6 Unbelievable Videogame Stories

1. The man who sued a video game maker over addiction.

 A man in Hawaii is suing a video game developer saying that the game Lineage II was so addictive that he is unable to bathe, dress himself, communicate with others and wake-up during the day. 51-year-old Craig Smallwood is suing South Korean video game firm NCSoft Corp. for a number of charges including unfair and deceptive trade practices and accuses the company of causing "extreme and serious emotional distress and depression."

He says the multi-player, online role-playing game made him spend three weeks in the hospital and that he currently requires therapy three times a week. The paper reports that earlier this month a judge dismissed charges of misrepresentation/deceit, unfair and deceptive trade practices, intentional infliction of emotional distress and punitive damages.

However, the company still faces charges of defamation, negligence, gross negligence and negligent infliction of emotional distress. Smallwood claims that he spent more than 20,000 hours playing the medieval-themed role-playing game from 2004 to 2009 and that he received no warning from the company that the game could be addictive. (Link)

 

2. The toddlers who were found in street while their father was playing a computer game.

 Indianapolis police arrested a 31-year-old father of two after finding his children, one naked and one wearing only a diaper, wandering the streets as he played a computer game.
Timothy Hausaman's two children were discovered wandering around the apartment complex in which they lived near a busy road Saturday night. A neighbor kept an eye on the children for 20 minutes before calling police. When officers arrived at Hausaman's apartment they found the door open. No one responded to the door so they went inside and found the father playing Atlantis on his laptop.

The man told police that he left his children downstairs to play and was so into his game he had no idea they had left the apartment. Hausaman told police during his arrest that, "I am obviously not very good at watching children". His wife was away on business during the incident. (Link)

3. The mother who called the cops to stop son from playing Grand Theft Auto.

 Police say a frustrated Boston woman called police to say she couldn't get her 14-year-old son to stop playing video games and go to sleep. Officer Joe Zanol said that the mother called for help around 2:30am to say that the teenager also walked around the house and turned on all the lights. Surprisingly, her call actually worked, as two officers who responded to the house persuaded the child to obey his mother.

Zanoli says the mother's police call over the teen's video game enthusiasm 'was a little unusual, but by no means is it surprising - especially in today's day and age when these kids play video games and computer games.' According to The Boston Herald, who first reported the police call, the boy was playing 'Grand Theft Auto' (although they don't report which entry in the GTA series had so grabbed the boy's attention.) (Link)

4. The man who shipped himself across country playing MMO.

 Have you ever wished you could shut yourself off from the world so you could catch up on playing video games? Jordan Wayne Long has taken this thought to the next level shipping himself from Arkansas to Oregon in a crate while playing Lord of The Rings Online. Long's friend Bradi Roberts would be transporting him on her truck, so he wouldn't be going through any kind of actual postal system, nor have to sign up for an Amazon credit card in order to get free shipping. Long planned to update the interested masses via his Twitter and also created a blog to cover his week of playing LOTRO in a box, which should barely be any different from playing it in his room. I kid, MMO gamers, because I love. Long's experiment was planned to take place between July 1 to July 7, and end at a Portland art gallery. (Link)

5. The man who hacked a videogame to propose to his girlfriend.

 Knowing your girlfriend's favorite hobbies is a great start for planning a proposal. For Bernie Peng, that meant using the game 'Bejeweled' to ask Tammy Li to marry him. Peng, a financial software programmer, spent a month tweaking the game so when Li reached a certain score, a ring and the proposal popped up on the screen.

According to Li, he set a pretty low score; she is now sporting an identical pink sapphire engagement ring. The game manufacturer eventually heard about the story. Instead of being angry that Peng had hacked into their game, company officials were so impressed they offered to pay for part of the wedding. (Link)

6. The man who was hit by SUV while playing real-life 'Frogger'.

A man has been hospitalized after police in South Carolina say he was hit by an SUV while playing a real-life version of the video game "Frogger." In the "Frogger" arcade game, players move frogs through traffic on a busy road and through a hazard-filled river. Before he was hit, police say the man had been discussing the game with his friends. Chief Jimmy Dixon says the man yelled "go" and darted into oncoming traffic in the four-lane highway.

No charges are expected against the driver. The name of the man who was struck has not been released. (Link)