Community | September 13, 2010 | 63 comments

Addicted to a fantasy world: Mother obsessed with computer game let her children live in squalor and left her dogs to starve to death

source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1311368/Mother-obsessed-game-neglects-children-lets-...

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GoldenHeart
A mother neglected her three children and let her dogs starve to death because she was so obsessed with a computer game.The 33-year-old woman played the Small World game almost non-stop on the internet for months while her children were reduced to eating cold baked beans straight from the tin with their fingers.

Her home became filthy, with rubbish strewn over the floor and the bodies of her two dogs, a German shepherd and a lurcher, left for two months in the dining room it was revealed.

The woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, has been given a suspended jail sentence and banned from using the internet by a judge in Kent.


LINK : http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1311368/Mother-obsessed-game-neglects-ch...
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63 comments // Addicted to a fantasy world: Mother obsessed with computer game let her children live in squalor and left her dogs to starve to death

  • morirjedi
  • ThatdBMe
    • 0
      ThatdBMe  
    • Image

    • --Snip--The government in Beijing is reported to be introducing the controls to deter people from playing for longer than three consecutive hours.--Snip--

      This was in 2005. Articles like this have been going around for quite some time. From parents locking their children in closets so they can go play WoW for days on end to people killing other people for "Stealing virtual swords".

      http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/4183340.stm

      People will always find some way to screw everything up. News, music, games, my parents were bad, my children were bad, blah blah blah blah...

      It'll never end.

    • 1 year ago
  • SomariJade
  • diode
  • Mark701
  • NiceN
    • 0
      NiceN  

    • Bad moms will neglect their children for anything. Don't blame the game, it's not COD. It can't be that good.

    • 1 year ago
  • Mostophoe
  • SidiousStrange
  • B_Cramer
  • budmayne
    • 0
      budmayne  

    • That whole being banned from the internet thing, whoa! hillarious.
      that's very unfortunate for her children & dogs though.

    • 1 year ago
  • themotivateddropout
    • +4
      themotivateddropout  

    • Take her kids away, give them to responsible adults (if some are readily available, i'd hope).
      Put her in a cell with a tiny window, and a computer with no programs, games, or internet connection. Or Applications. Just the Calculator.
      And every morning slide a tin of opened, uncooked beans with no utensils.
      For 10-15 years.

      Justice.

    • 1 year ago
  • KSirys
  • Almibry
  • cztheday
  • KSirys
  • greggyg
    • +1
      greggyg  

    • In fairness it was the online game smallworlds and not the board game pictured above, small world, which was apparently responsible for this unfortunate situation.

      I would be interested and probably even more horrified if someone managed to get themselves into the situation playing a board game.

    • 1 year ago
  • remanns
    • 0
      remanns  
    • greggyg:

      I don't know who voted that down. Thats an interesting take. It would take some sort of co-dependent board gaming addict company to make a go of it, I would think !
      It would seem to be the "impersonal" persons online who "enable" this sort of "addiction",...if thats what it is.

    • 1 year ago
  • remanns
  • bailey78
    • +7
      bailey78  

    • Addiction is evil it does not discriminate be it drugs or sex or games. Addiction is just waiting for it's chance to get you.

    • 1 year ago
  • s_peak
    • +1
      s_peak  
    • bailey78:

      I always like to cite religion and money as good examples of addition, too. But you are correct, sir. Addiction comes in many forms! Taking responsibility for your actions/words becomes a pretty tough game nowadays.

    • 1 year ago
  • remanns
  • littlwarrior
    • -1
      littlwarrior  

    • Getting addicted to a video game is just an excuse this woman was just a lazy bitch, they should just throw her out on the streets and leave her to survive or die, bring back evolution!

    • 1 year ago
  • s_peak
  • littlwarrior
  • remanns
  • Almibry
  • remanns
    • +3
      remanns  

    • Society lets ANYONE become a parent, and ANYONE have pets. Thats the root of the problem that needs to be addressed. The whole "game" subtext is trivial window dressing." Addictions" in and of themselves are a subset of the issue. OVERALL competence for the "task at hand" and societies willingness to both screen for it and accept responsibility,.....THAT is THE ISSUE !

    • 1 year ago
  • RRRPirate
    • +2
      RRRPirate  
    • remanns:

      You don't know what kind of a parent a person is going to be. You could test people and still have things like this happen. If you went around testing everyone who became a parent eventually there would be a cheat sheet for that and you would just be handing kids over to people who cheated to get the kid. There is no screening for people to show how they are gonna be good or bad parents you either are or your not but you cant expect some sort of screening process to weed out the bad seeds.

      You have people who have kids raise them the best they know how and the kids still wind up crazy or worst. Its not always the parents fault either...sometimes its society or the way others treat them. Addiction is a very serious thing in any circumstance and it isnt just games, it can be drugs drinking etc and they can all effect the kids wellbeing along with pets and parents....If you were a parent you would know you cant predict how your kid is gonna be in society , its your job to teach them how to do things right and sometimes even that doesnt help.

    • 1 year ago
  • slippyt
    • +2
      slippyt  
    • remanns:

      Totally agree. Games are not the problem, and I hope people don't focus on that with this article. It's like anything that can be potentially addicting, you practice MODERATION. She was probably just an all-around waste.

    • 1 year ago
  • s_peak
  • remanns
    • 0
      remanns  
    • RRRPirate:

      I agree with you, that ANY sort of societal over-site and vetting of potential parents would be PROBLEMATIC,....but right now we do NONE at all. Anything, no matter how moderate-weak-incomplete,.....would be better than the status quo of NOTHIING. ( I propose )

      I respect your take on this,...to be clear.

    • 1 year ago
  • SuperGayJesus
  • Almibry
  • cztheday
  • RRRPirate
    • +3
      RRRPirate  

    • It is not the first time a person has submerged themselves into a game and had dire consequences. I recall the kid who committed suicide over not being able to meet a woman he fell for online, because his parents took away his computer. I mean there are many different examples of people who have become obsessed with gaming. In the world we live in technology has become part of our lives it is up to us as human being to monitor ourselves and loved ones. If you think someone has an addiction POINT it out to them. Would you like to hear this about someone you know? There is help out there for people who have addictions like this...one I found:http://www.olganon.org/
      I just hope that people out there will help this from happening to someone they know or to themselves. Its about remembering that its nice to have games and play online but when it comes down to it nothing replaces human contact.

    • 1 year ago
  • s_peak
    • 0
      s_peak  
    • RRRPirate:

      One of the guys I used to play WoW with died of malnutrition from over-playing. I'm serious. I know ZERO people who've died from drug use... and I know a LOT more drug users. I'm also slightly ashamed to say I played WoW for a while, but not ashamed to talk about my drug use... because I've gotten a lot of good lessons from my drug use. Games are almost entirely a waste of time... except for surgeons, who have been found to be more efficient, with less mistakes, than non-gamers.

      Hmm.

    • 1 year ago
  • TheForeteller
  • clovernuts
    • 0
      clovernuts  

    • They dont call it Warcrack for nothin. Personally, I dont see why the game is so popular. To me it was kind of a sub-par game (or perhaps just not to my taste). I dont think that MMOs like these have hit their full potential. To think that someone has let their life just erode like this is kind of odd to me. I have never played the game but I plan on checking it our on youtube. I gotta see what was so good that everything else had to wait.

    • 1 year ago
  • slippyt
    • +1
      slippyt  
    • clovernuts:

      Just imagine if these MMO's didn't have monthly fees. That's what turns so many people off from them. The only one I've tried is Everquest and it was pretty damn addicting - just not worth paying for.

    • 1 year ago
  • s_peak
    • +1
      s_peak  
    • clovernuts:

      If you want to get technical... the game targets specific neurotransmitter response in the brain in such a way that makes it have the same (if not more) effect that gambling does on the human mind. Anticipation of reward creates a dopamine release itself... and players are positively rewarded more often than in gambling... this actually, truly becomes addictive.

    • 1 year ago
  • sue4e3
  • s_peak
  • street_smart
    • +1
      street_smart  

    • hm, hey this may be wrong but-
      how old are the kids to be old enough to eat cold bean out of a can and with their fingers? old enough to possible make a sandwich or use a fork?!

      n she is playing a slaughtering game while, by neglect, slaughtering her dogs, how ironic. ppl need to learn how to balance their time and get real things to do wih their lives..

    • 1 year ago
  • UtopianSky
  • street_smart
  • oppressed1
  • musicjohnny
  • mindcruzer
    • 0
      mindcruzer  
    • musicjohnny:

      Doesn't matter what the game companies try to do, you're still responsible for your own actions. At least, thats the way it should be. Hard to tell in this day and age; the shit some people will try to blame on others is astonishing.

    • 1 year ago
  • SuperGayJesus
  • musicjohnny
    • 0
      musicjohnny  
    • mindcruzer:

      Yeah I agree 100%. People have to be responsible for their own actions and decisions. I was just commenting on the fact that a lot of video games do have built in factors that prey on our desire to keep playing.
      I'm absolutely not saying to blame anyone or anything but this person, just that it's an interesting psychological example.

    • 1 year ago
  • mindcruzer
  • sue4e3
    • 0
      sue4e3  

    • world of war craft is about to ruin my marriage my husband is addicted he gos to work and plays .but it's not like drugs there is no help people think it is a joke but i am not laughing and i don't think it is as simple as he can just quit because i can't imagine that someone would want to throw away thier life

    • 1 year ago
  • onemalefla
  • s_peak
    • +1
      s_peak  
    • onemalefla:

      I honestly think there should be a test to determine who can be allowed to procreate. It's based on the lack of sociopathic tendencies, emotional intelligence, and some small bit of intelligence (which is very hard to measure in any true way). I mean... what has (arguably) some of the most impact on our world? Population. Let's keep it down, people.

      Do your part! Tell your stupid friends to stop breeding.

    • 1 year ago
  • michail77
    • 0
      michail77  

    • First time I noticed this kind of problem was in college with the text based MUD games back in 1990. We'd see the same students sitting at the mainframe terminals 24/7. Oddly enough, most of the addicted ones were female.

    • 1 year ago
  • Dmerza1989
  • Janice_Straight
    • +1
      Janice_Straight  

    • She must have truly wanted to escape. How incredibly sad. And the stink? Really!! She would not smell the decay of her pets and the garbage and her children. A new addiction. Great, like humans need more.

    • 1 year ago
  • Argon18
    • +2
      Argon18  
    • Janice_Straight:

      not a new addiction, just a different form of a very old one.

      A tragedy that she got that far gone and also that those around her let it without help, but no different results than if she had been addicted to crack.

    • 1 year ago
  • ozoneocean
    • +2
      ozoneocean  

    • The game aspect is irrelevant and the kind of nonsense the idiot daily newspaper audience in Britain love. She obviously had psychological and emotional issues that caused her to withdraw from everything like that. You have to wonder why her kids didn't bring it to anyone's attention (one was 13) and why no family or friends spotted it sooner.

      The fact that it took a neighbour to see that there was a problem is the most shocking part!

      Banning the foolish woman from computers and the internet is idiotic. She needs someone to help her look after her kids.

    • 1 year ago
  • remanns
  • Argon18
    • +4
      Argon18  

    • Would've it had been any different if she was addicted to drugs or gambling?

      It's the same crime of neglect and obsessive behavior, no matter what form it took.

      What happened to other people that could've stopped it from getting that bad in 2 months? No other relatives? Was no one else around? No one the children could've contacted?

      Why did it take that long for a neighbor to notice and why did they take an interest when they did?

    • 1 year ago
  • dansHQ
  • frizzlecat
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