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Server died...here's a repost: Over this past weekend a good friend and coworker passed away. He always had a good heart and would do anything he could to help

Server died...here's a repost: Over this past weekend a good friend and coworker passed away. He always had a good heart and would do anything he could to help you out. It was certainly a shock. Monday morning he didn't show up to work. He always calls or sends an email if he won't be in but nobody could get a hold of him. I got a bit worried since I knew he was playing Diablo 3 since it came out on Tuesday and I've heard of people dying from exhaustion and what not from playing video games so much. I didn't want to think that but it had occurred to me. Especially since nobody has heard from him since late Saturday. I had called his landlord and asked about him. (The landlord, Russ and I are all good friends and we've known each other for a while) I was heading over and she was going to let me in but apparently she got too worried and went in anyway. She found him at his computer. He apparently had a heart attack. Poor gal shouldn't have had to do that. I kick myself for not going there immediately. I had gone in anyway at the request of the Fire Department to find his identification and cellphone. Not a minute goes by that I wish my memory of him had not been sullied in that manner. I sincerely hope that he went quickly and didn't suffer, unable to contact anyone for help. He was only 32 years old. Please, if only for yourselves, take time out of your day to get some exercise. Go outside and enjoy the sun. Ride a bike. Do something active. Video games are great fun when played in moderation. This may be an extreme example but take it as advice to not go overboard. Or at least don't do it alone. He took 3 days off and played Diablo 3 pretty much the whole time. He called in and asked to take Friday off as well. We are placing the blame on ourselves at work wondering if we made him come in on Friday would he still be with us today? It saddens me that we tried to get him to be healthy. Work offered to pay for a gym membership. Friends coaxed him to exercise and eat better. He took us up on our offers, if only for a short while. We should have tried harder. He will be missed greatly by all who knew him.

picklefish 14y ago
It's silly to associate this with gaming only. You can say the same thing about getting sucked into anything. I'm sure quite a few people here have coded non-stop for a few days, or pulled some all nighters to meet a deadline. Everything should be done in moderation, not just video games.
neutronicus 14y ago
It's funny, I completely disagree that "video games are great fun when played in moderation". The "in moderation" part obviates the whole point for me. That's why I don't play them anymore.
- robryan 14y ago
  Depends on the game, with something like Diablo 3 you are in small groups in separate instances of the game world all the time. With something like WoW it is true that in a way the more time you have to play the game the more fun/achievement you can have, as it is an open world where you can use your hard earned gear to dominate lesser players and get involved in some very hard coordinated raids. You are right though, pretty much when I played WoW and raided I had little time for a social life, when I stopped being a regular raider the game lost a lot of it's appeal to me.
jonursenbach 14y ago
How is him having a heart attack in any way related to him playing video games all weekend?
- jsprinkles 14y ago
  It isn't. We can infer from the rest of the post that the person in question was unhealthy, but OP took an unnecessary shot at gaming. One can argue an unhealthy focus on anything can kill you in the same way, and gaming wasn't a symptom. Frankly, this entire thread is about as bad as mass media blaming video games when a kid shoots up his school.
  - detst 14y ago
    > infer from the rest of the post that the person in question was unhealthy And we can also infer that he was unhealthy, in larger part, due to spending too much time gaming. > One can argue an unhealthy focus on anything can kill you in the same way And in this case that thing was gaming. It's a cautionary tale, not an indictment on all gaming.
    - jsprinkles 14y ago
      > And we can also infer that he was unhealthy, in larger part, due to spending too much time gaming. Very much, emphatically, not. I know someone into World of Warcraft who spends ~40 hours a week playing, and just ran Bay 2 Breakers. Gaming and being unhealthy are very definitely unrelated, and any attempt to paint them as being related is FUD. If someone is out of shape because they "spend too much time hacking", are you going to blame hacker culture next? Gaming is an easy target. Admit it.
      - detst 14y ago
        Very much, emphatically, yes: > Work offered to pay for a gym membership. Friends coaxed him to exercise and eat better. Instead he was gaming. > If someone is out of shape because they "spend too much time hacking", are you going to blame hacker culture next? Yes, in part. BTW, I'm not "blaming" gaming.

picklefish 14y ago

It's silly to associate this with gaming only. You can say the same thing about getting sucked into anything. I'm sure quite a few people here have coded non-stop for a few days, or pulled some all nighters to meet a deadline. Everything should be done in moderation, not just video games.

neutronicus 14y ago

It's funny, I completely disagree that "video games are great fun when played in moderation". The "in moderation" part obviates the whole point for me. That's why I don't play them anymore.

robryan 14y ago
Depends on the game, with something like Diablo 3 you are in small groups in separate instances of the game world all the time. With something like WoW it is true that in a way the more time you have to play the game the more fun/achievement you can have, as it is an open world where you can use your hard earned gear to dominate lesser players and get involved in some very hard coordinated raids. You are right though, pretty much when I played WoW and raided I had little time for a social life, when I stopped being a regular raider the game lost a lot of it's appeal to me.

jonursenbach 14y ago

How is him having a heart attack in any way related to him playing video games all weekend?

jsprinkles 14y ago
It isn't. We can infer from the rest of the post that the person in question was unhealthy, but OP took an unnecessary shot at gaming. One can argue an unhealthy focus on anything can kill you in the same way, and gaming wasn't a symptom. Frankly, this entire thread is about as bad as mass media blaming video games when a kid shoots up his school.
- detst 14y ago
  > infer from the rest of the post that the person in question was unhealthy And we can also infer that he was unhealthy, in larger part, due to spending too much time gaming. > One can argue an unhealthy focus on anything can kill you in the same way And in this case that thing was gaming. It's a cautionary tale, not an indictment on all gaming.
  - jsprinkles 14y ago
    > And we can also infer that he was unhealthy, in larger part, due to spending too much time gaming. Very much, emphatically, not. I know someone into World of Warcraft who spends ~40 hours a week playing, and just ran Bay 2 Breakers. Gaming and being unhealthy are very definitely unrelated, and any attempt to paint them as being related is FUD. If someone is out of shape because they "spend too much time hacking", are you going to blame hacker culture next? Gaming is an easy target. Admit it.
    - detst 14y ago
      Very much, emphatically, yes: > Work offered to pay for a gym membership. Friends coaxed him to exercise and eat better. Instead he was gaming. > If someone is out of shape because they "spend too much time hacking", are you going to blame hacker culture next? Yes, in part. BTW, I'm not "blaming" gaming.