MMORPGs -- the New Substance Abuse

Massive Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games...
Check out various links at the end of the Wikipedia article.

3Quarks contributor Ker Than takes a look at a potentially deadly online pastime in Poison in the Ink: How Virtual Worlds Mirror Our Own. The seeds of addictive behavior are in everyone, but for some the results are toxic.

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A young girl nicknamed "Snowly" died last month after playing the online game "World of Warcraft" for several continuous days during the national day holiday. Snowly's friends, who share the same game community, say that Snowly was a very diligent member and a key official of their community, who was always connected to the Internet.

Several days before Snowly's death, the girl was said to be preparing for a relatively difficult part of the game and had very little rest. She told her friends that she felt very tired.

A big online funeral was held for Snowly one week after her death. But the event was sadly overshadowed by the death of another game enthusiast nicknamed "Nan Ren Gu Shi".

Thereafter, several online game communities have posted announcements to urge their members to pay attention to their health.