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From Times Online
August 10, 2005

Korean drops dead after 50-hour gaming marathon

By Philippe Naughton, Times Online

A 28-year-old South Korean man collapsed and died of exhaustion after playing a computer game almost non-stop for 50 hours.

The man, identified only by his family name Lee, sat down to play the online battle simulation game Starcraft at an internet cafe in the southern city of Taegu last Wednesday morning and stayed there for the next three days, stopping only for brief naps or toilet breaks.

South Korean newspapers reported that Lee had recently been fired from his job because he spent too much time playing computer games. When he failed to return home by Friday, however, his mother asked his former colleagues to find him.

When they reached the cafe, Lee told his friends that he would finish the game and go home. He died a few minutes later.

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"We presume the cause of death was heart failure stemming from exhaustion," a Taegu provincial police official said.

Computer games are enormously popular in South Korea and professional gamers can earn big money through sponsorships and television stations devoted to broadcasting matches.

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