A 35-year old father of three has dropped dead while playing World of Tanks for 22 hours straight during a charity marathon for the Make a Wish Foundation.
From the moment I saw my son watching PewDiePie live streaming some God awful game on YouTube, I knew the world of video gaming was about to take a drastic switch. But I didn’t think it would be a deadly one.
On February 19, World of Tanks streamer, Brian “PoShYbRiD” Vigneault, died during a planned 24-hour live stream to raise money for the Make-A-Wish Foundation. News report speculates Vigneault died due to heart complications brought on by sleep deprivation.
PVPLive indicated that Vigneault, left the stream to have a cigarette somewhere within the 22-hour mark and never returned. Viewers assumed he had fallen to sleep. It later transpired that he had died. Virginia Beach Police Department are investigating. The father of three was just 35-years young.
The Dangers of Live Streaming
Vigneault is the first person to die while streaming live, but he’s not the first person to die under these circumstances. In 2010, a South Korean teenager died after playing video games for more than 12 hours at a PC Bang.
In 2015, two men in their 30s were found dead in Internet Cafes in Taiwan and Taipei. Both men died from cardiac failure after playing videos games for three to five days at a time.
The death acts as a stark reminder of the pressures that live streamers face to continue to provide their fans with value. Live streaming is a relatively new phenomenon in poker, but already, the pioneers have paved the way for others to follow thanks to their impressive ability to put in the hours.
And it’s not only the desire to make money that’s at the forefront of this problem. Live streamers find it difficult to leave the stream because of the connection they have built with their fans. It becomes another world where like-minded people hang out. They depend on you for their entertainment, and streamers can find it difficult to switch off for these reasons.
Vigneault had 8,822 followers on his PoShYbRiD Twitch channel, and tributes have been pouring in from all over the gaming world in the past few days.
If you do plan to host a marathon session for charity, or any other purpose, then please make sure you get the once over from a physician before attempting it and seek advice on how to manage your health and wellbeing throughout the session.
