Stories relating to gaming addictions.

I'm doing this for a presentation on Tuesday and only a few come to mind, which I can't really find via Google. This makes for interesting topic-discussing as well.

Does anyone know of any stories that come to mind when you think about gaming addiction? There's that one article where a woman strangled her 3 month old son for interrupting her Facebook session. And then I recall another where a woman kills her spouse's in-game character for divorcing with her in-game and was arrested for it. Don't forget the article where a man dies in his chair after spending something like two days straight playing Starcraft.

Of course, I'm not just looking for deaths/murders. They could be anything. Such as the man who made over $5000 on EVE Online by selling the in-game currency that was stolen from the game's central bank. I sadly don't know any more stories past that, so maybe you guys know more?

I believe this may be relevant. Certainly relevant to my parents, they cite it every single time they see me playing video games for more than three hours.

There's a lot of stories from 5 or 6 years ago, when internet cafes were stupidly popular here in South America and Southeast Asia. Guys that spent from 1 to 5 days inside them.

Then you have Japanese internet cafes, with bathrooms, beds, etc.

There's a lot of stories from 5 or 6 years ago, when internet cafes were stupidly popular here in South America and Southeast Asia. Guys that spent from 1 to 5 days inside them.

Then you have Japanese internet cafes, with bathrooms, beds, etc.

Whoa. That's... new to me. o_o

Some dude put a mortgage on his house to buy a virtual asteroid for 100,000 dollars. The story obviously has a happy ending as spoiled by the article and its title though.

Whoa. That's... new to me. o_o

I think the reasoning behind the beds/showers is so that the people gaming there actually get some god damn SLEEP and don't end up killing themselves from exhaustion. Though I'm sure they still end up in those situations anyway. Either that, or just another means of making money.

No real surprise, lol.

I think the reasoning behind the beds/showers is so that the people gaming there actually get some god damn SLEEP and don't end up killing themselves from exhaustion. Though I'm sure they still end up in those situations anyway. Either that, or just another means of making money.

People live in internet cafes sometimes. Proof: http://www.kirainet.com/viviendo-en-cibercafes/ (article in spanish tho)

Some dude put a mortgage on his house to buy a virtual asteroid for 100,000 dollars. The story obviously has a happy ending as spoiled by the article and its title though.

Your article peaked my interest, so I did a little Googling.

MindArk is selling planets, and in 2009, that game had an equivalent GPD of 422 million USD. That puts it at 20th in the world, between Norway and Sweden.

To even get started in that game, you have to spend money. Money does not fly out of corpses like it does in Maplestory.

Holy pineapple. Talk about game addiction.