Have you heard the latest news? Just last week, another South Korean man collapsed and died following a marathon gaming session in which he rarely, if ever, left his PC. This is at least the third publicized death of its kind in the past several months. So what is causing otherwise healthy gamers who play for long periods of time to perish with little warning?

The National Institute of Scientific Investigation believes that the primary cause of death amongst video gamers pulmonary thrombo-embolism. The Institute has just published a new report on the phenomenon, in states that avid gamers may be at high risk for health issues due to the nature of their preferred activity.

Dr. Song Hyeong-gon of the Samsung Seoul hospital explains that people who forgo sleep for long periods of time frequently have no concept of how exhausted or stressed they are. He notes that because they are “obsessed with winning the game, they consume a considerable amount of energy. In such a physically exhausted condition, exposure to bright colors or stimulating images on the screen is likely to irritate the cerebral cortex and can cause sudden death”. Gamers who spend long periods of time without moving from their PC are also at risk of deep vein thrombosis. Yikes!

The doctor also believes that Korean gamers, whom have been the sole victim of reported gaming deaths thus far, are at a much higher risk than many gamers of other cultures. Why? Because most Korean gamers don’t have high speed internet access at home and are forced play in Internet cafés. These cafés, which are frequently often dark, badly ventilated, and full of stale cigarette smoke, only further contribute to the ill health of the gamers.

The situation is further perpetuated with the emergence of massively multiplayer online games that pit gamers around the world against each other for domination. Gamers playing networked games such as MMOs are competing with millions of players all around the world. This is a marked difference from the previous single player games from the 1980’s and 1990’s. Dr. Song notes that this contributes to video gamers’ stress levels because “you may be one of the top ranking players one moment but drop way down the next second. Because of the massive competition, people can’t stop playing”.

The report urges parents to monitor how much time their children spend playing games, noting that young children and teenagers are more vulnerable and are less likely to self-regulate their playing time. Adults, too, should pay close attention to how much of their time is spent in gaming. All of the victims of the reported gaming deaths been adults - adult males to be specific. So while we all love a little competition, clearly there is good reason to take a break from gaming every now and then. Now only will it improve your real life social skills, it may save your life.

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