2015’s craziest cases of video game addiction

Woman's Breast Implants Explode After Gaming Binge

While playing video games on a console or PC for hours can be life-threatening, mobile games can be just as debilitating. One woman experienced how being obsessed with a game could not only bring you pain, but also have you wasting quite a bit of money.

Back in 2013, a Chinese woman found herself lying on her stomach for an excessive amount of time playing Dragon Summon on her iPhone. Who knows how many times she had found herself in a similar position obsessively playing the game.

One day, after a four hour binge of Dragon Summon and lying on her stomach, the woman's breast implant ruptured, sending her to the hospital. So, not only did she loose a fake boob that she paid for, she also lost out on that sweet, sweet gaming time to have emergency surgery.

Whether or not she had the breast replaced is unknown.

[SZ News]

Dota banned in parts of the Philippines

Dota players in the Philippines either had to get really good at torrenting games or give up playing the MOBA all-together this year. Why? Because Dota was banned over the passionate rage that filled played after losing matches.

When you love something and put a lot of time into it, only to lose at it… It doesn't feel very good. Anyone that obsessively plays competitive online games can attest to this and apparently so can the 'youths' in the Philippines.

After years of uncontrollable rage exploding out of teens in internet cafes, Dota had to be banned in certain regions of the country. Earlier this year a mob fight brought about plenty of chair tossing, table flipping rage – enough to bring ceiling tiles down.

Man dies after 3-day gaming binge in Internet Café, no one notices

The saddest of all cases of addiction in this bunch is the story of when a 32 year-old Taiwanese man, Hsieh was found dead in an Internet Café after a three-day gaming binge. The worst part, no one noticed.

Hsieh was a veteran of gaming for long periods of time in internet cafes, he was often found there playing for days on end. If he was tired, he would take a nap in the cafe with his head face-down on the table or slumping in his chair.

When Hsieh died while playing a game in the internet cafe, no one noticed. There were individuals sitting right beside him who didn't even notice. In the end, it was employee who found him sprawled out over his desk. Presumably, Hsieh had been dead for over four hours before anyone noticed.

Of course, had anyone taken the time to notice, their own gameplay would have been affect. They could have stood in fire, died, or gone down in DPS.

Woman thought dead, found 10 years later playing CrossFire in internet cafe

Another of the most recent gaming addictions led a family to search for their missing daughter for 10 years, regardless of the police assuming that she had died.

Xiao Yun ran away from her home ten years ago after her parents had scolded her, at the time she was only 14-years old. A decade later, Yun was found by police during a routine check on Internet cafes. After questioning, it was revealed that the now 24-year old Yun had spent the last 10 years of her life playing a multiplayer first-person shooter game called CrossFire.

She had been living in internet cafes playing the game since running away, she even worked as a cashier in the cafes to get cash to play the game. In the end, when police found her, they notified her parents and fined her for carrying a fake ID card.

Man tears tendon playing Candy Crush Saga obsessively

Remember when you kept thinking you had notifications on Facebook, but it was really your friends inviting you to play Candy Crush? I remember. That game was at its height earlier this year and there was absolutely no escape from hearing about it.

The Candy Crush obsession did not come and go without leaving victims in its wake. An unnamed 29-year old man was so obsessed with the game that he ruptured a tendon in his thumb. That's right, the guy didn't even feel it when the tendon swelled up (like with Carpal Tunnel) – he only noticed when he couldn't move his thumb.

What caused this? The guy played Candy Crush "all day for 6 to 8 weeks." He constantly had the phone in his left hand playing the game, while using his right hand for other activities.

"Playing was a kind of secondary thing, but it was constantly on," he said.

The man ended up requiring surgery to fix his thumb. On the bright side, scientists are now considering video games as a way to help people manage their pain… So there's that.

Fallout 4 player binges, loses job and wife, sues Bethesda

One of the most recent tales of addiction comes from Russia, where a man went on a three week Fallout 4 gaming binge that resulted in a falling out between himself, his wife and his job.

The 28-year-old unnamed man from Krasnoyarsk downloaded Fallout 4 with the intention of playing a couple of nights a week, but ended up playing for three weeks straight. This binge had him regularly skipping out on work, ignoring his wife and making human contact with just about anyone.

He even began to suffer health issues for neglecting himself, he didn't sleep or eat much during the binge.

Instead of blaming himself, the man blamed Bethesda for making a highly addictive game. He has since decided to sue Bethesda for 500,000 roubles ($7,000) for emotional distress.

When hype around a game's release begins to build up, there's endless talk in the community about hunkering down and endlessly playing the game. People even joke about not seeing their significant others or friends for days because they will be so busy playing the game.

Heck, Larian Studios  even joked about how addictive their game was!

But then that joke goes a bit too far. There are people out there who do take gaming to an extreme. There are reports of death, while others have managed to get games banned over their displays of passionate rage. This past year alone we have seen several gaming addictions taken to a new level, and below you'll find the craziest cases. There's even a bonus one from a few years ago that was simply too nuts to omit.