Good friend and writer here at Gameranx, Dave Oshry tweeted that the first Diablo III-related death has occurred. It’s sad that we have come to see this as a common phenomenon. It is as if we all expected there to be deaths associated with the game.
32-year old Russell Shirley was found dead in his home over the weekend by his landlord and coworker. He suffered a heart attack after a three-day binge on Diablo III.
The blog post Oshry linked us to indicates that Shirley lived a sedentary lifestyle, and while his place of employment offered free gym membership, he was hard pressed to use it.
I suppose it goes without saying that everyone should monitor their playtime, and take time out for physical activity. Personally, I get my daily physical activity through the sport of Brazilian Jiu-jitsu; there are tons of other options, though. Try and channel that competitive spirit you have fostered through gaming into self-improvement once in a blue moon and the results might be more attractive than you thought.
Our hearts, thoughts, and controllers are with Russell Shirley. We here at Gameranx ask that you treat games as anything else, and only use them in moderation.
I’m not trying to blame the game for killing him. I’m trying to place blame on the lifestyle choice he made. His health issues combined with a sedentary life must have taken it’s toll. It just happened to be during a Diablo 3 marathon that he died.