Browse > Home / Cyber Culture, Cyber News, Parenting, Teen Issues / WoW Rears its Ugly Head

WoW Rears its Ugly Head

November 23rd, 2008 Posted in Cyber Culture, Cyber News, Parenting, Teen Issues

Now this is sad. Really, really sad.

A boy in Sweden recently collapsed and went into convulsions after playing a new version of the World of Warcraft computer game for 24 hours straight.

The 15-year-old boy and his buddies allegedly played all day and all night, maybe getting only a few hours sleep.

The end result?

The 15-year-old’s bodily systems shut down, sending him into epileptic shock.

Doctors say the combination of sleep deprivation, lack of food, and the prolonged period of concentrating on the game is what did him in.

While the boy is expected to make a full recovery, doctors are warning parents about WoW’s addictive nature.

One doctor says some of his young patients spend as much as 14 to 16 hours a day playing the game. Patients have also reported feeling “downgraded” when they switched off the game after  having advanced so far.

I knew this game was addictive. But this is insane.

Perhaps these kids are a little socially inept and are using the game to find comradere online. Or perhaps they like its competitive nature.

Maybe they should take up Nintendo Wii gaming instead. At least they’d be getting a little exercise.

24 hours straight. Think of all the calories you’d burn.

More from around the sphere:

Share and Enjoy: These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages.
  • bodytext
  • Sphinn
  • del.icio.us
  • Facebook
  • Mixx
  • Google
  • TwitThis

Leave a Reply