These video game addiction death related news may sound too extreme and unreal. It may even be so far-fetched to you that you are confident enough to say you’re not that nuts to throw away your life just like that. But when you are at that point, that peak where everything else seems hopeless in your eyes, sometimes, giving up your life, even at the expense of other people’s lives, is the best way to end the pain.
Would you still be entertained when you are the one feeling the hopelessness of your life caused by your video game addiction? Would you still think these death news related to game addiction funny when you are the one at the mercy of your distorted thoughts and emotions?
Video games back then had probably just resulted to bad school grades or rusty social skills. Who would have ever thought that video game addiction would reach this far?
Suicide and Violence because of Video Game Addiction
December 2004, Zhang Xiaoyi left a suicide note saying that he would be joining the heroes of the game he worshiped. The 13-year-old jumped off a building from 24th floor after playing WoW for 36 hours straight. He was apparently searching for his heroes: Lungdian, the Angel of Revenge and the Sentinel.
In May 2010, a French gamer named Julien Barreaux didn’t like losing so he tracked the poor fellow who killed his Counter Strike character who won during a virtual knife fight. The unlucky “winner” was stabbed with a real knife repeatedly in his own home, after being tracked down by Julien Barreaux. Talk about taking the game seriously.
Shawn Wooley, shot himself to death, with his computer screen blinking on EverQuest. He quit his job so he could dedicate his time playing the game for 12 hours a day. He was said to have been crushed when his online character’s money was stolen. Shawn Wooley, being diagnosed with epilepsy, just made his prolonged depression worse, which ultimately led to his demise.
April 9, 2011 – the 24-year old Tristan van der Vlis, went on killing spree in a shopping mall, killing 5 and wounding 17 innocent people. There were speculations that he could have been inspired to do such a horrific act from the video game Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, where a player can choose to do the “No Russian Mission” and kill a group of innocent people in an airport terminal. While the video game itself cannot be blamed, you can’t help but think that Tristan van der Vlis could have tattooed that “No Russian Mission” act on his mind which led him to do such thing, before finally killing himself.
Killed because of Video Game Addiction
A Beijing woman last August 5 2005 shot her fiancé because he was jobless brought by his video game addiction. She said she was fed up with his online playing and wouldn’t start looking for job for preparation of their lives together.
A man killed his 17-month-old-daughter because the child knocked over his Xbox, breaking it along the process. Because of anger, he struck the child’s head several times which led her daughter to death.
Oct 2010, 22-year old Alexandra Tobias shook her 3-month old baby to death, because he wouldn’t stop crying. The baby suffered head injuries as well as broken leg – all because he wouldn’t stop crying and he was interrupting her mother with her Farmville session. She got 50-years of uninterrupted life in prison instead
A 3-month old South Korean girl was starved to death when her parents repeatedly went to local Internet shop to feed and raise a virtual child (Prius Online) while leaving their premature real daughter for 12 hours straight without food and love. The baby died of prolonged malnutrition. Talk about irony. They got 2 years in prison for negligent homicide.
One infamous incident that a lot of people may have known was when Daniel Petric killed his mother with a 9mm pistol. His parents locked the “Halo 3” in a safe deposit box where a gun was also kept. Daniel Petric then unlocked the safe and got hold of the gun. He then went inside his parents’ room and shot them both while telling his parents to close their eyes because he had a surprise for them. His mother died instantly while his father survived with critical injuries. He’s sentenced for 23 years in prison. Was it worth it?
Failed Marriages, Relationships Gone Haywire because of Video Game Addiction
In a thread in SteadyHealth.com, there were a lot of women who split with their husbands because of their video game addiction. Some tried futilely to join their husbands with their video game addiction to steer them away but failed to. Bottom line is, the “heads of the family” have forgotten their responsibilities because of their video game addiction.
May 21, 2011 – A study conducted by Divorce Online suggests that 15% of the divorce proceedings are caused by video game addiction. It seems that more and more reports of failed relationships and marriages are surfacing because more and more people are finding themselves to be “winning” in their video games.
Health Issues due to Video Game Addiction
A lot of gamers do gaming marathon. In the case of 17 year old Zach Richardson, 15 hours a day of playing alarmed his doctor. Zach’s health was declining because he was unsanitary and skipped his meals. The only time he stopped was when he was already blacked out.
In 2005, a man addicted to Starcraft named Lee got sacked at work and died of heart attack in a bathroom after reportedly playing for 50 hours straight.
Video game addiction is so extreme and so rampant that anyone can go deep with their obsession that everything else ceased to matter but his video game. It is no laughing matter and these all happened. Video game addiction, just like any addiction is deathly if left untended.
It is very unfortunate that some people need to reach rock-bottom to feel motivated to change. It is unfortunate that some needed something bad to happen to their lives to realize that they need to drop their video game addiction. But no matter how deep they’ve swum, they still can be called fortunate – because they’ve learned to swim back to the buoy and be saved.
Unlike those people who had accidentally found themselves in such fate because of the video game addicts who chose to imprison themselves of such fate.
Resources:
Top 10 Deaths Caused by VG Addiction
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reading this was fun
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