Gamer dies after playing Diablo III for 40 hours

[Rii]

Blizzard has called on gamers to play in moderation after an 18-year-old died following an uninterrupted 40 hour Diablo 3 session.Taiwanese teenager Chuang, booked a private room at an internet café in Tainan, southern Taiwan, at noon on Friday 13th July and played for nearly two days without eating, the United Daily News (via The Australian, via the Australian Associated Press) reported.

[....]

Blizzard responded to the news by issuing a statement recommending players prioritise their day-to-day life over "any form of entertainment".

But that's not how you designed the game is it, Blizzard? Cigarette companies would rather their customers didn't die from their product too.

Anyone want to bet this guy played the RMAH? Oh you're playing with the big boys now, Blizzard...

[agentorange]

Yep, totally the devloper and games fault. Not the idiot who played it until he died.

[jnx]

Yes, and I'm sure he had no other problems with his health. Or those were developers fault too and had nothing to do with how he lived his life. What monsters they are at Blizzard.

[Anthile]

Seriously? That's really low, Rii.

[db1331]

Shit, he actually died? Hopefully he wasn't playing on hardcore.

[b0rsuk]

The developer is not without blame. The game is built like a slot machine. Not much skill involved, you just farm, farm, farm gold and hope for some good item.

Games that are fun to play themselves don't tempt this sort of behavior. You play a FPS for as long as it's fun to you. No carrot dangling in front of your face.
(exceptions: Borderlands and FPS games with unlocks)

[Subatomic]

Shit, he actually died? Hopefully he wasn't playing on hardcore.

I may be a horrible person, but that was hilarious.

[Rii]

Seriously? That's really low, Rii.

How so? The game employs carefully refined psychological techniques to draw the player in and keep them playing and derives ongoing income (via the RMAH) from their doing so. It is parasitism, pure and simple. Sure, Bizzard doesn't intend their hosts to die, but Heroin pushers much prefer their clients to remain alive to continue purchasing Heroin too.

[neema_t]

Come now, you can't blame Blizzard for this. I've played plenty of addictive games for many an hour more than is healthy in one sitting (never as much as 40, in fact never as much as 15 I'm guessing), but I get hungry, I get thirsty, I get tired and I get bored. Blizzard didn't design the game such that people would ignore what their body was telling them to do in order to play more, that's impossible without some sort of hypnotic effect, surely?

[b0rsuk]

And before someone blames Rii for Godwin's Law, a lot of fuss is being made about Diablo 1, 2, and 3 being addictive games. Crack is also addictive, but it's not considered a point in its favor. They were consciously designing an addictive game - and they succeeded.

Come now, you can't blame Blizzard for this. I've played plenty of addictive games for many an hour more than is healthy in one sitting (never as much as 40, in fact never as much as 15 I'm guessing), but I get hungry, I get thirsty, I get tired and I get bored. Blizzard didn't design the game such that people would ignore what their body was telling them to do in order to play more, that's impossible without some sort of hypnotic effect, surely?

You would have a much better point if Diablo 3 had single player offline mode and/or stable online mode. He was probably afraid that he'd get disconnected and would lose his progress. The MMO effect kicks in.

[Subatomic]

How so? The game employs carefully refined psychological techniques to draw the player in and keep them playing and derives ongoing income (via the RMAH) from their doing so. It is parasitism, pure and simple. Sure, Bizzard doesn't intend the hosts to die, but Heroin pushers much prefer their clients to remain alive to continue purchasing Heroin too: doesn't mean they aren't contemptible scum.

Considering the number of active players massively declined about a month after release, Blizzard should probably fire whoever implemented those 'carefully refined psychological techniques'.

[Wolfenswan]

Kids these days can't even pull a full two-nighter. I remember my LAN-sessions back in the 90s...

[Leopig]

Didn't someone told him they patched out the no chat, no auction house, no co-op and no eating for the first 72 hours of buying the game?

[Rii]

The RMAH adds an interesting factor here. Some nations have laws regulating online games -- an awful lot more have laws regulating gambling, and so far as I know folks literally dying at slot machines wasn't on the agenda like it is here. Blizzard ran into trouble in South Korea re: the RMAH pre-release. If this guy was tied up in that aspect of the game, well, they might find themselves running into a little more.

[Unaco]

How so? The game employs carefully refined psychological techniques to draw the player in and keep them playing

Please... do elaborate. Which techniques, how are they implemented in the game, which principles do they follow, and sources/references for their proven efficacy. Thanks!

[alms]

No healthy human being can die for going two days without eating. Dehydration is a different game though, it's much easier and faster to die that way. The article however talks about some "cardiovascular problems" which still sounds a bit BS.

I think he either died of dehydration or he had some health problem. It's sad but I can't see how you can blame Blizzard.

[Berzee]

Please... do elaborate. Which techniques, how are they implemented in the game, which principles do they follow, and sources/references for their proven efficacy. Thanks!

Technique: The stats go up!
Refined: And up and up!
Maximum Manipulation: It's also kind of pretty.

[Drake Sigar]

Somewhere there's a bunch of suits huddled around a skull-shaped table discussing how they can make their game more addictive, and I find it hard to absolve them entirely when someone gets themselves killed in the skinner box. We always jump to the defence of our beloved hobby which has come under unwarranted attacks since it's birth, and has struggled to gain the same level of respect as movies or books, but at some point we have to be prepared to admit to the wider world that it has problems too.

The majority of the responsibility must always fall to the victim though, who clearly had major problems of his own if he couldn't even pull himself away to live.

[Moraven]

No healthy human being can die for going two days without eating. Dehydration is a different game though, it's much easier and faster to die that way. The article however talks about some "cardiovascular problems" which still sounds a bit BS.

I think he either died of dehydration or he had some health problem. It's sad but I can't see how you can blame Blizzard.

Blizzard bashers will find anything to include their name in some negative light. Then blame it on fanboys. Some just seem to turned this into a holy crusade.

[Cooper]

There's a reason this doesn't happen with slot machines; because they are in almost all areas restricted and controlled. Anyone who's been in a bookies or slot machine hall that is not a glitzy casino will be well aware of the all-consuming effect of gambling on some people. That 40 hour stints don't kill people is a function of limitations and controls.

Those in the UK may have seen the preponderance of those touch-screen 'quiz' boxes which are the new generation of fruit machines in pubs. They often get called 'itbox'. They are a generation of "skill with prizes" machines which differ from your standard fruit / slot machine
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skill_With_Prizes

Diablo 3 is an odd cross between traditional slot machine mechanics (entirely weighted RNG based) and the newer SWP format.

Blizzard should be thankful that no one in the HMRC is tech savvy enough to have noticed that Diablo 3 with the RMAH is basically a hybrid SWP form of online gambling and have taxed and limited its access as such...

Personally I just avoid shit games that can only fall back upon the lure of a weighted RNG. It's shit, boring, low-thought game design. That Blizzard excels in making look fancy.