When World of Warcraft was rocking 12 million subscribers and the phenomenon of Massively Multiplayer Online  Games was rocking the media scene you could see headlines blaring WOW Wedding or talked about MMO(RPG)s being the future of dating. Why just “meet” online when you can play together.

But there was another side, a tragic side, to the whole thing. People were dying. Not dying to play but dying while playing. Before an evil, no good, virus corrupted and destroyed this blog (back in the day) those deaths, and other tragedies, were documented here as a reminder that Real Life ends even if you’re just that side of the red pill.

Even though WOW subscribers dipped below 9 million people keep dying (though, perhaps not from playing wow), this blog will try to make up for lost ground and record those tragedies.

Today we play catch up with the world’s sorrows. Note: You may want to stand and stretch before continuing, and check in on your kids. This list will be updated.

07-19-2012 Zhuang. 19-year old Taiwanese man named Zhuang (surname) died from a pulmonary vein embolism. According to Apple Daily he died while playing Diablo III for forty straight hours. He paid 40 T every hour for 40 hours until the attendant found him slumped over the keyboard, half conscious. He then stumbled out of the cafe, vomited, collapsed, and died. Zhuang was strong and originally left home that night to visit a friend but they weren’t home.

02-02-2012 Chen. Chen passed away 10 hours into his 23 hour WOW marathon. When his time was up the clerk, who thought Chen dossing, found him dead. Other gamers in the cafe (10 at the time of his death) were oblivious to Chen’s RL demise and were not alerted until police showed up. Death was ruled cardiac arrest. Chen’s hands were found stretched outward in rigor, as if reaching for the keyboard and mouse.

09-28-2011 Lin. Lin, a 35 year old woman from Taipei, died after six hours of gaming. Cardiac arrest was the culprit.

07-30-2011 Staniforth. Chris Staniforth of the United Kingdom had been gamed for 12 hours and went to sleep. He told a friend the next day that he hadn’t slept well and his heart rate had been fluctuating the night before. Moments later he reached over to pick up a gum wrapper. He went into a spasm and died of deep vein thrombosis.

11-30-2010 Anderson. Chris Anderson of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA, 16, beat his mother to death with a claw hammer after she took away his Playstation. He tried to cremate the body and, when that failed, he hid it behind the house. It was found two days later. He expressed regret at sentencing.

07-31-2010 Qi. Qi passed away in an internet cafe in Kaohsiung, Taiwan. He seemed to slump over the table to rest and, eight hours later, he was found dead – mouse in hand.

02-14-2010. Wu, another man from Kaohsiung, Taiwan passed away after a 10 hour marathon of Mahjong. While not a death by computer game, mahjong is still a game. Wu apparently drank, smoked, and ate for 10 hours while sitting and playing the game.

01-12-2010 Mullen. Violet Mullen, 15 months old from Manchester, England, UK was beaten to death by her mother’s boyfriend after she interrupted his Xbox game. The beating caused a mortal internal wound to her stomach. She was punched, kicked, and slapped by Gary Alcock while her mother, Clair Flanagan was playing a computer game. Alcock was sentenced to 21 years and Flanagan 5 for ignoring signs of abuse.

01-??-2010 Anderson. Alexandra Tobias of Florida, USA shook her baby to death after it’s crying interrupted a game of FarmVille. She confessed to shaking the baby, smoking, and then shaking the boy again. She plead guilty to second-degree murder and was sentenced to 50 years in prison.

11-??-2009 Wulf. Brandi Wulf, age 3.5, of Las Cruces, New Mexico, USA died of malnutrition and dehydration while her mother played World of Warcraft. She had gained just a pound in her last year of life and there is evidence she ate cat food. Rebecca Christie, her mother, was sentenced to 25 years. Her father Derek Wulf, who was aware something was wrong but away at the time, was sentenced to 3 years.

04-06-2008 Baez. Darisabel Baez, age 2, from York Pennsylvania, USA was killed by Harve Lamar Johnson, her mother’s boyfriend. Johnson beat Baez to death with the girl’s boot and an Xbox controller after finding Baez’s mother upset and assuming the child to be the cause. Baez suffered 150 “fresh” injuries, including the bruising of internal organs, over a 45 minute beating and there was evidence of 70 “old” injuries. Blood splatter was found embedded in the controller’s plug. Johonson was sentenced to death. Baez’s mother plead guilty to third degree murder for not intervening during the nearly hour long beating.

12-06-2007 Garcia. Zoe Savannah Garcia, age 7, from Greeley Colorado, USA, was beaten to death by her sister Heather Trujillo, 16 and boyfriend Lamar Roberts, 17. Trujillo and Roberts were reenacting moves from “Mortal Combat” and inflicted 20 bruises and a broken wrist on Garcia.

10-20-2007 Petric. Daniel Petric, 17, of Ohio, USA shot both of his parents after they confiscated a copy of Halo 3 that he had bought without their knowledge. Daniel, who had first played the game at a friends house, played the game while recovering from a jetski injury at home. When discovered his parents took the game and locked it in a box with a 9mm handgun. A month later Daniel removed the game and gun and shot his parents. His mother died from multiple wounds while his father was injured. He received a 23 year sentence.

09-07-2006 Turman. A’layiah Aikhira Turman, 17-months, of Pennsauken, Pennsylvania, USA was beaten to death by her father Anwar Salahuddin / Tyrone Spellman after she knocked over Xbox. Spellman was six hours into Ghost Recon; he cracked her skull several times. Spellman was sentenced after a trial to 22.5 to 45 years.

08-07-2005 Kleinmark & Kleinmark. Drew and Bryn Kleinmark, twins, 10 months old, from Fostoria Ohio, USA drowned in a bathtub while their father Gregg Kleinmark, 24, smoked and played a game on his Nintendo Game Boy Advanced. He plead guilty to two counts of involuntary manslaughter and was sentenced to 8 years in prison.

11-??-2001 Woolley. Shaun Woolley, 21, of Wisconsin USA shot himself in the head after playing Everquest. Shaun had been in treatment for addiction to the game (he had lost his apartment & job because he played it constantly).