20 year old Chris Staniforth died after playing Halo on XBox live for hours on end. He developed a pulmonary embolism, a bloot clot in his body, after a marathon session and had no other known underlying conditions. Pulmonary embolisms can form in people after sitting for extended periods of time. His parents reported that he would sometimes spend upwards of 12 hours playing on his XBox. They're launching a campaign to warn other parents of the health risks involved.
The fear here is that young people who play video games for too long will end up injuring themselves because they're not taking breaks. There have been reports of players collapsing after long gaming sessions, including one who died in South Korea after going for three days without a break. Granted, this is an issue, but it's an issue that shouldn't be.
Adults are supposed to be adults and are supposed to know when they've had too much of a good thing. Take breaks, people. Get up, strech, get a drink of water and then come back. Or even better, just stand up and walk in place for a few minutes. KiLLerzofGoonZ and 360FAN4EVER will never know, and you'll get to keep playing with them for as long as you like. And parents of underaged children should know better than to allow them to stay playing a game for hours on end.
Video games are awesome, as well all know. But you shouldn't have to die because you didn't know when to stop. Our thoughts go out to Chris Staniforth's family. Gamers, please don't let your family have to go through what they are now.
**As a note, I have no idea if KiLLerzofGoonZ or 360FAN4EVER are actual tags. If they are, my bad.**