"Couple nurtured virtual child while real baby starved"

A forty-one year old father and twenty-five year old mother living just south of Seoul, South Korea have been arrested after their three month old baby girl died while their virtual child in a game called "Prius Online" thrived. South Korea has outstanding internet networks, able to hold out twenty-four hour high-speed internet cafes. This feature helped out the couple in this story. Both the man and woman had lost their jobs, and they had just had a premature baby girl. As said by a police officer, "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." The couple was so absorbed in this game, they would feed their real child only once a day... in between marathon stretches in the internet cafe where they raised their virtual child. During this game they nurture a baby "with mysterious powers who grows and increases her skills as the game progresses." South Korea is said to have a society where if people fall out of the social norm, they experience great stress and pressure.

Wow... this is unbelievable. I can't even begin to grasp the concept this couple had for these actions. First, I must say that there is no excuse for this. The article said that the internet has "provided such people with a paradise to escape to and simply get lost in," it also said that the couple used the game to escape from reality. And it concluded by saying that that people who fall out of the norm can experience extreme pressure and stress. These do not take the blame for anything. First, even if this couple did fall from the norm, the only pressure and stress they get is what they put on themselves, it's all the matter of whether you care what others think of you or not. Second, you can never escape from reality, even if you think you can, it's impossible: reality is reality and it always comes back into your life because it is life. Third, the internet may provide games and other features that can seem like a "paradise" and some people may get "lost" in them, but it was the couple's choice to play the game to begin with. Some of the comments posted by people who read this article said that it wasn't a choice, it's an addiction. I have to disagree with these people. Even with people who smoke, they may be addicted to it, but that doesn't mean they don't have a choice. It was their choice to start smoking, it was their choice to continue smoking, and even if they are addicted, they still have the choice to stop. You control your body, you body doesn't control you. So yes, it was the couple's choice; And now the couple will always have to live with the fact that they chose a computer over a living human being. The couple will have to suffer the (needed) consequences of killing their own living, breathing child for a fake child in a meaningless game.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/asiapcf/03/07/south.korea.baby.dead/index.html?eref=rss_topstories&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+rss%2Fcnn_topstories+%28RSS%3A+Top+Stories%29