Candy Crush may be shamelessly exploitative, but it’s also pretty easy to put down and walk away from. Unless you’re really obsessed, like an unnamed man who tore a tendon playing the game… and just kept swiping.
Livescience came across the write-up, and this unnamed 29-year-old had apparently been doing nothing but playing Candy Crush. Well, he had been doing other things, but also while playing Candy Crush:
The 29-year-old went to the doctor because his left thumb hurt and he was having trouble moving it. He told doctors that he had played the puzzle game “Candy Crush Saga” on his smartphone all day for six to eight weeks. The man had played the game with his left hand while he used his right hand for other things, the report said.
It turns out he ruptured his tendon playing the sickly sweet game, and he had to go in for surgery. It’s actually unusual because the rupture is where the tendon is thickest, and that usually starts hurting well before you cause any damage.
Hopefully, though, he gets a psychological consult. Dr. Andrew Doan, who’s all over the report, wants to talk at length about “video game addiction.” Hey, guess who just happens to have a book about said questionable malady? The report is filled with blather about the idea of video games as “painkillers” and oddly insists that the guy was just playing Candy Crush as “something to do.” We’ll point out that A) the guy had just left the military and thus lost his job and B) had been playing Candy Crush in one hand for two months straight.
You know, I’m just a humble Internet writer, but boy, it seems like those two events might have some form of connection! Maybe instead of comparing video games to heroin, we could try getting this guy in front of somebody he can talk to about his problems?
(Source: Kotaku)