I love video games. I have been known to spend an entire day from the time I wake up till the time I go to bed doing nothing but playing my games. I’ve been described by various people at different times as “addicted” to them. But I don’t come anywhere close to being like the guy in Korea who just died after a marathon Starcraft session of 49 hours.
Lee, a resident in the southern city of Taegu who was identified only by his last name, collapsed Friday after having eaten minimally and not sleeping, refusing to leave his keyboard while he played the battle simulation game Starcraft.
Lee was quickly moved to a hospital but died after a few hours, due to what doctors are presuming was a heart attack, police said.
The absolute longest I ever stayed awake because of a game was 36 hours and that was for a MUD—the precursor to the modern day MMORPGS—called Tsunami so I could be the first to finish the final quest they’d just put in the game. I was competing against my buddy Bob who was also trying to solve it. Even though I was awake a lot longer than I had ever intended to be, I still took the time to eat decent meals while doing so. Still, even at the time I did it I realized it was a pretty silly thing to do. I blame it on being young as I was only 17 or 18 at the time. This dude in Korea was 28.
What’s really amazing to me is the fact that video games are so huge in Korea. They have professional gamers who earn big money playing games and whole television stations dedicated to broadcasting matches. I could’ve been a superstar had I been willing to move to Korea.
Thanks to Dar and several other folks for passing along the link to this story.
Maybe not. After all, you took time to eat - slacker!