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Subscribe to RSSCatherine Arnold writes: When it comes to video games, some people don’t let anything stand between them and a high score. Not even bystanders, it seems, who are turning out to be the collateral damage in the quest for video game greatness.
A new study of injuries that occurred as a result of, say, an over-eager dash at the electronic pins in Nintendo Wii bowling or the swing of a racket in interactive tennis shows that bystanders were being injured in the line of fire.
The study, done by the American Academy of Pediatrics, looked at the 696 video game-related injuries reported between 2004 and 2009. Of those, nearly one in five injuries were to bystanders while the rest were to those playing the game.
A common injury to bystanders was facial laceration (ouch!) as well as trauma to the shoulder, ankle and foot. Most injuries happened when a player was mimicking the movements done in actual activities such as boxing, bowling and tennis, researchers found.
Dr. Patrick O'Toole, the lead study author, says that he and his colleagues became curious about the real injuries from virtual, interactive games as they grew in popularity: "We felt that the injury pattern would be significantly different to traditional gaming injuries."
So, how to prevent facial lacerations and other icky injuries from overzealous gaming? O'Toole says, "Participants should be able to freely mimic the activity without being impeded by obstacles."
In other words, they should be able to arc the tennis racket, move their bowling arm back and forth lustily, and even downward-facing-dog without someone standing right next to them.
Or, to boil it down to two very un-scientific words: Stand back!
Have you ever injured an innocent bystander during a fast and furious Wii tournament? Or have you ever been injured this way?
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Once upon a time there was a furious skiing tournament at a favorite ski resort me and my family. The competition was red hot, but i was confident that i would emerge victorious, after all the victor would win a brand new Wii. I had no choice, i had to win, and nothing was going to stop me. The first girl i was up against didn't look like she was taking this thing seriously so i brought my game up a notch just to show her what a real gamer looks like! Little did i know i was playing the past champion, THREE YEARS IN A ROW. I saw she was beating me and my eyes remained in complete focus on the game with only a slight look at her to see where she was. The race was almost over and i had to really lean on my Wii board to finish the last turn and win. Then i heard a POP. Next thing i knew i had collapsed on the floor with a severe ankle sprain, the pain was sharp but i didn't want to look like a wimp in front of this girl, (who wasn't particularly bad looking), but back to my story. My family knowing something was up came to my side and said, are you OK? I showed them my ankle and they made me limb out of the lodge and took me to the doctors. My sprain was awful, and it hurt to walk. The doc even gave me creches and a brace. I then asked my parents if they would drive me back to the lodge to see if i could catch the championship match, (i took it very seriously) hahah. The girl i had played, and another dude were in the championship match and would you have it the lass won. Upon seeing me she asked if i was OK and i told her "oh ya it wasn't serious". Would you believe what happened next, she actually gave me the wii she just won, i was in shock. I have two already she said in a nonchalance manner. I was beginning to love this girl. We then exchanged numbers and we remain very good friends with each other to this day. TRUE STORY! THE END
This is wonderful. Bravo, sir. http://tiny.cc/wc58u
hmmm yes i hit a friend of mine in the head on accident o.o he got a nose bleed o.o XDDD
hmm but about people running into people while playing there dsi's on the streets. XD
I punched my cat in the face while Wii boxing! She was on the coffee table while I was trying to make the character do these motions and I got carried away and she got smacked! She was ok though! So now we make sure pets, lamps, and furniture are out of the immediate area when we play the Wii!