The BBC reported that in 2009, a South Korean couple returned home from a local internet cafe to find their infant daughter dead in her crib. The couple called the police and lied about their previous whereabouts, stating that they had found their daughter after waking up in the morning. The case was placed under investigation and a later autopsy determined that the infant had starved to death after suffering from long term malnutrition. Further investigation found that this couple had constantly left their daughter home alone, only to return once a day to give the child a single bottle of milk. The couple was arrested in March of 2010.
Authorities later found that the couple spent both day and night at a local internet café, raising a virtual daughter instead of their own. In essence, this couple was constantly connected to their video game. They had become so immersed in this game that they ignored anything unrelated to it. This couple was playing a massive multiplayer online role playing game, or MMORPG. An MMORPG is a genre of computer role-playing games in which a very large number of players interact with one another within a virtual game world. This genre includes games such as World of Warcraft, Final Fantasy and Prius Online. Such games allow players to customize their character’s appearance, actions and behaviors. These players are then immersed into a unique virtual world and are allowed to grow as a character and form relationships with other players. To many, these games offer an opportunity to reinvent oneself in a virtual world and can become very addicting.
One might ask how a video game can become addicting enough to inadvertently kill one’s own child? Police officer Chung Jin-won told reporters that the Korean couple "lost their will to live a normal life" after losing their jobs. Prius Online gave them the opportunity to escape to a new world, one which they could easily control and live happily; however, the couple became lost in the game and forgot about their daughter and their lives at home.
The incident in South Korea certainly demonstrates the destructive nature of video games and their addictiveness. I, however, am one of the 15 million people who play these games each year and I, like most individuals, am able to lead a normal, healthy life. I believe that MMORPGs, like any activity, have various positive qualities when taken in moderation. They provide many new opportunities to video gamers and offer new ways to form friendships over long distances. Such video games have also been found to relieve stress and foster prosocial behaviors. These positive qualities may cause the addicting nature of MMORPGs; however, it is rare that events like those in South Korea that should serve as a warning to the potential danger of being constantly connected.
7 comments:
This is really disheartening, but like you already stated, this couple was clearly unfit to raise a dog, much less a child. But on a separate note, aside from the friendships one might form and the fun to be had, are there other benefits to engaging in such activity?
I feel as if the addiction of video games is unreal until we hear stories like this. Edris, you worded it perfectly by saying this is disheartening. The way in which this couple was addicted to video gaming sounds as if they were addicted to a drug. The game transported them to another world so they forgot about reality. In general I think that addiction is what creates problems, not so much the game itself.
That is a very sad story, I have been paying attention to the growing discussion about video games' addictive nature for a little over a year. The worst story I had previously heard in relation to MMORPG's was about a married couple who lost their home when they both became so engrossed in the game that they stopped going to work, I believe World of Warcraft was the game in question. I formerly played World of Warcraft, and while it did take up quite a bit of my time, I do not feel that it ever negatively impacted my social life or my grades.
This story is so tragic. I agree with Kelsey that this is similar to a drug addiction.
I fail to understand how both parents could mistreat and ultimately murder their own child. I could try to understand how one parent could fall prey to an online addiction, but the fact that both parents participated is deeply disturbing. This couple is so out of touch with reality. The most disgusting part of this was that they not only attempted to cover up their actions, but that they treated their online child much better.
There have been other stories related to this one that I've read recently, most of them pertaining to video gamers dying while in play. The common theme with these articles is that the player would be so engrossed in the video game, that they would pay little or no attention to eating, drinking, sleeping, or even going to the bathroom. This would result in a death caused by exhaustion.
I have also experienced this problem, but obviously on a smaller scale. I’ve found that after playing video games all day with friends, I would often forget to eat, and I wouldn’t feel hungry until I stopped playing. I’m not sure what it is about our attention when playing a video game, but it’s weird to think that your body just doesn’t kick in and make you stop before you die in an effort for self-preservation.
I have been playing MMORPGs since I was 12 years old, and I would have to agree with what many people have written. It is indeed one of the most addicting things I have done, probably similar to drugs in some cases when I was at my worst. There were times where I could easily stop doing everything in order to play just a few more minutes, just like many people I know now use Facebook or YouTube for. The most prominent news I remember reading once was how a certain gamer had traveled to another continent to kill someone because of an online argument. But hey to their defense, they just place more value in these games than many of us would. I believe there is a pretty thick line of what is too much when you’re gaming, and as long as you don’t cross the line, everything is alright. I mean, don’t we all have something that we really enjoy in that others just don’t understand?
Unbelievable...
I've played Sims for maybe a week, an online game for perhaps 2 weeks, and World of Warcraft for a day or 2. I know the pull of these games. I don't know how they are so effective at being alluring. From my research, I would pose that it's because of the interactions they allow with others. But as for the games themselves? For me, they tend to be rather boring!
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