*shamelessly stolen from the EQ2 forums*

"I saw this posted in our forums last week, but the only source was rather shaky at best. But now GameSpot has picked up on the story (http://www.gamespot.com/news/2005/06/20/news_6127866.html) so I figured now is a better time than ever. That being said, the parents are IDIOTS:

In a story out of Korea which is just now surfacing in the Western press, a couple in Incheon, South Korea, were arrested last week when their four-month-old daughter died after being left alone by the couple for hours. The mother and father reportedly had gone to a nearby Internet cafe, lost themselves in playing Blizzard's massively multiplayer online PC game (http://www.anandtech.com/news/shownews.aspx?i=24433#) World of Warcraft (http://www.anandtech.com/news/shownews.aspx?i=24433#), and returned to their home only to find the infant dead from suffocation.

Here's a link (http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200506/200506140037.html) to the story from last week which went into greater detail:
According to Incheon Police Station on Tuesday, a 29-year-old man husband identified by his family name of Yu and his wife put their four-month daughter in the bedroom of their home and went to a neighborhood PC (http://www.anandtech.com/news/shownews.aspx?i=24433#) café at around 4:00 p.m. on May 24 to play the online game "World of Warcraft.

Time flew by as the couple lost themselves in the game, and when they returned home at 9:00 p.m., their daughter was lying on her stomach, dead of suffication.

The couple told police, "We were thinking of playing for just an hour or two and returning home like usual, but the game took longer that day.""


http://www.anandtech.com/i/f.gif

clearly that is WoW's fault and not the fault of terrible parents at all

I am sure that once the western press picks up on it we will also find out what classes and races the parents played, as well as Horde or Alliance and how that figured in to their negligence.;)

Its the internet's fault. So anyone and everyone that is connected to the internet is at fault as we all make up the internet.

Summons will be in the mail today!!

Everytime I hear a story like this, it just blows my mind. This one's even worse than the usual single person, since two of them both forgot the kid.

Not to mention they were in their 20s which I assume people in their 20s to be adults. This is just sad and they deserve to be punished to the full extent of the law. I just can't wait to hear the idiots start preaching how video games and the internet is at fault. It's no different in my mind than the morons who leave their kids in the car on a hot summer day. Frickin' dumbasses.

Hopefully it will be reported with some amount of wisdom(though I wouldn't bet on it)....

For every one family that ignores a child to play a game like WoW or EQ, there are probably millions that neglect or abuse their child for any number of reasons.

It's the same old BS that came out against D&D. Because Johnny had a Monster Manual in his room, that demonic game D&D must be responsible for him commiting suicide. When in reality, teens that played the game showed no more statiscal probability to commit suicide than those who did not.

I would bet the same in this case, people that play MMORGs probably have no greater statiscal probability to abuse or neglect their kids than the general population....most likely it would be considerably less, for many reasons. But I would also bet, the press will not report it that way. They'll go for the shock factor, this baby died because these parents were too wrapped up in a video game...how shocking!!

You seem defensive.

Where is your child right now?

You seem defensive.

Where is your child right now?

umm...hmmm...

/slightpatronizingchuckle

Who cares if they were playing WoW or not, and how long they were gone? You shouldn't leave an infant alone for any length of time.

To take a different look at the tragedy, if they had been in their bedroom sleeping and the child suffocated, would it be a simple story of crib death, or would there still be howls for persecution?

I am sure they would sleep for more than 4 hours unless the baby awoke them with crying; having experienced the joys of a child's cries at night, I know some nights are relatively free of cries and others are hourly. So, would going to bed at night be the same as going and playing a video game for several hours?

At 4 months old, the child would have been capable of very limited movement at best- which means the child was left in an unsafe location in the first place.

At 4 months old, the child would have been capable of very limited movement at best- which means the child was left in an unsafe location in the first place.

I agree, and my first "assumption" is that the baby was put in a crib on the chest, rather than the proscribed back position. I am just making the devil's advocate argument of whether their absence from the home would be any different than had they been asleep in the same house. I am not asserting they are free of negligence.

crib on the chest, rather than the proscribed back position.

Both my kids could roll over @ 3 months :'/

My main point is, these are bad parents...they would be bad parents if they never in their life even saw a video or computer game. Leaving a 4 month old alone in a home is criminal, if they hadn't neglected the baby to play a game, they would have to go party, drink, or whatever. The story should be about them neglecting the child, not about what they neglected it to do.

Ever think that the child may have cried for an hour or so before giving up? Bottom line is the adults (I hesitate to call them parents) left the child alone. They should be punished. If they were home and the same thing happened there probably would not have been an uproar about it. It would be about the unfortunate tragedy that had befallen a set of parents. But in this case they left the child alone.

My main point is, these are bad parents...they would be bad parents if they never in their life even saw a video or computer game. Leaving a 4 month old alone in a home is criminal, if they hadn't neglected the baby to play a game, they would have to go party, drink, or whatever. The story should be about them neglecting the child, not about what they neglected it to do.

That was kind of my point as well.
As an aside: rolling over isn't the most effective form of locomotion, in my book. A walking child can get into trouble a whole lot faster.

Looking back at how much I played EQ and other MMOs, I am so glad that I have kicked the MMORPG habbit (and no... I don't come to these forums because I miss the game.. I come because of the community). I could never see myself in the situation above, leaving a 4 month old child at home to go play a game... but I could see myself spending inordinate amounts of time on an MMO instead of with my hypothetical child and its a scary thought.

Maybe I'm just too young (read: inexperienced in life) to understand having THAT much of a need to "get away" from the stresses of life, having a child and so on, in a fantasy world. When I played EQ, I was a teenager with no real responsabilities. Now that I am somewhat older, have a full time job and all of the other "wonderful" things that come with adulthood, the last thing I want to do is spend more time with my computer (I work in IT... suppose that may make a difference).

I do admit, though, that I really do miss the community feeling from EQ.. the friends / guilds / chat channels.

Playing an MMO to many, like myself is a hobby not an escapism. To generalize everyone who plays as saying they are escaping "real life" is about as absurd as me saying someone who gardens is escaping reality. Some people may do it but don't over generalize or you should include people who read, garden, fish, etc.

The difference here is that these people are irresponsible and should be punished. I have to think that "most" parents who do play do so in such a way that is conducive to their "real life" responsibilities. Otherwise we'd be hearing of such things more regularly.

As others have said this could have just as easily happened if the parents were at home or doing something else. It's not the game that caused them to do this its' themselves.

Listen let's get back on track and talk about how WoW is at fault here.