Couple's online gaming causes infant's death

K

Karma Police

Regular
Gamespot said:
In a story out of Korea which is just now surfacing in the Western press, a couple in Incheon, South Korea, were arrested last week when their four-month-old daughter died after being left alone by the couple for hours. The mother and father reportedly had gone to a nearby Internet cafe, lost themselves in playing Blizzard's massively multiplayer online PC game World of Warcraft, and returned to their home only to find the infant dead from suffocation. "We booked the pair on criminal charges, judging that when you consider the situation, they were responsible for their daughter's death," a policeman told the Chosun Ilbo newspaper. The couple reportedly 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." The infant was the couple's only child.
Click to expand...

http://www.gamespot.com/news/2005/06/20/news_6127866.html

I'm a heavy gamer, but I'm also a Psych Major, and some people need to realize that anything that changes peoples behavior through a reward-based system can also affect peoples sense of reality.

I guess my main point is this: At what point do you not want your games to be too real (graphics, interactivity, blood/gore, ease of play)? Doesn't it eventually lead to us "plugged into the Matrix"?

BTW, WoW is a good game, but once I hit 60........eh. I'm moving on to something else.
 
And people ask me why I don't do online gaming and stick mainly to single-player stuff. :rolleyes:

It just takes too much attention for too long a time, single-player stuff has pause buttons....parents need that.
 
tragic story. I know ive gotten lost sometimes playing games (sometimes mmorpg). Thats why from time to time ill just quit a game for no reason other than to make sure i dont get too addicted to the game. Did it 3 or 4 times while i played eq2, and just an hour or so ago quit wow after playing it for 2 weeks.

epic
 
I read this on another forum actually... and one of the points raised was that they were gone for five hours or so... really, they could have been *asleep* for five hours, right?
 
digitalwanderer said:
And people ask me why I don't do online gaming and stick mainly to single-player stuff. :rolleyes:

It just takes too much attention for too long a time, single-player stuff has pause buttons....parents need that.
Click to expand...

Ditto! My bro wants me to buy that new fantasy online game, the one where you don't have to pay monthly, dang I can't remember it's name. It looks way cool, but I really would rather just stick with something I can just play for a little while then stop, like PC Halo.

i.e. run around a bit, then go have lunch.

But, seriously, guys. Tell me: what line do you draw on the increasing detail and realism of games?
 
digitalwanderer said:
And people ask me why I don't do online gaming and stick mainly to single-player stuff. :rolleyes:

It just takes too much attention for too long a time, single-player stuff has pause buttons....parents need that.
Click to expand...
lol, it could be because you cant steal from mmorpgs. ;)

















j/k :devilish: or not. you decide.
 
The child died from suffocation frankly if the parents had napped for 15 minutes in bed it would be the same situation. Linking the death of the child and going away to game for 2 hours isn't fair or correct.
 
bloodbob said:
The child died from suffocation frankly if the parents had napped for 15 minutes in bed it would be the same situation. Linking the death of the child and going away to game for 2 hours isn't fair or correct.
Click to expand...

You're missing the whole point of being a parent, bloodbob. If my son hit his knee, I'd be right there next to him within 30 seconds. If there was too much silence (yes, being too quiet sends up my Spidey-sense) I'd also start to wonder what's going on.
 
Parents 's fault was to go out without someone at home to take care of the baby same time. The fact they were out to play a game is just to make a sensationalist paper. Babies dead from suffocation is not very rare and can happen even with parent at home. Just go for a 5 mn shower and it is enough
 
PatrickL said:
Parents 's fault was to go out without someone at home to take care of the baby same time. The fact they were out to play a game is just to make a sensationalist paper. Babies dead from suffocation is not very rare and can happen even with parent at home. Just go for a 5 mn shower and it is enough
Click to expand...
Just recently i was watching local news and they were talking about a new crib that had a heart/sound sensor and would sound an alarm if there was weight in the crib but no movement. I hope the tech gets cheap enough so all cribs eventually carry it.

epic
 
Karma Police said:
You're missing the whole point of being a parent, bloodbob. If my son hit his knee, I'd be right there next to him within 30 seconds. If there was too much silence (yes, being too quiet sends up my Spidey-sense) I'd also start to wonder what's going on.
Click to expand...
So I guess all the parents that have had their child die of SIDS are negligent?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

N
How do you feel about next-gen gaming? *remodelled
2
Replies
32
Views
8K
AlNom
A
Unknown Soldier
Multiple attacks kill atleast 80 in Mumbai
2 3
Replies
46
Views
6K
slider
S
R
id Software releases Open-Source Wolf3D iPhone port
Replies
13
Views
6K
Ailuros
Ailuros
N
Editorial: Nintendo Wii, Harbinger For The Death Of Gaming
6 7 8
Replies
157
Views
17K
Arwin
Arwin
K
Problems with a lecturer
Replies
5
Views
2K
kimg
K
Back
Top