Inanimate Objects to Blame – A response to The Sun

“Death by Xbox” screamed The Sun’s headline. Did the Xbox? Did it really?

It’s not the first time we’ve seen the press accuse a games console or computer of a crime, but in reality these inanimate objects are blameless.

Lifestyle and education are equally to blame. The attack, a pulmonary embolism, triggered when he bent down to pick up a packet of chewing gum outside the Jobcentre. It was reported that the coroner “confirmed Deep Vein Thrombosis (DVT) had caused Chris’s death and it was cited on his death certificate.”

Our thoughts go out to the family of Chris Stainforth. Any loss of someone so young is simply devastating, however, it is worthy of note that his father David Stainforth doesn’t blame the Xbox.

David is quoted in The Sun: “I’m not for one minute blaming the manufacturer of Xbox. It isn’t their fault that people use them for so long. But I want to highlight the dangers that can arise. Playing on it for so long is what killed him – and I don’t want another child to die.”

David has also taken positive action, launching a campaign to raise awareness about DVT, something SquareGo fully supports. It still comes down to education and the real need to understand lifestyle balance.

As always, the article fails to pinpoint the details of the case, instead simply stating that “he did not have a history of ill health and had no underlying medical complications.” Although sitting for long periods in front of an Xbox certainly seems to have been the primary cause of his untimely death, nevertheless we have little information about the rest of his lifestyle.

More importantly, the fact that every game carries warnings about taking breaks when playing seems to have been left out of the article. These breaks are not simply for the eyes – as is often misconstrued – but for the whole body to move, engage, eat and rest.

Tabloid culture needs to learn that the gaming press has had enough of their rhetoric. Chris Stainforth is an unfortunate statistic in a much larger issue. Gamers should heed the warnings on the games they’re playing and take a break.

You never know. There may be something equally as engaging away from the screen.

Phil Harris

Editor-in-Chief