Killing in the Game Of…

Kicking the bucket in front of your console is only slightly less humiliating than auto-asphyxiating yourself in the closet.

Maxim Online, September 2005

Scott Jones

Peter Burkowski walked into Friar Tuck's Game Room in Calumet City, IL, at 8:30 P.M. on April 3rd, 1982. Fifteen minutes later, he was out of "continues"—the man was killed by a video game. Just before his death, Burkowski had popped a few quarters into an arcade game called Berzerk. The coroner officially listed the death as a heart attack—a heart attack induced by a physiological reaction (the high blood pressure, the adrenaline surge, the stiff nipples) from playing Berzerk. Burkowski is considered to be the first official video game–related death in history, but he certainly won't be the last. So put off your deal with the Reaper for a few more minutes by putting down the controller and discovering how your obsession with high scores might kill more than just your social life.

#
A 28-year-old Korean gamer known only as "Lee" died after playing Starcraft for 49 hours straight in an Internet café in Daegu in August 2005. Cause of death: heart failure. Not surprisingly, Lee had recently lost his job after constantly skipping work to play video games.

#
Shawn Woolley, a 21-year-old Wisconsin man, shot himself on Thanksgiving morning 2001 while playing EverQuest. Woolley, who was overweight, lived alone, and worked in a pizza restaurant, was in the habit of logging 12 hours a day in the game. Red Flag #1: When an EverQuest "friend" of his betrayed his trust and stole all of his in-game money, Woolley broke down and cried about it for weeks afterwards. Red Flag #2: Woolley was overweight, lived alone, and worked in a pizza restaurant.

#
On October 22, 2002, Lien Wen-cheng died of an apparent game overdose in central Taiwan. Lien started what would be his final online gaming session at 10:30 P.M. on Thursday night, only to be found 32 hours later by an Internet café member on the floor of the café's toilet, foaming at the mouth and bleeding from the nose like a '70s rock star in his prime.

#
A 24-year-old South Korean man, listed in the papers only as "Kim," died in an Internet café in Kwangju after playing for a whopping 86 hours straight. "The only breaks he had where when he briefly stopped to buy cigarettes and use the toilet," said Detective Hong Gun-hee. Sounds like one of our Everybody Loves Raymond DVD marathons.

#
On June 8, 2005, Qui Chengwei, 41, stabbed Zhu Caoyuan after he learned that Zhu had sold a rare "dragon sabre" that had belonged to Qui in the game Legend of Mir 3. Qui had won the sword in the game in February and then lent it to Zhu, who then sold the virtual sword for 7,200 yuan (about $870). Qui went to the police to report the theft, but was told that the sword was not real property, so it wasn't protected by law. Frustrated, Qui went to Zhu's house and stabbed him in the chest. As if this guy already didn't have a life, Qui was handed a lifetime prison sentence.

#
In 2003, a 28-year-old man was found slumped at his computer on early Saturday morning in a game center in Hong Kong's Yuen Long district after he'd apparently played Diablo II since Friday evening. Police found his body around 1 A.M., approximately five hours after he'd started playing the game. Eight months earlier, a 17-year-old was found dead in the same district, also after having run with Diablo II.


In other words.. whoa...