sick video game addiction

[googlefest1]

hard to belive these people actialy did this - WTF were they thinking!!!!

by the way - i hope this wasn't mentioned before


Infant Daughter Dies as Parents Play Online Game

A thoughtless couple in their 20s who left their four-month old daughter at home while they played Internet computer games at a nearby PC café have been booked by police after the child died.

According to Incheon Police Station on Tuesday, a 29-year-old man husband identified by his family name of Yu and his wife put their four-month daughter in the bedroom of their home and went to a neighborhood PC café at around 4:00 p.m. on May 24 to play the online game "World of Warcraft.

Time flew by as the couple lost themselves in the game, and when they returned home at 9:00 p.m., their daughter was lying on her stomach, dead of suffication.

The couple told police, "We were thinking of playing for just an hour or two and returning home like usual, but the game took longer that day."

Police said an investigation turned up that the couple, who wed last year, used to play "World of Warcraft" whenever they had time.


Police said, "It's unfortunate, because the tragedy could have been averted if the couple had just left their daughter with Yu's mother-in-law, who lived upstairs from them... We booked the pair on criminal charges, judging that when you consider the situation, they were responsible for their daughter's death."

Major U.S. online game producer Blizzard, which grew famous with the game "Starcraft", produced the game to which Yu and his wife were addicted, "World of Warcraft." The game allows multiple players to form teams to fight battles and enjoy various adventures.

(Lee Yong-su, hejsue@chosun.com )

[Nez]

Wow I've lost rrack of time playing games before but come on. 5 freaking hours is too much time to lose with out realising it.

[supaevil]

Sad story but 5 hours is not a lot I wouldnt leave my kid at home at any means. Whos to say if the parents went to bed the kid would not do the same thing you couldnt hear him there would be no way to know unless someone was taking turns watching while the other was asleep. Tragic accident but its not like it starved or died of neglect.

[Haoie]

Hmm, a friend of mine like WoW too. He's a bit of a nutbar, but I guess you'd expect that from MMO folks.

Incidentally, I find this story a little hard to believe. Unless the room was tiny and completely sealed off [no open doors, windows, or vents of any kind], it doesn't seem likely that a kid of that age can consume all the air in just a few hours.

In any case, they should've taken her with them. It's just responsible parenting.

[supaevil]

It said the kid was lying on its stomach therefore face down in the bedding thats how it suffocated. Haoi

[Gamereviewgod]

That report doesn't seem very professionally written. Do you have a source?

[drummy]

That report doesn't seem very professionally written. Do you have a source?
It was written by Koreans. I'm able to tell because it's from a company called Chosun, a popular Korean news company. And yes, I am Korean...

[evildead2099]

That report doesn't seem very professionally written.

I was thinking that very same thought as I read that excerpt. Than again, what's professionalism in this day and age considering the popularity of Fox News?

[PDorr3]

while we are on the subject, anyone know any places or cafe's that all have wifi connections? I would like to try it out with my psp.

[Gamereviewgod]

It was written by Koreans. I'm able to tell because it's from a company called Chosun, a popular Korean news company. And yes, I am Korean...

Probably the translation then. Thanks Drummy.

[googlefest1]

this is where i found the article- looking for gaming news

http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200506/200506140037.html

and yes it is Korean

[Milk]

That doesn't sound like "sick video game addiction" so much as "irresponsible idiots who are too lazy to get someone to look after their baby".

[josekortez]

That's why I'm not having kids. Don't want to watch them, and don't want to take care of them...

[Promophile]

That report doesn't seem very professionally written. Do you have a source?
It was written by Koreans. I'm able to tell because it's from a company called Chosun, a popular Korean news company. And yes, I am Korean...

Yeah it doesn't suprise me that it was a Korean couple. I know how big Blizzard is in Korea. If you think WoW is big in the US you have NO IDEA how much they love online games in Korea.

[Sothy]

One time I was seperated from my unit and wandered across a field of sleeping koreans. I bayoneted every last one of them in their throat as they lay asleep in their bedrolls.

The next day I found out the war had been over for 50 years.........

[Ed Oscuro]

That report doesn't seem very professionally written. Do you have a source?
This sort of thing is usually a shoo-in for the righteous to harp on how bad people are :roll:

Five hours is quite a while to be away from your kid, though.

[Sylentwulf]

Bad parents, yes. But chances are the kid would have died even if they had stayed home that night. Kid rolls over onto her stomach, and suffocates, it's not likely to make a lot of noise or draw attention to the act.
And 5 hours CAN easily fly by in a mmorpg.

[Ed Oscuro]

But chances are the kid would have died even if they had stayed home that night. Kid rolls over onto her stomach, and suffocates, it's not likely to make a lot of noise or draw attention to the act.
Yeah, as supaevil said. I'm afraid this story might be part of a Taiwanese version of our own "bad, evil gaming" scapegoating, or that they will get harshly penalized for something they couldn't really control :/

[jajaja]

Who leaves their 4 month year old baby alone even for 1 hour? Must be terrible for the parents to come home and find they child dead :(

[DynastyLawyer]

Yeah, I gotta go both ways on this one. On one hand, leaving your infant alone to go play WoW was a dumb move. Likewise was letting time slip while you were doing that. That said, throwing the fact that they were playing videogames while doing it seems kinda sensational, like they're going for a "Video Games Eat Babies" headline. Online gaming in Korea is done in internet cafes, so I hear. You don't just have a broadband internet connection per home, like you commonly see in the US, and you have to trek to a cafe if you want to get your gaming fix in.

I'm not trying to deny that the parents were negligent as hell, but I have to wonder if the press would have taken the same route had the baby died to a hobby that didn't bear a social stigma. Like: "Golfing Dad causes baby to suffocate." Would we have the same press release?

[whoisKeel]

Agreed 5 minutes in the shower or 5 hours playing a game, same thing could've happened. But you still don't leave a 4-month year old alone...at all..if humanly possible.

[Ed Oscuro]

Who leaves their 4 month year old baby alone even for 1 hour? Must be terrible for the parents to come home and find they child dead :(
And then be prosecuted for it...

[poopnes]

Who leaves their 4 month year old baby alone even for 1 hour? Must be terrible for the parents to come home and find they child dead :(
And then be prosecuted for it...

As the father of a 10 1/2 month old I just feel the need to comment. First of all, that baby should not have been left alone for any reason at all. Period. Would it have been so hard to put the baby in a pumpkin seat and take him with them? Couldn't they take turns? I don't remember if my baby girl could roll over at 4 or 5 months (time flies), but that baby shouldn't have been left on its stomach (if it was). The simple fact is that this was negligence. And they should be prosecuted, loss and all.

[GrandAmChandler]

The Culprit?

"Leeeeeerooooyyyy Jennnnkkkkinnnnnssss"

[Poofta!]

Sad story but 5 hours is not a lot I wouldnt leave my kid at home at any means. Whos to say if the parents went to bed the kid would not do the same thing you couldnt hear him there would be no way to know unless someone was taking turns watching while the other was asleep. Tragic accident but its not like it starved or died of neglect.


i agree completely. i mean sure they shouldve been home, but it seems it wouldve happened regardless unless someone was LOOKING at the baby 24/7. since the baby suffocated, there would be no crying so even if they were sleeping, or in a different room they would have no way of knowing.

[Zadoc]

That report doesn't seem very professionally written.

I was thinking that very same thought as I read that excerpt. Than again, what's professionalism in this day and age considering the popularity of Fox News?

Zing!!

[slip81]

I think the parents are deserving of any sentence given to them. I don't care if you've gone out to play WoW or serve soup to homeless people, you just don't leave an infant at home unsupervised for that long.

Now sure the child could have died while the couple was at home sleeping, but at least in that case it wouldn't be an issue of negligence, but even that's unlikely because infants usually don't go that long without making somekind of noise. How many parents in here have slept more than 5 straight hours at night with a newborn in the house?

[Moon Patrol]

Heh.... I know people like that.... They sit around and play that damn game all the time and do nothing with their lives, thank god I HOPE they don't have children. Anyone stupid enough to leave an infant home alone should be prosecuted. Now I REALLY think the people in this case deserve a very harsh punishment. There is no excuse for that amount of neglect over a fucking MMORPG. Who cares if you can make it to level 50? What do you have if you ignore your family and your children day by day?

[poopnes]

How many parents in here have slept more than 5 straight hours at night with a newborn in the house?

Me!!!! We were lucky our baby slept through the night since she was 2 weeks old. =)