The family members of a young man who died following a marathon Xbox session have initiated a campaign to raise awareness about the health risks of playing online computer games.
An autopsy revealed that 20-year-old Chris Staniforth, who had been offered a place to study Game Design at Leicester University, was killed by a pulmonary embolism, or blood clot, which can occur if someone sits in the same position for several hours without a break.
Deep vein thrombosis can often affect passengers on long flights, but doctors fear that young people who spend hours upon hours glued to their consoles might also be at risk and have urged them to take periodic breaks.
Chris’ father, David Staniforth, has now launched a campaign to warn other parents of the dangers.
“Games are fun and once you’ve started playing it’s hard to stop.
“Kids all over the country are playing these games for long periods – they don’t realize it could kill them,” he said.
David adds that his son would spend up to 12 hours playing on his Xbox.
“He got sucked in playing Halo online against people from all over the world.”
Reports of hardcore gamers collapsing after spending up to 15 hours in front of video games are fairly common in Asia.
In 2005, a South Korean man died after playing online games for three days without taking a break.
Get Blippitt via RSS feed, Facebook, Twitter, Google+,
and be sure to get our Daily Email Broadcast.
