Another Chinese gamer dies News • News • PC • Eurogamer.net

News PC

Three-day binge to blame.

Another Chinese gamer has keeled over and died as a result of a three-day online gaming binge.

According to state news, the 30 year-old man fainted in a cybercafe in Guangzhou city on Saturday afternoon. Emergency services rushed to the scene but failed to revive him - pointing to exhaustion as a likely cause.

Neither the man, nor the game he was playing, have been named.

It follows numerous other cases of Chinese and Korean gamers dropping dead after marathon sessions in public cybercafes. Back in 2005 one man managed to clock up ten days-worth of game time before he finally collapsed.

The Chinese government has backed surveys and lead initiatives into online gaming in an effort to combat the rising figure of "Internet addictions".

Earlier this year it announced new plans that would severely restrict the amount of time children under the age of 18 spent playing online.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds. @Clert on Twitter.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

Comments (68) Latest comment 5 years ago

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JediMasterMalik #1 5 years ago

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What a headline!
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jiveguy #2 5 years ago

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"Back in 2005 one man managed to clock up ten days-worth of game time before he finally collapsed."

You make it sound like the guy who died in three days didn't try hard enough
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Darkedge #3 5 years ago

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what an idiot
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thepiedpiper #4 5 years ago

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wow, sad yet...impressive.
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Heitzu #5 5 years ago

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Not meaning to be funny but the fact it comes from a state controlled media source its hardly non-biased is it? The Chinese hate people using the internet as its harder for them to censor content than just removing certain books, etc.

Although if it is true the guy was pretty stupid forcing himself to stay awake.
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kincaide #6 5 years ago

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In 1998 no-one died.
In 1999 no-one died.
In the year 2000 no-one died.
In 2001 no-one died.
In 2002 no-one died.
In 2003 no-one died.
In 2004 no-one died.
In 2005 SOMEONE died.
In 2006 no-one died.

I could go on
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sharky_ob #7 5 years ago

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I just felt the world get lighter.
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Twincoil #8 5 years ago

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Died from gaming?

50 bloke points to that man!
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sharpfish #9 5 years ago

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China eh? so it was a pirate game for sure.
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Wayne #10 5 years ago

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That'll learn him!
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chicknstu #11 5 years ago

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kincaide - Genius!

Although in 1999, there was the incident with GTA....
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Darren #12 5 years ago

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Hurray, another complete idiot dies!

Sorry but I have absolutely no sympathy whatsoever for someone stupid, no, inane enough to play a game for over 50 hours until he dropped dead. I mean this guy must have been braindead to start with! LOL
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kingmob #13 5 years ago

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ACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKED!
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wizbob #14 5 years ago

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Infinite Jest
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ecureuil #15 5 years ago

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Why is it always Asians? Are there any reports of Westerners dying from playing too much?
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afghan_jones #16 5 years ago

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What game was it? Must have been a goodie.

Actually i bet it was something really shit and embarrassing.

Edited by afghan_jones at 18/09/07 @ 15:21
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AbyssUK #17 5 years ago

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maybe they just level'd up , perhaps we should all try ??
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souljacker2000 #18 5 years ago

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its gota b WOW sad bastard... im sorry i cant play games for more than 3 hours i get brain ache
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plok #19 5 years ago

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I remember I played Perfect Dark on the N64 for over two days. Not two days solid...total time over a month or so. That's why I'm still alive I guess.
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viper_h #20 5 years ago

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Maybe he was doing the Eurogamer Super Paper Mario review
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kiroquai #21 5 years ago

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This thread has reminded me to dust off my The Day Today DVD set and watch it tonight .
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Singularity #22 5 years ago

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Gaming kills 1 gamer(s) every year.
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Fitzmogwai #23 5 years ago

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NEWS! Yes, YOU!
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Lebowski #24 5 years ago

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Is this cool? Is it? I'm playing Halo3 - ten hours! twenty hours! thirty hours! - I don't care - forty hours! Fifty! Look at me - am I cool? My girlfriend's dumped me! Is this cool?
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Bertie Verified Senior Staff Writer, Eurogamer.net #25 5 years ago

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NEWS! Yes, YOU!

PETER! YOU'VE LOST THE NEWS!
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Fitzmogwai #26 5 years ago

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And now - The Bureau.
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Sebo #27 5 years ago

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Now that's what I call a Chinese carry-out
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haowan #28 5 years ago

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I've got people queuing up to work in this bureau de change!
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Lebowski #29 5 years ago

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"Right, right; that's why you'd never see Pavarotti on a horse."
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Lee #30 5 years ago

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"You're lying in a news grave. Do you know what's written on your headstone?"
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L42yB #31 5 years ago

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News
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Iora #32 5 years ago

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@Kincaide

"In 1998 no-one died.
In 1999 no-one died.
In the year 2000 no-one died.
In 2001 no-one died.
In 2002 no-one died.
In 2003 no-one died.
In 2004 no-one died.
In 2005 SOMEONE died.
In 2006 no-one died.

I could go on "

-------------------------------------
You could go on but not very far
In 2007 SOMEONE died.

The end
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spyda #33 5 years ago

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That keeper's got football pie all down his shirt!
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LiamK #34 5 years ago

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That's it. I'm closing the forums... for an hour.
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Tenaflyviper #35 5 years ago

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Hello Dad, are you dead?

Sorted!
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The_Inquisitor #36 5 years ago

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Paper cuts kill more people than games do.
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Paolo_ray #37 5 years ago

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Ban all games immediately. It's the only way we can stop these needless deaths.
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JackyB #38 5 years ago

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The inquisitor. Is that a fact?
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Sebo #39 5 years ago

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Only managed three days, bloody casual gamers giving us a bad name again.....
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miiiguel #40 5 years ago

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It must have been WoW, those Asian dudes are crazy for it.
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yupyup #41 5 years ago

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Achievement unlocked!

Edit: sl0\/\/

Edited by yupyup at 18/09/07 @ 16:41
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Artemis_Matsas #42 5 years ago

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Actually, gaming CAN be very hazardous. Imagine being forced to play Barbie Horse adventures for more than an hour...

Could break the hardest of men.
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Kami #43 5 years ago

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Or thirty minutes with Resident Evil Gun Survivor 2 Code: Veronica X, or 30 seconds on Superman 64...
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Weezer #44 5 years ago

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Another comedy genius comments thread!

I wonder what the thread would have been like if Colin McRae had died playing DiRT for three days straight. That would have been at a very confusing location on the tragedy-comedy continuum.
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MBar #45 5 years ago

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NickyD_o: Did he drop any good loot?

Bastard, I was gonna say that ...

So I'll go with:

Can I have his stuff?
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Sebo #46 5 years ago

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I'm surprised there hasn't been a story which is the parallel opposite to this.

I mean surely someone has died of boredom "not" playing games on Playstation 3 for six months.
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afghan_jones #47 5 years ago

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You would think such a hardcore gamer would know the cheat for Infinite Lives.
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miiiguel #48 5 years ago

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"That would have been at a very confusing location on the tragedy-comedy continuum."

What you'd expect ? A funeral party ?
Probably a few dozens died of hunger across the street, now that's sad.
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Krun #49 5 years ago

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You know china is has a massive industry in cheap transplant surgery.

They get many of there organs for transplant from Criminals who "donate" them. Maybe they are branching out and now targeting computer users too? They do say playing computer games has an anesthetic effect, maybe those who play long enough get harvested. Or maybe some cant sell enough Warcraft gold to buy food?

Edited by Krun at 18/09/07 @ 17:51
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jack_klugman #50 5 years ago

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iddqd
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Razorus #51 5 years ago

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FluffyTucker said: "Sorted! Unless he's a Muslim"

What's that supposed to mean hmmm?
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Twincoil #52 5 years ago

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"ACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKED!"

Comment of the Year. Fact.
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jaxon58 #53 5 years ago

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I'm sure he'll re-appear at the nearest graveyard and just run back to the instance.
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Kami #54 5 years ago

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Rez plz?
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Freek #55 5 years ago

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It's actually just the one guy in all cases. He's being spawn camped by 7he medi@, he's a bitt of jerk but we can't seem to ban the guy.
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The_Inquisitor #56 5 years ago

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"The inquisitor. Is that a fact?"

No JackyB, I just made it up. Sounds Plausible though don't it. : )
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Pulsar_t #57 5 years ago

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Cunts.
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Nithron #58 5 years ago

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@krun
Would anyone really want a gamer's organs, though?
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back2funk #59 5 years ago

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Actually @wired_protocol, I think we're going to laugh at you.
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Sebo #60 5 years ago

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@weirdprotocol

The guy CHOSE to play a game for three days and it killed him. It was his CHOICE.

This has nothing to do with governments. It won't become a problem over here or over there because 99.9 percent of people have more sense.
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miiiguel #61 5 years ago

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Sebo: not really, me thinks, it's statistical, you're/we're less, if we were cazilions/trillions like they are maybe more lunatics would spawn.
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huxathon #62 5 years ago

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well that's Darwinism at work right there folks. Minesweeper'll do that to ya.
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Sebo #63 5 years ago

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Two people have died worldwide playing games in like 20 years of a hobby enjoyed by millions across the globe.

It's definitely not that big an issue Miiguel, even in China.
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Batman2100 #64 5 years ago

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"ACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKED!"

Comment of the Year. Fact.

+1
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trooper6 #65 5 years ago

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I'm sorry...but I am very very skeptical of these claims coming out of China. No one's name is every mentioned and it come out of the government news outlet.

More importantly, we never have any reports of people dying in the West...and lastly.

In my life I have pulled multiple all nighters for various reasons. When I was in the Army there were times when no one in my unit slept for days...no one died. Currently I'm a grad student...and for our Masters qualifying exam we have to write 3 10 page research papers over 4 days...and most of us sit in front of the computer for four days straight and no one has died. For our PhD qualifying exams we have to write 3 15 page research paper over 7 days...very little sleep...no deaths.

Heck, I had a wild long weekend in Hamburg that involved no sleeping or eating and a lot of sex for 4 days...didn't die....though I was wrecked afterwards.

If staying up for 3+ days kills people, then a lot of people would be dead...instead we get these very mysterious and vague reports of dead people in China. Do these people actually exist? If they did, where's the autopsy? What were they doing in order to stay up for 3 days...were there illegal drugs involved? Might it have been an overdose of speed rather than WoW that was the actual culprit?

The story is fishy, and I would like a lot more information.

Edited by trooper6 at 20/09/07 @ 03:56
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Zuiyo #66 5 years ago

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Well, if you disrupt your body's natural rythm with caffeine and others, you may suffer a collapse. I've heard of people going into cardiac arrest after massive and sudden intake of coffee. Do you know anything about this? Any doctors in the room?
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Les #67 5 years ago

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"I've heard of people going into cardiac arrest after massive and sudden intake of coffee. Do you know anything about this? Any doctors in the room?"

Everything is toxic, the dose that's lethal just varies per chemical element. You could drink yourself a water poisoning. Though it�s probably one of the worst ways to commit suicide and hence not widely used�
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Fitzmogwai #68 5 years ago

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That's what "too much" means...
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