WHEN GAMES TURN DEADLY IN THAILAND

He drops dead after playing computer game for almost a day

Aug 25, 2001

He could not resist Half-Life: Counter-Strike, a 3D shooting game.

After work at a ceramics factory in Chiang Mai, he would rush to a nearby Internet shop and start playing his favourite game.

"Killing" is part of the game.

But at noon on Thursday, the game turned deadly, reported The Nation.

Mr Thanet Sommoi, 22, was found slumped over the keyboard by his friends. He had started playing on Wednesday evening and continued playing without a break.

Police said friends rushed Mr Thanet to a nearby hospital, where doctors declared him dead. He had died of heart failure.

Counter-Strike is team-based, and casts players in the role of terrorist or counter-terrorist.

It has become very popular in Thailand because of its network feature. It allows up to 32 people to shoot one another via the Internet connection or a local-area network.

On Wednesday evening, police said, Mr Thanet went to the shop and as usual ordered food so that he could play on without being disturbed.

TENSION AND FATIGUE

He had his food while he "killed" his "enemies" on the screen, who were other players in the shop.

Police said investigators believed the Thai worker developed tension and fatigue after playing the game for hours leading to heart failure.

The Thai-language version of the game has turned many Internet cafes into PC game parlours.

In the game, players control a character with a gun pointing out on the screen.

The player has to control his or her character to respond quickly to attacks from other characters.

At a conference last week in Bangkok, called The Fate of Children and Teenagers in the Computer Age, doctors, academics and parents said that Thai children are becoming computer addicts and even causing rift in some families.

IN THE UK

Sore loser punches stepson after monopoly game

EVEN a non-violent game like Monopoly got nasty in the UK when a man punched his 13-year-old stepson and kneed him in the groin after losing to him, a court heard yesterday.

Apparently the stepfather, 49, who cannot be named for legal reasons, even forced the boy's 11-year-old sister to play and flew into a rage when he lost against her too.

Another defeat and the man smashed up the table till the boy's mother had to throw the board away, The Times of London reported.

The defendant, from Penge in southeast London, denies two charges of child cruelty and one charge of causing actual bodily harm between October 1998 and August 2000.

BRUISES

The man left the teenager with 17 bruises after landing on his property and being bankrupted, the boy said.

Said the boy: "His knee came up to my stomach and private area."

He added that his stepfather shouted: "He has ruined my life."

The teen told the court: "How can I have ruined his life over one game of Monopoly?

"He gets my sister to play, even though she doesn't like it.

"He gets annoyed because he tells her she's got to play and then he loses."

The case continues.

SOURCE: ASIAONE.COM