Gamers pride themselves as killers who have devoured mafias, demons, zombies, aliens, and even conquered galaxies, thanks to their technique and out-of-this-world weapons. What they have not done is allow these games to brainwash them into killing fellow humans in real life, or even taking their own life. Sadly, some gamers have taken this utopian world for killers too literally, and taken other people’s or their own life.

In some cases, that feeling that every video gamer gets, takes a toll on the players. The need to push oneself brings about cases of just ONE more level, ONE last collected item, ONE more achievement, before supper or getting to sleep. While most will give up once they feel too sleepy or hungry, or realize that they’ve played till the wee hours of the morning, others could even go on for hours, if not days.

As you will notice, non-stop gaming has caused several deaths, some causing parents to neglect their kids causing them to starve to death, while other gamers have died of exhaustion, cardiac arrests and suicide.

In the list below, we look at 15 most bizarre deaths caused by video games. Let us know in the comments section which was most bizarre to you, and what people living with addicted gamers should do to save them in time.

15. South Korean Couple Busy Playing Prius Online Loses Child To Prolonged Malnutrition

In 2010, a married South Korean couple unfortunately gave birth to a premature child. What was worse was that this was a taboo in their culture, prompting them to become more depressed about their situation. It seems bad luck kept following them since they soon after lost their jobs and were shunned by the society. Since the internet seemed to be the only source of solace, the couple began to routinely spend 12 hours at a local internet café, playing Prius Online. This was an online Sim that allowed them to raise a virtual baby online. The couple ended up spending so much time raising their digital baby, in turn neglecting their real life baby, who ended up dying of prolonged malnutrition.

14. Chinese Man Dropped Dead From Video Game Exhaustion

In 2007, a Chinese man engaged in an unknown online video game for three consecutive days at an internet café. Seems like he was used to being locked inside when the owners left for the night, right? Well, fixated on the computer for 72 hours straight, the man finally dropped dead out of exhaustion. The strangest bit about this case is that no one ever found out the exact game the guy was playing, and there is speculation that he might have known that he was going to die, anyway. Whatever the case, this is a massive case of brainwashing or toxic addiction to video games.

13. Another Case Of Exhaustion That Led To Heart Attack

Brian Vigneault was a gamer who was also drawn to charitable causes, which unfortunately led to his death, while playing an online game, War Of Tanks, for almost 24 hours with the aim of raising money for the Make- A-Wish Foundation. Needing to take a break from his marathon gaming, Brian stopped for a smoke break, during which he had a massive heart attack and dropped dead. Further investigations from a friend revealed that Brian had actually not slept for 22 hours, and was drinking Red Bull and Five-Hour Energy drinks to stay awake.

12. Two Taiwanese Men Die After Game Binging

Within three weeks, Taiwan had lost two gamers due to binge gaming. The first case was of a 38-year old man who played video games for five straight days at an internet café in Taipei. The second case, which is more shocking, was of a 32-year old man called Hsieh who died of cardiac arrest after playing for three consecutive days. Scary is that his death was discovered much later, because he was known to sleep face down on the table whenever he was binge gaming. So, after hours of Hsieh’s head on the table, the café’s workers decided to wake him up, but he was unresponsive.

11. Another Taiwanese Dies After 40 Hours Of Playing Diablo

In the aforementioned Taiwanese case of Hsieh, his fellow gamers did not notice that the guy was dead, and stiff as wood. This proves just how dangerous it is to have a medical emergency at an internet café. Well, in another case, an 18-year old Taiwanese died in July 2012, again, at an internet café. After a 40-hour marathon of Diablo III, Chuang crashed out, was awoken by an employee, stood up, took a few steps around, and collapsed. Sadly for Chuang, this was the fall of death, and it is not yet clear exactly what caused his death.

10. Teenager Shot Parents After They Took Away His Video Game

It is understandable and common to find parents keeping away electronics and video games away from their teenagers, otherwise, they will not study due to an addiction to their consoles. Well, sadly for these parents, their teenage son could not deal with getting his copy of Halo 3 kept away. The 17-year old thought hard about the situation and found a rather aggressive solution. He unlocked the family’s gun safe and removed their 9mm pistol. He then walked into his parents’ room and asked them to close their eyes because he had a big surprise. The boy fired the gun, killing his mum. Luckily, the dad survived.

9. Alexandra Tobias Shook Her Son To Death After Playing Farmville

Other than seeing what your friends have posted on Facebook, and in addition to sponsored posts, Facebook increases your sources of entertainment by allowing you to play games. To get you hooked, they even allow you to flaunt your progress to your friends and compete with them. Well, in October 2010, Alexandra was playing Farmville, a very popular game online, and she got so addicted that she apparently forgot that she had a three-year-old son. Her attention was taken back to reality when her son cried out of hunger, and instead of feeding her child, she responded by shaking him to death, an act that landed her 25 years in prison.

8. Devin Moore Killed Police Officers In His Version Of Grand Theft Auto

Most video game deaths are caused by plain ignorance, or obsession. There is also a league of gamers who are just simply crazy fu*ks, just like Devin Moore. A staunch Grand Theft Auto player, Moore decided to take his experience into real life, to add some spice to it. He then set out in 2003, jacked a cop car, took a gun, and opened fire on officers who were pursuing him. He severely wounded three officers, but gladly, he was finally apprehended. Asked to explain his action, he simply said that, “Life’s a video game. You’ve got to die sometime”.

7. Tyrone Spellman Cracked Daughter’s Skull Repeatedly For Pulling Xbox Cords Off The Wall

Tyrone Spellman was a man so in love with his Xbox that no-one would get in between them, not even his own infant daughter. On the fateful day, Spellman went nuts when his 17-month old daughter accidentally pulled the Xbox cords off the wall. Instead of doing what a normal parent would do, take the child to safety and place the cords better in the living room, Spellman thought it was time to kill the insensitive little thing. So, he opted to crack her little skull repeatedly, of course, killing her. His diabolical act landed him in prison for 47 years, for killing baby Alayiah Turman.

6. Shawn Woolley Committed Suicide Over EverQuest

If you’ve played online RPG games then you understand how addictive they can be. Usually, players get so obsessed by the game that they devote all their time to it. In extreme cases, gamers have been known to forfeit their social life, just to feed their love for game. Unfortunately for Shawn Woolley, this love went a bit too far, causing him to commit suicide in the fall of 2001. According to his mother, Shawn killed himself as result of a lack of socialization and detachment from reality caused by endless hours of playing EverQuest.

5. Jennifer Strange Died Of Water Intoxication While Playing Wii

When the Wii first hit the markets, people went crazy for it with most auctioning their consoles off for triple the cost online. Others offered sexual favours via craigslist, just to get a Wii experience. While you think this was great madness, you’ve not heard what Jennifer Strange did. While waiting to win one of the coveted consoles, Jennifer died due to water intoxication. This was after participating in a local radio’s giveaway promotion titled ‘Hold Your Wee For A Wii’, that asked participants to hold their wee. Well, Strange drank over two gallons of water, and refused to use the bathroom. Seems what she eventually won was a date with the grim reaper.

4. Two Step-Brothers Opened Fire, Motivated By Grand Theft Auto

Motivated by the happenings in Grand Theft Auto, two teenage step-brothers aged 14 and 16, found rifles in their home and decided to open fire, unfortunately hitting two people in Tennessee. While Kimberly Bede gladly survived, albeit being injured, Aaron Hamel didn’t. When interrogated, the two boys cited inspiration from Grand Theft Auto, as they sought real-life destruction. Such incidents have led to many critics rating down the game due to the numerous cop-killing stories, and some which have affected ordinary civilians. So, the next time you play a video game, be wary of the effects of this particular one, lest you earn yourself unnecessary jail time.

3. Gamer Murdered By Fellow Gamer Over ‘Cyber-Weapon’

In 2004, China witnessed a rather unusual death in Shanghai. Gamer Zhu Caoyuan was murdered by a fellow player, Qiu Chengwei, in a rather weird dispute. Qiu had won a cyber-weapon in the online game Legend of Mir III, and loaned it to Zhu, to use it in the game. Well, things didn’t go as planned after Zhu went ahead and sold the weapon, infuriating Qiu. At first, Qiu went the legal way, asking real cops to intervene, who in turn told him that they couldn’t help him retrieve virtual property. This is when he took matters in his own hands, confronted Zhu, stabbing him in the chest, killing Zhu and earning Qui life sentence.

2. Xiao Yi Jumped Off A 24-Storey Building After Playing World of Warcraft

Before I delve into this story, I remember watching an episode of 1000 Ways To Die where two brothers jumped off a building through their bedroom window, after getting so intoxicated playing rock music on their guitar. This is the same scenario that plays out in my head when I think about Xiao Yi. He was so engrossed by World Of Warcraft, that he decided to shed his mortal coil and wait for the rest of his online friends in the afterlife. In 2005, Xiao Yi took this too seriously that he decided to jump off a 24-storey building, to begin enjoying the after-life before the rest of the team headed there.

1. Wii Fit Killed Tim Eves, Instead Of Keeping Him Fit

If you are serious about keeping fit, then you have weight loss and keeping fit apps on your phone, right? For other people, such as Tim Eves, the love for keeping fit had him reaching for a Wii fitness game. While this is noble, the game unfortunately killed the enthusiastic 25-year old. While jogging to the fit program on Wii, Tim accidentally slumped on the floor, and was pronounced dead even before he got to the hospital. While this is not a case of a guy gone crazy over some virtual world, it still goes a long way in reminding us to be extra careful with video games.