Police: Couple nurtured virtual child while real baby starved

[Tower_Master]

Police: Couple nurtured virtual child while real baby starved - CNN.com

Seoul, South Korea (CNN) -- Police have arrested a South Korean couple whose toddler starved to death while they were raising a virtual child online, authorities said.
The couple fed their 3-month-old daughter once a day between marathon stretches in a local Internet cafe, where they were raising a virtual child in the fantasy role-playing game Prius Online, police told local reporters Friday.
Prius Online is a 3-D game in which players nurture an online companion, Anima, a young girl with mysterious powers who grows and increases her skills as the game progresses.
Police have not identified the 41-year-old father and 25-year-old mother, who lived in Suwon, a suburb south of Seoul. But the father apologized, speaking to reporters.
"I wish that she hadn't got sick and that she will live well in heaven forever. And as the father, I am sorry," he said.
The baby reportedly died five months ago.
South Korea has one of the world's fastest broadband networks. Seoul has won international awards for e-governance. Online gaming teams are sponsored by major conglomerates and 24-hour, high-speed Internet cafes, known as PC Bangs, dot every urban neighborhood.
Police said the couple had lost their jobs and used the game as an escape from reality, especially after the birth of their premature baby.
"They instead played an online game in which they raised a virtual character so as to escape from reality, which led to the death of their real baby," Chung Jin-won, a police officer in Suwon, told Yonhap News Agency.
"South Korea remains a very conservative society so people who fall outside the norm can come under severe stress and pressure," said Michael Breen, the Seoul-based author of "The Koreans."
"The Internet has provided such people with a paradise to escape to and simply get lost in."

My faith in humanity, once again, is shattered.

[DesR85]

Heard about this yesterday but couldn't be bothered to read as it reminded me a lot of previous cases that involves a dead child because the parent(s) is heavily involved in an online game (World of Warcraft, Everquest, etc.). Another case of S.S.D.D. if you ask me.

Heh, what can one say? There will always be irresponsible people in the world. Ain't no such thing as a 'perfect' human being.

[Lady Kate]

This is horrible, of course. However, I can see it happening. How many of us neglect our own friends and family while maintaining 'wonderful friends' and even 'lovers' on the net?

How many of us neglect the everyday chores like laundry, dishes, *eating healthy*, when we get lost online or obsess over a game?

How many of us really don't care where we live or what we live in as long as we have an INTERNET connection? (Alright, that might be me... )

This is a tragic story, but in smaller degrees, I think many of us are guilty of similar activities. Friends and family neglected, and often lost to the allure of the computer and all it can provide.

[DesR85]

How many of us neglect our own friends and family while maintaining 'wonderful friends' and even 'lovers' on the net?

How many of us neglect the everyday chores like laundry, dishes, *eating healthy*, when we get lost online or obsess over a game?

The answer: I don't know. But what I do know is that there are responsible people and irresponsible people. To assume everyone is irresponsible is an insult to people in general.

If these people cannot even manage their own lives and responsibilities properly, it is their own fault and not anyone else.

How many of us really don't care where we live or what we live in as long as we have an INTERNET connection? (Alright, that might be me... )

Why should that be a point of interest when you're not even interested at all? When should it be the right time to ask that question?

As what one member in a forum said: "There is a time and there is a place." If a member is really close to another member(s), then that question might crop up sooner or later. How they do it, it's their business.

[dragon wench]

This is a tragic story, but in smaller degrees, I think many of us are guilty of similar activities. Friends and family neglected, and often lost to the allure of the computer and all it can provide.

While you make some valid points, I don't think you can truly compare something like neglecting the dishes with letting a child starve to death.
The one represents a relatively common norm of human behaviour, and the other speaks to a gross extreme.
This is like suggesting that somebody who picks arguments in a relationship is no different from the person who ends up in jail because they've murdered their spouse.

I generally agree with Des, it has become tiring to see cases like this sensationalised by people with an axe to grind. In the past, their fore-bearers likely railed against the evils of television and various other "new-fangled creations of the devil." Most advances in technology have the potential to impact the world in both positive and negative ways.

Des says it well:

If these people cannot even manage their own lives and responsibilities properly, it is their own fault and not anyone else.

Had the internet not been available, chances are this couple would have found some other means to escape their responsibilities.

How many of us really don't care where we live or what we live in as long as we have an INTERNET connection? (Alright, that might be me... )

Now that I can certainly identify with...
I have moved around a lot in my life (and this doesn't look to be changing any time soon), so, paradoxically, the internet feels a lot more stable than my RL location in some respects.
Also, I live in a fairly red-necked area (though about half an hour's drive from a civilised city), and I'm much happier chatting with my online friends than socialising with the people who live around me.

[kozeph]

This is most disturbing, I have little words to say about this. I just hope that the parents truly regret this. Its almost like those parents that leave their children in the car while they go shooping only to find that the baby perished due to heat and lack of oxigen u.u

This will probably cause a lot of rackus in the internet blaming the internet rather than the parents "its much easier to blame something other than yourself"

How many of us really don't care where we live or what we live in as long as we have an INTERNET connection? (Alright, that might be me... )

I can also relate to this I currently live in a mostly rural area (soon moving to a city for studies) and I dont have anything in common with the poeple here so I just spent my time on my computer playing games and chatting

[endboss]

I have a similar problem. I haven't had sex in months because I've been obsessed with Japanese virtual sex games, despite having a harem of Romanian supermodels at my beck and call.

Don't judge me. The supermodels object to having sex in public places. I'm sure the power baby was much more interesting than their real, power-less baby.

[Sain]

Well, at least I weened myself off MMORPGs for good. No baby starving for me.

[Neonite]

What ever happened to, you know, caring for your children? Can't be that outdated of a practice.