For most people blasting the zombies, killing aliens and shooting up the city streets is harmless fun but for some the virtual deaths have become all too real life. As you will notice, non-stop gaming has caused several deaths, some causing parents to neglect their kids causing them to starve to death, while other gamers have died of exhaustion, cardiac arrests and suicide. In this list, we look into 10 most bizarre deaths caused by video games.
10 –Children Starved to Death
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On June 16th 2008, police were called a house in Brisbane, Australia. Once they entered they made their way to the bedroom where they found the bodies of twins, a boy and a girl in their cots. They weighed just under 5kg each and had starved to death. In the real world their mother was overweight with six children, mental health issues, a failing marriage and their absentee father was a gambling alcoholic.
9 –TEENAGER SHOT PARENTS
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It is understandable and common to find parents keeping away electronics and video games away from their teenagers, otherwise, they will not study due to an addiction to their consoles.In Ohio, a 17 year old obsessed with Halo 3 was found guilty of murdering his mother and injuring his father after they took his game away. He unlocked the family’s gun safe and removed their 9mm pistol. Then walked into his parents’ room and asked them to close their eyes because he had a big surprise. He then shot them both, His father Mark Petric survived but his mother Susan Petric died of her wounds.
8 –Real Life GTA
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The Grand theft auto series is one of the most successful games in the world with over 220 million units sold but it is also one of the most violent and it’s has been called a cop killing murder training simulator by some. On the 7th June 2003, 17 year old Devlin Moore was brought in to the police station in Fayette, Alabama on suspicion of guess what stealing a car AKA grand theft auto. He severely wounded three officers, but gladly, he was finally apprehended. Asked to explain his action, he simply said that, “Life’s a video game. You’ve got to die sometime”.
7 – DIED OF WATER INTOXICATION
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In January 2007, mother of three Jennifer strange entered a local radio station contest to win a Nintendo Wii games console. The winner would be the person who could drink the most amount water without going to the toilet. Well, Strange drank over two gallons of water, and refused to use the bathroom. Seems what she eventually won was a date with the grim reaper. She was found to have died from acute water intoxication, a condition where the bodies normal balance of electrolytes is affected by a rapid intake of water, the results can make the brain swell so it can no longer control the breathing and the person suffocates. The station fired 10 of it’s employees and Jennifer’s family was awarded $16.5 million in damages.
6 –Mother Kills Baby
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Farmville is fun for about 15 minutes before you realize that Facebook has tricked you into wasting more time on their site. On October 2010, Alexandra was playing Farmville, Her attention was taken back to reality when her son cried out of hunger, and instead of feeding her child, she responded by shaking him to death. Because she pleaded guilty there was no trial, On February 1 2011 she was sentenced to 50 years in prison.
5 –VIDEO GAME EXHAUSTION
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In 2007, a Chinese man engaged in an unknown online video game for three consecutive days at an internet cafe. That’s 72 hours of consecutive gaming. We don’t think we’ve ever done anything for 72 hours straight. Strangest bit about this case is that no one ever found out the exact game the guy was playing, and there is speculation that he might have known that he was going to die.
4 – Busy Parents
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In 2010, a married South Korean couple unfortunately gave birth to a premature child, a taboo in South Korean culture—grew hopelessly depressed. After losing their jobs and being shunned by society. Since the internet seemed to be the only source of solace, the couple began to routinely spend 12 hours at a local internet café, playing Prius Online. This was an online Sim that allowed them to raise a virtual baby online. The couple ended up spending so much time raising their digital baby, in turn neglecting their real life baby, who ended up dying of prolonged malnutrition.
3 – Daughter Killer
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Tyrone Spellman was a man so in love with his Xbox that no-one would get in between them, not even his own infant daughter. On the fateful day, Spellman went nuts when his 17-month old daughter accidentally pulled the Xbox cords off the wall. Instead of doing what a normal parent would do, take the child to safety and place the cords better in the living room, Spellman thought it was time to kill the insensitive little thing. So, he opted to crack her little skull repeatedly, of course, killing her. His diabolical act landed him in prison for 47 years, for killing baby Alayiah Turman.
2 –COMMITTED SUICIDE OVER EVERQUEST
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In extreme cases, gamers have been known to forfeit their social life, just to feed their love for game. Unfortunately for Shawn Woolley, this love went a bit too far, causing him to commit suicide in the fall of 2001. According to his mother, Shawn killed himself as result of a lack of socialization and detachment from reality caused by endless hours of playing EverQuest.
1 –Murder Over a ‘Cyber-Weapon’
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Legend of Mir 3 is a fantasy game where the players take on the roles like wizards, warriors and priests. Qiu had won a cyber-weapon in the online game Legend of Mir III, and loaned it to Zhu, to use it in the game, Who then sold it for 7,200 yuan (approx. £464/US$872/€673) on eBay. Qiu went to the police to report the so called “theft” but there is no law in china about stealing virtual objects and the police did not do anything. This is when he took matters in his own hands, confronted Zhu, stabbing him in the chest, killing Zhu and earning Qui life sentence.
