Favorite game over
Published 08 June, 2009, 16:51
A 15-year-old Russian schoolboy has been taken to hospital after playing computer games for almost two days round-the-clock.
Artyom’s parents were invited to a wedding in the Siberian city of Omsk. As soon as he was home alone, the boy tracked down his father’s hidden computer cables and switched on the machine. He was carried away by the game, to the point where he lost the track of time completely, playing for 40 hours in a row.
When the boy’s parents returned home, their son was as white as a ghost. He had extremely low blood pressure and was on the verge of a dead faint.
“Artyom didn’t react to anything. He just sat staring at the computer. At first we though he was playing games with us. But when my son’s face started turning blue right in front of my eyes we called an ambulance. The doctors immediately realized that there was something wrong with him,” Artyom’s mother Alyona told Russian tabloid Life.ru.
Artyom got the computer as a long-awaited birthday present from his parents. He stayed up late spending nights in front of it and had almost given up school. Eventually, Artyom’s parents forbade him to play his favorite games until he improved his grades.
Doctors say Artyom’s recovery might take several weeks.
Non-stop playing has recently become a serious threat, mainly to youngsters in Asia.
In 2007, a Chinese gamer spent 3 days at a cybercafé and died when his game was over.
Just last week, another 30-year-old Chinese man fell into a coma after playing mahjong for 32 hours straight.
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