In a short but startling story on CNN.com, a South Korean couple starves their 3 month old baby to death while simultaneously raising a healthy "virtual" child in an online role playing game called "Prius Online". The facts of the story presented a couple who had become so engrossed in their online fantasy that they neglected to feed their real life baby who had been born prematurely.
I am in absolute shock after reading this story. I have heard of people getting lost in the virtual world before, but for both of them to be so out of it that their child would starve to death is beyond torture for that little baby. Upon further thinking of this story my stomach became sick at the thought of an innocent child being so neglected by parents who were lucky to receive such a precious gift.
According to Chung Jin-won, a police officer in South Korea, "They indulged themselves in the online game of raising a virtual character so as to escape from reality, which led to the death of their real baby" To be so deluded that a defenseless child would die has got to be to pit below rock bottom. It is not hard to imagine that pity will not be shown for the couple. I wonder if they even grasp the magnitude of their actions, or if they are more upset by not being able to play their virtual game than by losing their real daughter.
It is a sad and strange world that we live in where stories such as this are not make believe. This sort of torturous neglect is more appropriate for a Stephen King novel than an actual event.
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Wow. Isn't it crazy how we can get so involved and wrapped up, so myopic in our internet use, that we actually ignore real life and pay more attention to that which is not real? I say this as a man who once had an online affair and it eventually took it's toll on my marriage. How foolish we can be!
ReplyDeleteAnd from experience, I'll bet you're right. These people are more stressed that they are now unable to play their game and take care of this virtual child than they are over the loss of the real child.
The virtual world is a strange place. I could tell stories but I won't. Not only can people be someone else, they can also remake all of their convictions, morals and ethics. It's dangerous.
On a lighter side, I wonder how often (or if) people might call in to work with a virtual injury? "Yeah, I can't make it in today. I was hunting and a bear attacked me." (Cabela's Big Game Hunt.) "Can't make it in today, Boss. I twisted my ankle playing football this weekend." (Madden 2009, during the Superbowl)
I bet it's happened!
What the heck is wrong with people? To neglect your child to the point of death by starvation in order to pay a virtual game? It's utter nonsense, sickening. Some people shouldn't be allowed the gift of children if this is how they are going to be treated.
ReplyDeleteThank you for telling this story, however horrible it is.