Warning: Xbox can kill.
Well, that’s not entirely true. While in this particular case, an Xbox was connected to the death of 20-year-old British student Chris Staniforth, the real cause was closer to a lack of perspective.
A post-mortem exam on Staniforth revealed that he died because of a pulmonary embolism brought on by a “marathon session on his Xbox,” reports the AFP, which prompted his parents to launch a campaign to raise awareness of the health risks connected to gaming.
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Chris’ father, David Staniforth told the Sun newspaper, “Games are fun and once you’ve started playing, it’s hard to stop. Kids all over the country are playing these games for long periods – they don’t realize it could kill them.”
Microsoft says that it “recommends gamers take breaks to exercise as well as make time for other pursuits.”
The AFP reports that pulmonary embolisms “can occur if someone sits in the same position for several hours,” and that “Staniforth’s distraught father said his son would spend up to 12 hours playing on his Xbox” at a time.
Hopefully, that’ll be the message that people take from this campaign: Not that gaming kills, but that obsessively gaming to the detriment of everything else in your life isn’t healthy.
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Graeme McMillan is a reporter at TIME. Find him on Twitter at @Graemem or on Facebook at Facebook/Graeme.McMillan. You can also continue the discussion on TIME’s Facebook page and on Twitter at @TIME.