E-mail:
Password:
GameSpot Video Games, PC, Wii, PlayStation 2, GameCube, PSP, DS, GBA, PS2, PS3, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3

Couple's online gaming causes infant's death

Korean press picks up tale of tragedy when couple plays World of Warcraft to excess, infant perishes from neglect.
By Staff, GameSpot
Posted Jun 20, 2005 6:42 pm PT

In a story out of Korea, which is just now surfacing in the Western press, a couple in Incheon, South Korea, were arrested last week when their 4-month-old daughter died after being left alone by the couple for hours. The mother and father reportedly had gone to a nearby Internet cafe, lost themselves in playing Blizzard's massively multiplayer online PC game World of Warcraft, and returned to their home only to find the infant dead from suffocation. "We booked the pair on criminal charges, judging that when you consider the situation, they were responsible for their daughter's death," a policeman told the Chosun Ilbo newspaper. The couple reportedly told police, "We were thinking of playing for just an hour or two and returning home like usual, but the game took longer that day." The infant was the couple's only child.

Sign up now to post a comment on this story!

15 Comments

First to Last Latest
breakax4d

they were probably raiding, it happens.

Posted Apr 14, 2008 9:39 am PT
Login to rate this comment
/ (+0)
RebornInFlames

wow is all i can say

Posted May 26, 2007 11:50 pm PT
Login to rate this comment
/ (+0)
SolInvictus-HGG

Oh man.

Posted Mar 14, 2007 11:35 am PT
Login to rate this comment
/ (+0)
wise_ass_toad

actually they have. In china if you play for more tahn 4 hours straight your character startes to lose their powers. Example: peeps lose spells in WoW, but they return after 8 hours of not being online. kinda crazy doncha think?

Posted Jan 16, 2007 5:54 pm PT
Login to rate this comment
/ (+1)
Cloud737

That is very sad...Still, what is it that causes game addiction to koreans (and most Asians)? Daily stress?
It`s just sad that a game can make you forget about doing even the most important and primordial needs, like eating, drinking, sleeping or taking care of your child.

Posted Dec 29, 2006 5:58 am PT
Login to rate this comment
/ (+0)
hafaholo

very sad
Korea is too upsessed with gaming/!!!

Posted Oct 19, 2006 2:33 pm PT
Login to rate this comment
/ (+0)
SSJ_Xyex

markdzebissov: It's not that. Game addiction is a rampant issue in asian countries. Primarly the children but even adults. It's far more prevalent there than anywhere else.

Kurushio: The games aren't the issue. The gaming addiction isn't the disease, it's the symptom. And until they fix the cause of the symptom no ammount of game restrictions or regulations is going to help.

Posted Oct 11, 2006 9:25 pm PT
Login to rate this comment
/ (+0)
craigharley

hmmm so many good people who cant have kids yet those who can a baby and these 1s that can...................

Posted Oct 11, 2006 8:50 am PT
Login to rate this comment
/ (+0)
pathock3

what retards. they dont deserve to have a child

Posted Sep 30, 2006 1:39 pm PT
Login to rate this comment
/ (+0)
jakeboudville

pretty interesting

Posted Aug 29, 2006 8:37 pm PT
Login to rate this comment
/ (+0)
markdzebissov

I had no idea people could into a game so much like that. Maybe those parents just were ones that weren't motivated to do the best for their kid.

Posted Jun 25, 2006 10:20 pm PT
Login to rate this comment
/ (+0)
alpha_company

That is outrageous

Posted May 15, 2006 10:52 am PT
Login to rate this comment
/ (+1)
Kurushio

It's getting unbelieveable that people in Korea are playing games so long that it kills people and now even their own children. I remember an earlier report that a guy was playing another mmorpg (maybe WoW but cant remember) for over 50hrs straight and ended dying from malnutrition. I love games as much as the next person but the Korean government is probably going to have to step in and do something about this. Honestly a game is no reason for a newborn baby to die.

Posted Dec 22, 2005 9:10 am PT
Login to rate this comment
/ (+0)
advertisement

Latest Entertainment Headlines

Latest music headlines from
MP3.com News Breakers: Jay-Z & Oasis, Jacko, Weiland, Bee Gees, Remy Ma
Hova bites back, politely; Thriller gets preserved; singer heads to jail; musical on the way; rapper gets eight years.

News Features

Featured Stories

Spot On: Putting the "super" in superhero games

Action-packed comic adventures should fit gaming like a spandex jumpsuit, so why do so many of them turn downright villainous?
Posted May 9, 2008 5:04 pm PT

Newsmakers

Q&A: Breaking down the Chains of Olympus

POSTMORTEM: Two months after he helped bring God of War to the PSP, Ready at Dawn's Ru Weerasuriya looks back on the literally epic game's reception and development.
Posted May 9, 2008 5:32 pm PT