the sitting portion was probably some crazy excessive amount. It's like saying "get up and stretch every hour or else you'll die from sitting around for 12 hours a day, every day, for 3 or 4 years straight!" I'm pretty sure within those 3 to 4 years people fucking move around and are active enough to prevent this.
    Sitting by itself, for 12 straight hours, can do this. Given the right set of circumstances. It doesn't matter if you've been sedentary for 12 years or 1 month. Just one session of immobility can cause a DVT to kick up to your lungs. It is very unlikely, but so is getting struck by lightning. The only reason duration of said activity matters is probability. Just like you are more likely to get in a car accident the more you drive a car, the more sessions of prolonged sitting you have, the more likely you are going to get a DVT.

    And yes, it does happen to little old ladies who knit or old men who sit watching TV for great lengths of time. This is fairly common in nursing homes. It happens to active people who have multiple years of athletics watching a college sports game. Hell, if you browse through the chapters of preventdvt.org, most of the people are active and healthy when they got their DVT.

    8i1dt37buh2m.png
  • HenroidHenroid Mexican kicked from Immigration Thread Centrism is Racism :3Registered User regular
    Hahnsoo1 wrote:
    Henroid wrote:
    Look, people are already reacting wrong to this. Sitting doesn't do it by itself. Other conditions were at play, and the sitting portion was probably some crazy excessive amount. It's like saying "get up and stretch every hour or else you'll die from sitting around for 12 hours a day, every day, for 3 or 4 years straight!" I'm pretty sure within those 3 to 4 years people fucking move around and are active enough to prevent this.
    Sitting by itself, for 12 straight hours, can do this. Given the right set of circumstances. It doesn't matter if you've been sedentary for 12 years or 1 month. Just one session of immobility can cause a DVT to kick up to your lungs. It is very unlikely, but so is getting struck by lightning. The only reason duration of said activity matters is probability. Just like you are more likely to get in a car accident the more you drive a car, the more sessions of prolonged sitting you have, the more likely you are going to get a DVT.

    And yes, it does happen to little old ladies who knit or old men who sit watching TV for great lengths of time. This is fairly common in nursing homes. It happens to active people who have multiple years of athletics watching a college sports game. Hell, if you browse through the chapters of preventdvt.org, most of the people are active and healthy when they got their DVT.

    Oh look, we agree. :P

  • Hexmage-PAHexmage-PA Registered User regular
    Lilnoobs wrote:
    Putting videogames and reading/knitting in the same category just because one sits seems to miss a glaring difference. Namely, the intent of videogames are to keep you in that seat as long as possible and then some.

    Again, you don't have to be sitting to play video games, or read, or watch TV, or anything really.

  • Hahnsoo1Hahnsoo1 Make Ready. We Hunt.Registered User regular
    Henroid wrote:
    Oh look, we agree. :P
    No. Thanks for being pedantic. You seem to imply that one has to sit for prolonged periods of time over the course of multiple years to get a DVT. The right set of circumstances can be any number of risk factors, from getting a foot cast to taking the pill, or it could be zero risk factors and you just happened to sit for a while without ambulating. It can happen from a single session of prolonged sitting.

    8i1dt37buh2m.png
  • DourinDourin Registered User regular
    Korlash wrote:
    As much as this vitriolic reaction is expected, it's still a bit sad. I think gamers are so used to being unfairly attacked that they now react aggressively to any attacks on video games, even when warranted.

    There is no doubt that frequently playing video games for 12 hours at a time is very bad. People in this thread are skeptical that this was the cause of death, but since none of you examined the body, none of you have any experience in medicine (most likely) and since this is not the first time someone dies like this, I'm going to go ahead and say I trust the assessments of experts that sitting for a prolonged period of time caused the death. Maybe the guy wasn't the healthiest, but it's not like overweight people just drop like stones for no reason...

    You could say "but sitting for 12 hours is bad regardless of what you're doing is bad!", but other than in a plane, in what other circumstances will one person be sitting in the exact same spot for 12 hours? Ever heard of someone knitting for 12 hours and dying of a blood clot? Come on. The addictive quality of video games makes this kind of death possible.

    So yes, I know we're conditioned to rage whenever someone criticizes video games, but for once, we should take this criticism in stride. Maybe if the kid's parents had known that it was possible to die in this manner, they would have acted to prevent this. Getting the word across may save future lives. It's not like people are really demonizing games, or asking for them to be banned. They're just asking people to be wary that this sort of thing can happen. This is totally a noble cause and we really have no reason to be up in arms about this.

    i should also mention that playing video games for extended periods of time, even if you're not quite playing 12 hours at a time, is still unhealthy. So again, it is not so bad to get the message out that kids need to get up and exercise from time to time.

    When I was in middle school and high school, there were many time I would spend a solid 8 hours reading a book. Just sitting there, not moving, reading a book. So no, video games are not the only risky activity aside from flying that could cause this.

    Look, video games were not the cause. His health was not the cause. His parents are not at fault. His ONE decision to sit there and marathon for 12 hours without taking breaks was the most likely cause for this. Sure, as others have pointed out, there are other risk factors that maybe could increase this risk of this occurring, but honestly, the biggest risk factor was this single act of prolonged sitting. So you guys can argue back and forth as to whether or not it was the fault of the video games, or that his parents neglected him and killed their son, but when it comes down to it, it was really nobody's fault but his own.

    That said, I don't think it's terrible of them to want to spread the word that sitting for extended periods of time is a health risk. I do, however, think its terrible the news outlets are immediately jumping to headlines like "DEATH BY XBOX" and such. But then again, these are news outlets, so it's kind of what they do. Just wait until Fox News gets a hold of this story.

  • PatboyXPatboyX Registered User regular
    Henroid wrote:
    Time to mail Professor Colven and politely explain that sitting caused the clot, not video games.
    I'd be shocked if what he said was all that different than what you are saying he should have said.

    "lenny bruce is not afraid..."
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  • KorlashKorlash Québécois TorontoRegistered User regular
    edited July 2011
    Dourin wrote:
    Korlash wrote:
    As much as this vitriolic reaction is expected, it's still a bit sad. I think gamers are so used to being unfairly attacked that they now react aggressively to any attacks on video games, even when warranted.

    There is no doubt that frequently playing video games for 12 hours at a time is very bad. People in this thread are skeptical that this was the cause of death, but since none of you examined the body, none of you have any experience in medicine (most likely) and since this is not the first time someone dies like this, I'm going to go ahead and say I trust the assessments of experts that sitting for a prolonged period of time caused the death. Maybe the guy wasn't the healthiest, but it's not like overweight people just drop like stones for no reason...

    You could say "but sitting for 12 hours is bad regardless of what you're doing is bad!", but other than in a plane, in what other circumstances will one person be sitting in the exact same spot for 12 hours? Ever heard of someone knitting for 12 hours and dying of a blood clot? Come on. The addictive quality of video games makes this kind of death possible.

    So yes, I know we're conditioned to rage whenever someone criticizes video games, but for once, we should take this criticism in stride. Maybe if the kid's parents had known that it was possible to die in this manner, they would have acted to prevent this. Getting the word across may save future lives. It's not like people are really demonizing games, or asking for them to be banned. They're just asking people to be wary that this sort of thing can happen. This is totally a noble cause and we really have no reason to be up in arms about this.

    i should also mention that playing video games for extended periods of time, even if you're not quite playing 12 hours at a time, is still unhealthy. So again, it is not so bad to get the message out that kids need to get up and exercise from time to time.

    When I was in middle school and high school, there were many time I would spend a solid 8 hours reading a book. Just sitting there, not moving, reading a book. So no, video games are not the only risky activity aside from flying that could cause this.

    Look, video games were not the cause. His health was not the cause. His parents are not at fault. His ONE decision to sit there and marathon for 12 hours without taking breaks was the most likely cause for this. Sure, as others have pointed out, there are other risk factors that maybe could increase this risk of this occurring, but honestly, the biggest risk factor was this single act of prolonged sitting. So you guys can argue back and forth as to whether or not it was the fault of the video games, or that his parents neglected him and killed their son, but when it comes down to it, it was really nobody's fault but his own.

    That said, I don't think it's terrible of them to want to spread the word that sitting for extended periods of time is a health risk. I do, however, think its terrible the news outlets are immediately jumping to headlines like "DEATH BY XBOX" and such. But then again, these are news outlets, so it's kind of what they do. Just wait until Fox News gets a hold of this story.

    I don't see how anyone here argued that this was not his fault. Of course, no one forced him to play games for 12 hours, I doubt anyone was claiming this. I guess we could adopt your viewpoint and simply say that the cause of your death is always you, since you're the one in control of your body. Except this is sort of obvious already. When we say someone died of overdose, no one is claiming that drugs killed a person in cold blood, as if they were some kind of living entity. Obviously, it was the person's choice to put their life in danger. I don't think that needs to even be mentioned. Same here.

    In the end though, he didn't die because of a book. People are way more likely to go on marathon gaming sessions than marathon reading sessions. And that is precisely why video games are being singled out. If a behavior (sitting for ridiculously long periods of time) is dangerous, and this behavior is encouraged by a certain activity, it makes sense to encourage people to restrain from engaging in that activity too much to help curb that behavior.

    Korlash on
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  • joshofalltradesjoshofalltrades Class Traitor Smoke-filled roomRegistered User regular
    This whole thing smacks of Everquest/World of Warcraft sensationalism all over again

    When somebody obsesses over watching TV and has a heart attack or jogs until their heart explodes or is addicted to heroin and ODs we might see a tiny little article somewhere (if that somebody was important or a celebrity), and we'll say to ourselves, "How sad, too much of anything is bad for you"

    But when it's video games we all have to have this conversation over and over about how video games are so much more interactive and hypnotizing and good god people just can't help but grind for a little more XP, those evil, evil game designers

    When in reality, people who will destroy themselves over something as silly as a video game have other, much deeper problems that would have manifested themselves in similarly destructive ways if video games were not around

  • KorlashKorlash Québécois TorontoRegistered User regular
    This whole thing smacks of Everquest/World of Warcraft sensationalism all over again

    When somebody obsesses over watching TV and has a heart attack or jogs until their heart explodes or is addicted to heroin and ODs we might see a tiny little article somewhere (if that somebody was important or a celebrity), and we'll say to ourselves, "How sad, too much of anything is bad for you"

    But when it's video games we all have to have this conversation over and over about how video games are so much more interactive and hypnotizing and good god people just can't help but grind for a little more XP, those evil, evil game designers

    When in reality, people who will destroy themselves over something as silly as a video game have other, much deeper problems that would have manifested themselves in similarly destructive ways if video games were not around

    How are you so sure of that?

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  • joshofalltradesjoshofalltrades Class Traitor Smoke-filled roomRegistered User regular
    Korlash wrote:
    Dourin wrote:
    Korlash wrote:
    As much as this vitriolic reaction is expected, it's still a bit sad. I think gamers are so used to being unfairly attacked that they now react aggressively to any attacks on video games, even when warranted.

    There is no doubt that frequently playing video games for 12 hours at a time is very bad. People in this thread are skeptical that this was the cause of death, but since none of you examined the body, none of you have any experience in medicine (most likely) and since this is not the first time someone dies like this, I'm going to go ahead and say I trust the assessments of experts that sitting for a prolonged period of time caused the death. Maybe the guy wasn't the healthiest, but it's not like overweight people just drop like stones for no reason...

    You could say "but sitting for 12 hours is bad regardless of what you're doing is bad!", but other than in a plane, in what other circumstances will one person be sitting in the exact same spot for 12 hours? Ever heard of someone knitting for 12 hours and dying of a blood clot? Come on. The addictive quality of video games makes this kind of death possible.

    So yes, I know we're conditioned to rage whenever someone criticizes video games, but for once, we should take this criticism in stride. Maybe if the kid's parents had known that it was possible to die in this manner, they would have acted to prevent this. Getting the word across may save future lives. It's not like people are really demonizing games, or asking for them to be banned. They're just asking people to be wary that this sort of thing can happen. This is totally a noble cause and we really have no reason to be up in arms about this.

    i should also mention that playing video games for extended periods of time, even if you're not quite playing 12 hours at a time, is still unhealthy. So again, it is not so bad to get the message out that kids need to get up and exercise from time to time.

    When I was in middle school and high school, there were many time I would spend a solid 8 hours reading a book. Just sitting there, not moving, reading a book. So no, video games are not the only risky activity aside from flying that could cause this.

    Look, video games were not the cause. His health was not the cause. His parents are not at fault. His ONE decision to sit there and marathon for 12 hours without taking breaks was the most likely cause for this. Sure, as others have pointed out, there are other risk factors that maybe could increase this risk of this occurring, but honestly, the biggest risk factor was this single act of prolonged sitting. So you guys can argue back and forth as to whether or not it was the fault of the video games, or that his parents neglected him and killed their son, but when it comes down to it, it was really nobody's fault but his own.

    That said, I don't think it's terrible of them to want to spread the word that sitting for extended periods of time is a health risk. I do, however, think its terrible the news outlets are immediately jumping to headlines like "DEATH BY XBOX" and such. But then again, these are news outlets, so it's kind of what they do. Just wait until Fox News gets a hold of this story.

    I don't see how anyone here argued that this was not his fault. Of course, no one forced him to play games for 12 hours, I doubt anyone was claiming this. I guess we could adopt your viewpoint and simply say that the cause of your death is always you, since you're the one in control of your body. Except this is sort of obvious already. When we say someone died of overdose, no one is claiming that drugs killed a person in cold blood, as if they were some kind of living entity. Obviously, it was the person's choice to put their life in danger. I don't think that needs to even be mentioned. Same here.

    In the end though, he didn't die because of a book. People are way more likely to go on marathon gaming sessions than marathon reading sessions. And that is precisely why video games are being singled out. If a behavior (sitting for ridiculously long periods of time) is dangerous, and this behavior is encouraged by a certain activity, it makes sense to encourage people to restrain from engaging in that activity too much to help curb that behavior.

    Hey man, I used to work at a collections agency where I sat attached to a headset attached to a computer for 12-16 hours sometimes

    Tons and tons and tons of people watch more than 12 hours of TV a day, especially if they are unemployed, look at how many obese people there are who just sit there and eat potato chips

    Truck drivers can work for up to 14 hours before they are required to go on break for 10 hours, guess how many of them fudge the rules to make a little better time? Guess how many of them do stop at 14 hours but they have been sitting in their truck for 14 hours at a time anyway

    Congressmen sometimes sit for that long for their jobs too!

    Where is the outrage against collections, or television, or truck driving, or congress, or fucking data entry jobs

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