Marathoning games came be quite fun, but they can also be deadly. We have heard of World of Warcraft players dying after 19-hour game binges and of people who have torn tendons obsessively play Candy Crush Saga, and now of someone who died after playing a game for 22 days straight.
A 17-year old Russian teen known as Rustam broke his leg and decided to use his time of forced immobility to play Defense of the Ancients (DOTA). The only time Rustam wasn't playing the game was when he stopped to sleep, eat or use the restroom.
According to investigators, Rustam had spent more than 2,000 hours playing the game in the last year and a half — about six and half hours a day — which escalated into hit non-stop 22 day gaming binge. Rustam's parents noticed a sudden silence in the house one day when there would typically be the click of his keyboard. He was rushed to the hospital, but was declared dead on arrival.
It is believed he died from a secondary condition for Deep Vein Thrombosis (DVT), a condition that impacts many individuals who are immobile for long periods of time. Sitting day in and day out causes DVT which is essentially a blood clot, once the clot goes mobile (this is the secondary condition) it can be deadly.
