Swedish Teen Collapses After Lich King Binge

24 hours straight is nothing to those who raid competitively. We had people who didn't really sleep once from launch to saturday night, beside a 2 hour nap. Now no one can deny the dangers of lack of sleep/food combined with highly caffinated drinks. However, my guild as well as many others on mannoroth (vodka, macabre, predestined), have proven that WoW and games in general are not what cause things like this.

During the grind up from 70-80 and subsequently raiding Sunday and Monday, I probaly slept around 2 hours a night, the rest was either spent on wow, lectures, or doing papers. While it was not pleasent and at times I did not feel 100% up to par, simply using common sense and forcing myself to eat and drink and obstaining from energy drinks made it bearable.

What my entire dialogue is trying to say is that WoW is not the factor here. The kid used it as a means to this particular end, but wow did not "cause" it. The fact is that people who are addicted to certain practices/substances are usually addicted to others as well, I will only believe the whole wow addiction thing if it comes out that this kid was addicted to porn or whatever else a 15 year old can be addicted to.

But 24 hours straight? More could have been done to prevent what happened to him.

And the parents didn't stop this because?

And don't give me crap about "not understanding" or "not being aware" the article clearly demonstrates the parents were concerned.  Well you know what...

Kids do dumb things and its parent's who are responsible for stopping them.  Take the damn game away.  If your kid flips out to an unhealthy degree...well he probably needs counseling.  Kids fixate on things.  I knew a kid who wigged out when his parents wouldn't let him read his favorite book over and over cause he wasn't doing schoolwork.

If a kid has a compulsive disorder that's something to get help for.  But that's rare.

Be a parent...not a friend.

One of the main things I object to when they claim you aren't socializing. Does talking on the phone count as socializing? Or writing somone a letter? Then why does VoIP and chatting online NOT count as socializing.

When I played Q3, I made friends. Sure they were online, but guess what, they were real. The existed in meat space and when I traveled up north I got to visit them. But now it isn't considered socializing unless you head on down to the juke box parlor, or some such nonsense.

In the end, it comes down to discipline, either self discipline or parental discipline. No one is going to stop doing something they enjoy if they don't want to stop and no one else stops them. But the media will always come up with these stupid angles, and I'm just going to have to call this a "MMMF story" (McDonalds Made Me Fat").

You know what, "Put the mouse down and step away from the keyboard slowly." Just because you like the game and want to keep up with your friends, there isn't any reason for you to game that long. The difference between being hardcore and being a laughingstock is knowing when to quit. Let's relate this to ninja warrior. A couple of seasons ago, a guy running the course would do tricks and such on his way, he missed completing the course by a few seconds, no one remembers him now. Last competition, Levi, a competitor from America, had lots of back flips and such in his run. He finished with the best time. Everyone said that he had done really well.  Quit while you're ahead, don't take things to extremes and make yourself look bad. Know your limits, and know the price you will pay to go beyond them. If you thought that not sleeping and not eating would just leave you tired, then you were being stupid. The body eventually shuts down, with or without your say so. You gave your parents a shock by doing something stupid.

As for feeling "downgraded", most of us feel that. Anytime I stop reading a good book, watching an engaging movie, or playing a good game, I don't like my body. I don't feel like I move as quickly as they do on TV. Then there is the post-ending depression. When you finish watching a good movie or a good book or beating a game, you kinda have this depression that it is over. Usually this is when things aren't wrapped up well. Fable's ending was anticlimatic and rather boring. Left me feeling sad. Does that mean the game was evil? Well, it is evil, but not for that reason. They really need some bug work to be done on it.

The failure of the video game industry to clearly warn on the packaging of the addictive risk of game play is a liability noose that will hang it.  Jack Thompson

PS:  E. Zachary Knight, leave the sarcasm to people who know how to use it.  Thanks.  Is my Mary Kay order in yet?

Only 24 hrs and he wussed out? I remember week long lan parties back in high school where we played for 3 or 4 days before we slept then grabed 4 hrs and played the rest of the lan.

The saddest thing is he only made it 24 hours before collapsing. I've made it 36 hours and was fine.

If this was addiction, then their bodies would be conditioned to be able to handle this.  If you run for 24 hours straight with little food or sleep, the same thing will happen.  Hell, even watching TV will do the same thing.

If you drink too much, something like this happens too.  What is that qualified as, substance abuse.  Whose fault?  The persons.  What happens?  The person learns to be more careful, repeat the same stupid thing, or quit all together.  Can you get alcohol poisoning if you are not an alcoholic?  Hell yeah, many college students do it all of the time.

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Wow, epic fail. Better hope amen4u doesn't come in on this. *sighs*