Video Games Can Kill...

Did this kid weigh 400 pounds and live on a diet of lucky charms, doritos, and jolt cola?

Unless the video game stood up and physically killed him, it was all his fault that he died.

I don't care.

What video game is that intense?
There was an article in National Geographic a long time ago about a certain Chinese lineage from a specific clan; for some reason, there is a SIDS-like sudden death syndrome which strikes their male adults with some frequency. Scientists have never been able to determine the cause of this phenomenon though, because autopsy is forbidden in their culture (Or at least it was at the time the article was written). It's believed to be a genetic heart problem, but it's unique in that its victims seem 100% healthy before they die.

Yes, our government blames everything on the media yet they go fight wars everyday than show 'em on TV. Magic!

Excellent point Mike. I think it's bullshit that they just say "Oh he died playing games. Bad games!". Can we have some more background? Like Carver said, what's to say this poor bastard wasn't 400lbs? There's too many factors to just blame video games.

Also it's funny how the article vilifies the kid cuz he cut class to play games by repeating the fact over and over. Fuck, maybe I'm crazy, but who wouldn't want to? Skool sucks, and it doesn't seem to be all that much better, if not worse, in China. There's so many reasons why he could be cutting class, and gaming is just what he did cuz he was escaping everything else.

Welcome to the world of stupid.

I'd have to say that 'skool' does not suck by any stretch as MTV or any other movie would have you think it. Again, it's all about perspective and what you see yourself doing in the years after school.

Skip school, go right on ahead. I'm sure the person who cleans out the septic tank or the garbage man is going to be retiring in a few...he could use an enlightened replacement such as yourself Professor.

School occasionally was a crapfest. Sure, the pull of wanting not to show up and play games or watch movies rather than do Trig, Chemistry, or some dull English class was strong. However, it was all about priorities.

Do you really want to blow all your time now playing games...only to find yourself in a minimum wage job breaking your back for someone else just so you can get a paycheck that hardly pays the bills? A meager income that wouldn't even be enough to purchase the latest and greatest gaming hardware or the accompanying software...

Schooling has given me the comfortable lifestyle I presently enjoy. I got all the games I want, the most up to date computer goodies, plenty of dvd's in my collection and the necessary (and wonderful) equipment to enjoy those dvd's, and one smoking automobile in the form of a Mustang GTS.

Only a gas leak and hearing Marla say 'hello' over the phone could bring this rosy life of mine to a grinding halt.

Can't argue with mongycore. High school chem awards paid for my first year of University, and trigonometry is vaguely important in engineering.

That the adrenaline rush from a good Head Shot would give a 17-year old kid a heart attack is...disheartening. Go for a walk, kid.

Christ! It's bizarre how you guys can make entire rants based on fucking assumption. Yeah, I don't like school, so I MUST be one of them dropouts who's gonna end up cleaning shitters.

You've made far too many assumptions pal. While I agree apathy against skool (it's short-hand for use on the internet by the way) is a plague, my reasons for not liking skool are not quite "I'd rather play video games."

In this year alone I transferred out of two skools because they just weren't meeting my needs, and pretty much every alternative wasn't much better or it was already overpopulated. The first high skool, I didn't feel at home in. It was a heavily academic skool, I'm stronger in the arts and most teachers I had were of the mind that "If he's slow in these subjects, he must be a fucking slacker!"

I tried to my best to keep up and asked for additional help mind you, but the teachers I had just gave me the strong impression they didn't care, so I moved on. Then the next skool is temporary (it's an alternative skool which I must say is very well-suited for me) because it's overpopulated and I was only allowed in granted I get into one of the various arts skools I was applying to.

Another huge factor for my dislike of skool is that in Ontario, my home province, we have a bastard of a Premier who's been cutting all our educational funding and pulling all kinds of under-handed tactics to 'improve' our educations. None of his moronic programs have worked and have given many teachers (including my mom, who's a high school teacher herself) even more stress and stuff to work on, taking away from their ability to teach the fucking kids! That's who this all supposed to be about! The kids!

Anyway, another factor that made me pissed about this news story is that this is the kinda thing Mr. Harris (our loving premier) would cite to make all kinds of drastic changes to our educational system over one relatively isolated incident.

And I have my priorities straight. If I didn't, would I have gone all over Toronto in search of a skool that would better suit my learning style? Fuck no! I would have stayed at home, drinking myself into a caffeinated stupor and giving myself an aneurism playing Jedi Outcast.

So instead of making grand statements trying to make me seem like an apathetic slacker who's gonna end up working at McDonald's or something, try thinking before you speak. Keep in mind that people CAN have different opinions from you, and CAN justify said opinions cuz we are all different, and come from different places.

If you think my statements aren't valid, then try being in my shoes, pal.

I went to High School about two days a week tops, and still pulled off a 3.5 .(including AP classes no less, and I am not some boy genius) School most certainly does suck. Its prime purpose is socialization, not education. And I am in college now, doing fine, which does not suck. The only disadvantage to skipping school is disengagement from fail safes that some people need to keep motivated, and getting too used to staying at home and being late when you enter the real world.

Not to try and poke holes in your statements Burritoweasel (they were well said, and very true), but I always found I have more motivation when I'm at work (where I have a flawless record of lates/absences) then when I'm at skool.