Man Dies After 3-day Gaming Binge

I read an article about people in the Far-East being paid to play World of Warcraft on behalf of Western gamers. The time involved in building up your game status means that players often spend days in front of their PC's in order to aquire high ranking positions. I hope this poor geezer was at least playing his own game !

Yeah, I've heard of manual laborers working in internet games "mining" gold, or whatever can be done to earn game currency, and then the game currency being sold on the gaming web sites for real money. Apparently the gamers are in such need of game currency infusions that they will pay enough to keep minimum wage third world workers gainfully employed.

It boggles the mind...

Yes, this has happened a few times now in China. World of Warcraft is big there right now... one of the largest selling games world wide with several (5-7) MILLION subscribers now... all paying $15 US a month to play. That's a helluva pile of cash.

Sprouting from this games popularity are the people looking to capitalize on this games success. Probably the largest of these new 'business's' is the Gold Farming. China has historicly, throughout video gaming history, always had a hand in these markets in various games.

There is indeed some truth to the stories of people getting paid to play these games. Many of the Gold Farmers are indeed located in China, and I'm sure they pay people to play the game and farm items and currency. This currency is then sold online for real life money... around $120US for 1000 gold. Depending on the skill, and determination of the player they can easily make this much in game currency in a day... and they are likely being paid peanuts in return.

Another offshoot is the "power leveling" and "reputation" farming ventures, where player will pay these people to play thier accounts for them and level thier characters or farm thier reputation. Many claim to be able to do much in a matter of a few days. Perhaps we have some of these poor people being paid to farm, perhaps they have quotas and they do not get paid if they are not met.

Regardless of my assumptions, it is indeed sad to see this sort of thing... this story is just one that you hear of... there are many more, much more grisley tales out there of people losing touch with reality over these games.

I actually play WoW, and have since it was released. In fact I have been online RPG'ing for more then a decade now. It can be tough for a casual player not to spend too much time on it at times... but if it was your job, and you had to fill a quota or not get paid... I could easily see how people would literally play till they dropped.

my two bits :)

Interesting comments. I used to play "EverQuest" regularly. After a while I realized that it was a lot like a factory job I had during the college years. It was so repetitve and dull that I decided I was paying somebody to be allowed to perform menial labor. I don't know if WoW is different, but it sure is an impressive pile of cash. I wonder what the costs to produce such stuff is?

Did you know that there is an actual IRL millionare who made her fortune selling Second Life "real estate?" Amazing but true. Maybe the old adage about bread and circuses is correct...

I don't know what it costs to produce a game of this type but it has to be expensive. (Initially anyways)

As far as people becoming millionaires off it, I would not be surprised in the least. I have heard of similar stories of people getting wealthy from selling virtual commodities. I have sold other gaming accounts for, that I was no longer interested in playing, for upwards of $1000 US. This is of course illegal now, and these companies do much to stop the sale of accounts, as they claim these accounts are thier intellectual property and players are just renting the use of it.

This gold farming issue is a rather large ongoing debate in the gaming communities, where some people are opposed but also a large number of people are in favor of the services these people provide.

I have bought items from these people before. I feel that I am further ahead to buy these products then to spend my time farming them for myself.

I don't think these gold farmers are hurting the game at all as they have now announced a new ex-pac to WoW to be released soon... once again forcing people to dish out another $50 for the ex-pac.

If your curious just do a Google for WoW gold, and you'll see the rather large assortment of companies with very professional looking sites and customer service, ready to provide you with the in game 'Bling' you desire:)

I don't have issues with people gold mining, I'm just a little jealous to see characters twinked when I don't want to spend the cash; that is I'm cheap.

I'm amazed that it could be a paying job though.

When did selling characters become illegal? I know the software companies don't like it but illegal? That's news to me.

You can buy plat for EQ on the web any time you care to. SOE hates the practice and tries to shut the sites down, but it's like stopping moonshiners during prohibition. Can't be done. Especially if people in China and other countries are making a living doing it.

Yea, the expacs are expensive. The subscription isn't that cheap either. But it's a long winter here on the north coast...

this story comes to mind as I am now turning my computer off for some zzz's :)

A woman in Baton Rouge, Louisiana is suing Nintendo for "unspecified damages" after her 30-year old son died during a marathon session on his N64. the unfortunate man died after hitting his head on a table during a seizure while playing with the console.

The man first started suffering seizures after buying his N64 in 1999, but he continued playing on the console for anything up to eight hours a day, six days a week, according to an AP report.

He played despite the now-standard epilepsy warning which comes with every Nintendo game. This informs players that "some people may have seizures or black outs triggered by light flashes, such as while .. playing video games, even if they have never had a seizure before".

The warning adds that "anyone who has had a seizure, loss of awareness, or other symptom linked to an epileptic condition should consult a doctor before playing a video game", and ends by suggesting in big capital letters that you should "stop playing immediately" if you experience any of these symptoms while using the console. It's also hard to see how the woman can seriously expect to sue Nintendo for "her son's lost future earnings" when he was a thirty year old who spent 48 hours a week sat in front of the TV playing Mario.

Nintendo denies any responsibility for the death, although in a similar case last year (also in Louisiana) a jury decided that the company "did not provide an adequate warning concerning the risk of seizures".

The jury did determine that the console in question (a SNES) "was not unreasonably dangerous in design". Which is nice to know.